Saifai poised for 15 days of fun

KANPUR: It is that time of the year when Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's native village Saifai in Etawah district, transforms for 15 days into a happening venue with the Saifai Mahotsav.
The mahotsav starting from December 14 in the memory of Mulayam Singh’s late nephew Ranvir Singh Yadav promises a fortnight of entertainment in the form of performances by Hindi and Bhojpuri films damsels, foot-tapping music, classical music and dance, stage shows, ‘kushti-dangal’ (wrestling contests), laughter shows and vintage car rally.
The main ‘mahotsav pandal’ with a seating capacity of more than 1 lakh, will buzz with activity from December 15 with a musical programme in which playback singer Shaan will take the stage.
It will pave the way for a concert by Sufi singer Kailash Kher and dance troupe of Shiamak Davar performing on December 18. These artistes will be followed by singer Sapna Mukherjee on December 19. Next in turn will be comics Irfan and Ali Hasan from Pakistan besides, Kapil Sharma, Rakesh Keni and Rajan Srivastava, who will perform on December 16, 19, 22 and 25. Some famous stage plays like ‘Taj Ka Tender’, ‘Biwi O Biwi’ and ‘Chekov 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 for ‘Kavi Sammelan’ at the same venue.
The mahotsav will also include cricket, badminton, volley-ball tournaments and a bicycle marathon. The 50-km bicycle marathon from Mainpuri to Saifai carries a prize of Rs 5 lakh for the winner and is likely to witness huge participation of locals. The winners of second and third prizes will take away Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, respectively for their achievements. It will also witness a world class vintage car rally on December 22, in which participants from Pakistan are likely to take part too.
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 in which villagers had fun, purchased from the ‘haat’ and enjoyed ‘kushti-dangal’ and ‘nautanki’.
It was after Ranvir’s death that SP supremo gave it a face-lift celebrating it for 15 days every year. The annual event welcomes more than two lakh visitors.
“A large trade fair, with at least 800 stalls, where SUVs, cars, tractors, jeeps and other agricultural machines will be put up on display for sale, is also part of the mahotsav,” informs Vedvrat Gupta, manager of the mela committee.
The UP State Road Transport Corporation is providing in 44 special shuttle buses to ferry people to the venue and ‘raen-baseras’ (night shelters) have been put up for visitors, he adds.