Mulayam Singh's native village to celebrate 'Saifai Mahotsava'

KANPUR: The slight chill in the air means the Saifai Mahotsava is here. And Mulayam Singh's native village Saifai in Etawah district, will be a world transformed for the next 15 days.
With raunchy performances by Bollywood damsels, to 'desi thumka', foot-tapping music, classical dance, soulful stage shows,'kushti-dangal' (wrestling) competitions, laughter shows and vintage car rally you will have all these and much more at the Mahotsava starting from December 14 in the memory of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's late nephew Ranvir Singh Yadav.
The fun will start rolling at the main 'Mahotsava Pandal' with a seating capacity of more than 1 lakh people, on December 15 with a rocking musical programme that will see famour bollywood singer Shaan take the stage.
It will pave the way for a musical bonanza with 'Sufi' singer Kailash Kher and dance troup of Shiamak Davar performing at the Mahotsava on December 18. The artists will be followed by noted singer Sapna Mukherjee at the same venue on December 19. It will then be time for laughter artists Irfan and Ali Hasan - from Pakistan besides, Kapil Sharma, Rakesh Keni and Rajan Srivastava, who will perform on 16, 19, 22 and 25 December. Some famous stage shows like "Taj Ka Tender" , "Biwi O Biwi" and "Chekhon Ki Duniya" will be staged at the Chowdhary Charan Singh auditorium on December 19, 20 and 26.
On December 24, noted poets like Gopal Das Neeraj, Surendra Sharma, Kunwar Bechain, Munnawar Rana, Qaleem Kaiser, Sunil Jogi, Sarita Verma, Suman Dubey, Ramesh Muskan, Surya Kumar Pandey and Kamlesh Sharma will take the stage in the 'Kavi Sammelan' at the same venue.
The Mahotsava then moves to Cricket, Badminton, Volley-ball tournaments, Bicycle marathon under the sports section. The 50-km-long bicycle marathon from Mainpuri to Saifai carrying a prize of Rs 5 lakh for the winner is likely to witness huge participation of local-folks. The second and third prize-winners will take away with Rs 3 and Rs 2 lakh, respectively for their achievements. It will also witness a world class vintage car rally on December 22, wherein participants from Pakistan are likely to take part in the event.
Originally, the Saifai Mahotsav, as conceived in 1997 by a dedicated band of youths led by Ranvir Singh Yadav and Dev Brat Gupta, was meant to be a three-day affair where villagers had fun, made purchases from the 'haat' and enjoyed the 'kushti-dangal' and 'nautanki'. It was after Ranvir’s death that SP supremo gave it a face-lift celebrating it every year. The annual event, which is very popular, witnesses a gathering of more than two lakh people.
"A large trade fair, where atleast 800 stalls, where SUV's, cars, tractors, jeeps and other agricultural machines will be put on display for sale, is also part of the Mahotsava," informed Vedvrat Gupta, manager of the Mahotsava committee.
The UPSRTC has roped-in 44 special shuttle buses to ferry people to the Mahotsava venue, besides 'raain-baseras' have been erected for the visitors, he added.