A cultural fiesta

If there's one thing money can't buy, then it's a 'lifetime achievement award'. Or any award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, for that matter. And the performers who have been the winners of these awards will be performing at a stage near you for 10 days at a stage near you.u00a0
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Maya Krishna Rao during her solo act

Get set
The Capital is all geared up to witness the awardees perform as the Akademi is playing host to performances by the winners of last year's accolades. The awards, which had been announced post a meeting in January, will now be given to the artists on Friday by the Vice President of India. There will be dance, music, theatre and more.

And the awardees are..
The main performances will start from Saturday and will continue till July 31. However, there is a special performance on Friday as well. Girija Devi, Nataraja Ramakrishna, Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar and Thanu Krishna Murthy are some of the artists who have been given the Akademi's highest award ufffd Akademi Fellows or Ratna award.
In the field of music and dance, there are nine artists, respectively, who have been awarded, eight in theatre, 10 for their contribution to other traditional/folk/tribal music/dance/theatre and puppetry, whereas two artists have been honoured for their overall contribution to performing arts.

From menopause to menarche
Atamjeet Singh, the winner for playwriting in Punjabi for Mein Ta Ikk Saarangi Haa, is thrilled about the performance. "The play portrays the life of a woman by going backwards in time. The story moves from menopause to menarche. It depicts the state of a woman in the traditional society where women areu00a0 victims of male dominance. But in the play neither areu00a0 women shown as goddessesu00a0 nor are the
men all painted in black," he says.

Playing dual roles
Maya Krishna Rao won the award in solo acting category for her role in Quality Street. "The play is the adaptation of the Nigerian short story Quality Street. It's a funny story about a mother and her daughter. I am playing both the roles," she says. She will be doing a solo performance at this fiesta.
Jaydev Taneja, who has won the award in Overall Contribution in Performing Arts, will also be
performing here. Be there, or be square.

At: kamani auditorium, sri ram centre, meghdoot theatre
On till: july 31
For full schedule and passes,
Call: 23387246