Soorya Festival to be a year-long affair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The fabulous Soorya Festival is going places. The festival is becoming a 365-day affair from this year onwards and will be staged in 60 centres across India, in addition to its home town, Thiruvananthapuram.The 35th edition of the Soorya Festival is scheduled to kickoff in Chennai on September 1. The festival will then travel through Tamil Nadu before coming to Kerala on September 21. The festival will enrich Thiruvananthapuram for 111 days showcasing the best in the fields of arts, music, cinema and theatre.In Kerala, the 35th edition will feature classical concerts, ghazal nites, film festivals, dance recitals, a Ramayana fest, artists’ workshops, Odissi festival, jugalbandi, story and poetry fests and  Kathakali mela. The 111-day Soorya Festival will conclude in Thiruvananthapuram on January 10, 2012. Soorya also holds the distinction of featuring two artistes renowned in their fields - K J Yesudas and Padma Subramaniam - in all its past 34 editions.This year, the Soorya festival has a charitable arm as well as it aims to make a substantial difference in the lives of the needy. The festival has tied up with NIMS Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram to perform dialysis on 365 patients at a reduced cost. Further, the SSREE Foundation has initiated ‘Art for Heart’ programme in association with Harvey Heart Hospital in Chennai.Soorya has been helping destitute artists of traditional art forms for many years now, under a programme called ‘Gurudakshina’, and this year P K Venukuttan Nair will be the recipient of the benefits. Also, the Foundation, along with actor Suresh Gopi, has started ‘Soorya Empowerment’ programme to aid those artistes involved in realistic drama.Syamaprasad’s film ‘Elektra’ will inaugurate the film section of the festival. This will be the film’s first public screening outside film festivals. Apart from films, the festival also features drama, talks, music concerts, dances, rendezvous with greats from various fields of art, poetry and a dash of traditional art forms.