Festival History

It has become a major cultural activity not only of the city but also of Maharashtra because of novelty and variety in the festivity. But that is only one of the several reasons why the Pune Festival has been widely accepted and recognised by the people. The main reason for its popularity among the masses has been that the Pune Festival is organised for the people and with involvement of the people, for these past 18 years.

A look back on the movement spearheaded by Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, M.P. the President of Indian Olympic Federation:

Lokmanya’s concept : The concept of Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav is the gift given by Pune to the nation in the 19th century. Lokmanya Tilak had inspired people of his time to organise Ganesh festivals to bring communities together. His objective was to spread message of Swarajya utilising the bonds created among the communities during the festivities. Over the last century, the purpose and form of the festivals changed. The Pune Festival is among the mainstream activities evolved during the last two-three decades has received credit for giving a new constructive meaning to the Ganesh Utsav.

The Beginning : The founder of the Pune Festival, Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, M.P. is a veteran politician with a rich and varied experience of over three decades. He is always charged to take up new ambitious projects and has a proven track record to succeed in each of the activities through his organising skills. He brought in a series of such activities in the city and demonstrated that Pune people emerge winners in whatever constructive activities they plan and execute.

Mr. Kalmadi was determined to bring Pune on the tourism map of the world. His vision was to attract tourists from India and abroad during the Ganesh Festival. The city would earn reputation as a tourist destination and local artistes would get opportunity to perform. Local trade and business will stand to benefit and the unemployed would find source of earning. With this vision, he set out to organise a grand cultural event during the Ganesh festival period. That was the beginning. The year was 1989. The theme of Pune Festival was supported by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation and Tourism Department of Government of India.

Rich Variety : For some initial years, the main programme of the Pune Festival was organised in the space close to Nehru Stadium. In addition, Balgandharva Rangamandir, Tilak Smarak Mandir and Ramchandra Sabhamandap offered themselves as venues for other programmes. It was realised that such programmes would be required to be organised round the year for cultural enrichment of the city. Pune Municipal Corporation stepped in to construct an impressive and spacious auditorium with a capacity of 3000 seats, named as Ganesh Kala Krida Kendra. With a Dolby Sound system installed on a permanent basis and provision of an exhibition hall, the Ganesh Kala Krida Kendra has contributed to the glory of the city.

Major Attractions : The Ganesh idol of the Pune Festival is installed by dignitaries at Nehru Stadium amidst chanting of mantras, marking the beginning of the Pune Festival. Thereafter there is a rich variety of programmes organised during the festival. Vocal and instrumental rendering and classical dances by artistes of national and international repute are among the major attractions. Besides these, there are folk arts, Lavani mahotsav, Urdu mushayara, Marathi and Hindi Hasya Kavi Sammelan, competitions in culinary art, flower arrangement, variety entertainment, mimicry, magic and decorations put up by city’s Ganesh mandals. Another competition is for Clean Slums.

Other features of the calendar of events are one-person shows, women’s’ games played during festivals of Maharashtrians, Womens’ Festival, drama festivals in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, English and Sindhi, Marathi songs, Gujarati diro, Kerala Mahotsav, Maharashtra Lokdhara, Exhibition of Ganesh paintings, Vintage Car rally, water sports, Body Building, Motocross, Ashtavinayak rally, skating and cycling competitions, Golf tournament, trekking, Mallakhamb, Yoga, bullock cart race, village fairs and Shobhayatra.

Young and rising stars in performing arts look forward to the opportunities they get at the Pune Festival. Talented veterans are felicitated and workshops and seminars on tourism and other important topics are organised.

The Unique Festival in India : The Pune Festival is regarded as the only cultural event in India organised for several days with a rich variety of stimulating programmes. Entry for each of these programmes is without any entrance fee. There are various centres in the country where popular and famous artistes are invited to perform on several occasions, but Pune Festival is the only event anywhere in the country, where so many talented and popular performers are offered a single dias as an annual feature for 18 years without any break.

