“Receiving award motivates artistes to continue work hard to give their best,” said actor and playwright Y Gee Mahendra.
He was conferred Vani Kala Sudhakara award at the inauguration of 39th Isai Iyal Nataka Vizha and 30th Bharatham Festival of Sri Thyaga Brahama Gana Sabha inaugurated in the sabha premises at T Nagar, last evening.
Swami Omkarananda inaugurated the vizha and among those who received the award Vani Kala Sudhakara includes vocalist Seetha Narayanan, Kumbakonam MR Gopinath (violin), Vaikom Gopalakrishnan (ghatam), Anitha Guha (bharatanatyam).
Mahendra recalled his acting in the Tamil play ‘Petraldan Pillaiya’ in the sabha during 1960s and went to stage all his plays in the venue till now. He also lauded the guidance of his parents, Y G Parthasarathy in acting and Mrs YG Parthasarathy in studies which enabled him to perform as a literate artiste on stage.
While addressing the audience, Swami Omkarananda said music and spirituality are inseparables and without each one’s support both will be incomplete. He also advised the audience to guide their wards towards desa (Nation) bhakti and deiva (God) bhakti.
Dr S Raghuraman, research and resource fellow for Bharatanatyam offered felicitations to the awardees on the occasion.
Vijaya Bank, managing director, R A Sankara Narayanan presided over the function and Syndicate Bank, general manager (Chennai), M Prasad and Indian Bank, Chennai North, general manager, M Karthikeyan were guests of honour.
The award and cash prize were instituted by P Vijayakumar Reddy and Dr Preetha Reddy, a press release said.
After the inauguration, Dr Lakshmi Ramaswamy’s Sri Mudhralaya enthralled the audience with a dance presentation titled ‘Govindam Bhaja’ focused on dharma and karma.
Isai, Iyal, Nataka Vizha which commenced yesterday will continue 15 January with variety of concerts right from vocal, jugalbhandi, instrumental, sangeetha upanayasam and dramas by various theatre groups.
30th Bharatam festival scheduled to be held between 2 and 31 January features Bharatnatyam concerts at the venue. Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha can be reached at 28152166, web site www.vanimahal.com.