At This Centre In AP’s Visakhapatnam, Harikatha Festival Is Keeping The Artform Alive

Vedavati Bhagavata Vani, an artist reciting the Harikatha art form for 25 years, is currently in the spotlight. According to News 18, she performed recently in the Kalabharati Performing Arts Centre in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Vedavati said that there has been a decline in Harikatha’s popularity in today’s time. The Kalabharati Performing Arts Centre has become a hub for art forms like Burrakatha, Harikatha and other dramas. Currently, Vedavati said that the Harikatha festival is going on in the Kalabharati Performing Arts Centre. The artist is reminded of her father’s time, when thousands of people would ask who would save the dying art form of Harikatha. She added that most of the artists used to earn a living by telling fabricated stories. On the contrary, when there was a festival, she and her father used to entertain the people by telling jokes in the village.

Vedavati expressed remorse over the fact that in the current generation, the Harikatha artists are not being supported unless they are celebrating festivals with songs. She finds happiness in enjoying the Harikatha art form and narrating the stories to the audience in the Kalabharati Arts Centre. The arts centre auditorium manager, Rambabu, added that these stories are being performed in the form of folk programs throughout the year to keep the Harikatha art form alive. Organisers of this arts centre auditorium say that in the olden days, those who used to recite Harikathas performed the whole night and the audience listened to them. Now, he said that the children from the current generation don’t listen to this art form, even though they are arranged for free.

Kalabharati Arts Centre’s organisers said that their mission is to make endangered art forms like Harikatha for the people of Visakhapatnam. The organisers say if the children listen to these folk tales, they will gain a lot of knowledge.

An act of Harikatha involves the narration of a main story alongside recounting the subplots that connect the story. The entire act is a one-person performance consisting of storytelling, poetry, dance and expression, assisted by the musicians in the background.