The Shobha Yatra being organised for several years was a major attraction for the people of the city. Artistes from different states present the folk art of their respective region, offering a glimpse of national unity and harmony through the Shobha Yatra. Similar sentiments of national unity are witnessed during the All India Urdu Mushayara and Hindi Hasya Kavi Sammelan in which leading shayars and poets from various states participate.

Who’s Who of Performing Artistes : The list of vocalists, instrumentalists and dancers is a virtual Who’s Who of the Indian performing arts. These include Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Ustad Bismilla Khan, Late Ustad Amjad Ali, Khan, Asha Bhosale, Hema Malini, Meenakshi Sheshadri, Jagjitsingh, Anup Jalota, Kishori Amonkar, Anuradha Paudwal, Balmurali Krishnan, Remo Fernandez, Gurudas Man, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, Usha Uthup, Pankaj Udhas, Hari Haran, Lui Banks, Shobha Mudgal, Nitin Mukesh, Pratibha Pralhad, Shovna Narayan, Ranjana Gauhar, Bharati Shivaji, Pandit Bhavani Shankar, Ustad Safad Ahmad Khan, Pandit Rajan-Pandit Sajan Mishra, Alka Yagnik, Pandit Satish Vyas, Shamak Dawar, Taufik Qureshi, U Shrinivasan, Ustad Rashid Khan, Silva Ganesh, Pandit Vijay Ghate, Jatin Lalit, Pinak Masani, Ananda Shankar, Vishwamohan Bhat, Pamela Singh, Surekha Punekar, Varsha Usgaonkar, Apsara Jalgaonkar, Rohini Bhate, Sucheta Bhide-Chaphekar, Adesh Bandekar and Shridhar Phadke. Scores of movie veterans like Dilip Kumar, Majrooh Sultan Puri, Javed Akhtar, Ali Sardar Jafari, Shashi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Kaifi Azmi, Madhuri Dixit, Subhash Ghai, Yukta Mukhi, Ritu Beri, Dr. Jabbar Patel, Puja Bhat, Amisha Patel, Puja Batra, Aditya Pancholi, Shakti Kapoor, Govinda, Anupam Kher, Shekhar Suman, Bindu, Fardeen Khan, Aditi Govitrikar, Amruta Patel, Ronit Roy, Sudha Chandra, Rani Mukherji and Manisha Koirala have adorned the Festival’s dias. Similarly, R K Laxman, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Vin. Da. Karandikar, Narayan Surve, Arun Date, Babasaheb Purandare, Ramdas Phutane and Yogacharya Ayyangar blessed the Festival with their presence. Last year, Chinese acrobats performed at the Festival as part of the India-China Friendship Year.

Felicitating the Masters: Even the inaugural functions at the Festival are memorable events. Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, K R Narayanan, Bhairavsingh Shekhawat, Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Madhavrao Shinde, Shivraj Patil, Gulam Nabi Azad, K P Singhdeo, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Ramkrishna Hegde, Manohar Johsi, Renuka Chowdhary, Ambika Soni, Priyaranjan Das Munshi, P C Alexander, Gopinath Munde, Sudhakar Naik and Amitabh Bachchan Aishwarya Rai participated in the grand inaugural function. Besides these, industrialists Shantanurao Kirloskar, Rahulkumar Bajaj, Neelkanth Kalyani, Vivek Goenka, K L Chugh, Vijay Malya and Neeta Ambani joined these functions over the years. Ambassadors and diplomats from several countries, foreign tourists and travel writers make it a point to attend.

The Pune Festival felicitates great sons and daughters of India at touching functions that are remembered for long. Poet Pradeep, thespian Dilip Kumar, Yogacharya Ayyangar, Vin. Da. Karandikar, Shantanurao Kirloskar, Lavani singer Yamunabai Waikar, Mangesh Padgaonkar, Na. Dho. Mahanor, Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, Dr. Jabbar Patel, Nana Chudasama, Ritu Beri, Ramdas Phutane, Dr. H.V. Sardesai and Neeta Ambani were among those who were honoured during the felicitations.

