Lucknowites enjoyed this classical evening at Dilkusha Palace

Sanjukta Sinha performing a

kathak

ballet on Ganga with her troupe (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui)


The sixth annual

Wajid Ali Shah

festival treated Lucknowites to some soulful music and spectacular kathak performances. The festival, held at Dilkusha Palace, was organized by Rumi Foundation, Lucknow Chapter and was presented by UP Tourism and Government of Uttar Pradesh. The theme of the festival this year was ‘Ganganama’ which aimed to celebrate the story, myth and history of revered river Ganga in its full splendour.
The art and culture lovers in the city gathered well before time to select their favourite seats so that they get the best view of the performances. Govind Mathur, Chief Justice of

Allahabad High Court

, graced the occasion as the chief guest while Anup Chandra Pandey, chief secretary, UP, was the guest of honour for the evening.

Pooja Gaitonde (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui)

Sanjukta Sinha performing a kathak ballet on Ganga (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui)


The event started off by lighting of the lamp by the chief guest and the guest of honour along with Muzaffar Ali, executive director of the organization, Convenor MA Khan and Meera Ali. Kena Shree, the anchor for the evening, kept the audience entertained with her shayari.
The first act, a kathak ballet, choreographed by Sanjukta Sinha conceived and curated by Muzzafar Ali with voice-over by Samaiyaullah khan, was welcomed with a huge round of applause. Sanjukta was accompanied by dancers Rupanshi Kashyap, Murali Dhruv, Mihika Mukherjee, Krutika Ghanekar, Vidhi Shah, Mandi Gandhi, Rohit Parihar, Mohit Shridhar and Pankaj Sihag on stage. The dance, which portrayed the journey of Ganga with Shiv stuti, Kabir dohe and extracts from Baba

Bulleh Shah

, left the audience amazed.
Talking about the festival, Muzaffar Ali said, "It is an embracing river, all endearing river. And it's an inspiration for our culture so, there is a severe need to preserve it and maintain its beauty."

Aditi Dube (R) Anoop Chandra and Renuka Pandey (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui)

Arshi and Murad Ali (R) Awanish Awasthi (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui)

Dr

Qamar Rahman

(R) Dr Kirti Narain (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui)

Govind Mathur (R) Dr Kalpana and Sakshi (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui)

Kanak Rekha and Yashwant Singh (R) MA Khan (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui)



Followed by the half-hour dance performance was the ghazal night in which Pooja Gaitonde, from Mumbai, spread magic on the stage with her soulful voice. She sang some famous ghazals and nazms like Mann Kunto Maula, Chhap Tilak, Main Ganga Hoon, Dastare Fakirana and more.
— Prachi Arya

Meera and Muzaffa Ali (R) Kena Shree and Priyank (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui)

Veena Singh and Dr Nitya Singh (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui)

Yogesh Dayal and Madhu Mathur (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmad Siddiqui)