The Pune Festival acknowledged the contribution made by several Ganesh Mandals which completed a century of their existence in the city.

The organisers felt it their honour to felicitate leading lights of the country as part of the celebrations on the tenth anniversary of the Festival. They were Shobha Dey, R K Laxman, Sonal Mansingh, Nana Chudasama, Sharayu Doshi, Devrat Mehta, Rohini Bhate, Surendra Chavan, Kamalakar Sontakke, Pradeep Bhide and Krishnakant Kudale. Felicitations of Marathi poets such as Shanta Shelke, Narayan Surve, Fa. Mu. Shinde, Vin. Da. Karandikar and Narayan Sumant will always be fondly remembered by their fans.

Movie star and danseuse Hema Malini presented her ballets at the Pune Festival for several years. Her new ballet is always presented first only at the Pune Festival. No wonder that her fans flock to the venue in large number.

Abundance of Marathi Programmes: It is only natural that Marathi programmes are in abundance at the Festival. Special programmes to commemorate Pu. La. Deshpande and Shanta Shelke, 75th anniversary of Prabhat Cinema, Marathi Hasya Kavi Sammelan, Geetramayan’s Golden Jubilee, Marathi Songs of yesteryears, Natyasangeet, special performance of winners of Purushottam Natyakarandak Spardha and Maharashtra Rajya Natya Spardha and festivals of Marathi theatre, Bhaktisangeet and Lavani are organised every year. The performance of veteran compe*res such as Pradeep Bhide, Devika Nadig, Sudhir Gadgil, Sheela Chaman, Jayaram, Sameera Singh and Amrita Thapar has been attractions of various programmes inaugural function.

The Rising Stars : The next generation of artistes has been making its presence felt at the Festival. Hema Malini's daughters Isha and Ahana, sons Ayan and Aman of Ustad Ahmed Ali Khan, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma’s son Rahul, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi’s son Shriniwas have won hearts of the audience in the Pune Festival.

Social Commitment: The Pune Festival has enthusiasm, creativity and novelty. It does not lack social commitment either. The Festival has been in forefront to extend a helping hand with generous donations for the relief work during droughts and floods. It gave such a donation to the then chief minister, Mr. Sushilkumar Shinde, for drought relief four years ago. Two years later, similar fund was entrusted to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for flood relief.

The Pune Festival is considered to be mother of all such festivals in Maharashtra. Taking inspiration from this Festival, similar events are now organised at Pimpri Chinchwad, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Phaltan, Parabhani and Karveer. These festivals offer exposure to local talents. Artistes, who stole hearts of Pune Festival’s audience, soon reached national level through scores of television channels. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Shaunak Abhisheki, Bela and Savani Shende, Shephali Lahoti, Sanjiv Abhyankar, Tejashri Adige and their peers who are now national names have been products of the Pune Festival.

Achievements: Yet another achievement of the Pune Festival is the creation of a dedicated band of workers who work round-the-clock to make the events a great success. The Festival has thus become a training centre on Event Management. The Festival has become a cultural movement in the cultural capital of the state. Budding artistes dream to get an opportunity to perform at this unique platform. Several schools try to reach this dias after training students in chorus and dances. Programmes like Ugawate Tare (Rising Stars), Indradhanu (Rainbow) and Saptarang (Seven Colours) have become events for Talent Search.

Support from Print and Electronic Media: The inaugural functions of the Festival are telecast live through Doordarshan and several private TV channels. Half-an-hour capsules of all the programmes are telecast by Doordarshan on all the days of the Festival. These programmes are thus available to waiting audiences not only in Maharashtra and India but also abroad. Besides these, TV news channels, dailies and other periodicals have taken the Festival to the masses very effectively.

People’s Participation: The Festival has kept itself away from the loud and vulgar display of misplaced enthusiasm which had become commonplace elsewhere. Noticing the quality of its programmes, people have been participating in the Pune Festivals in growing number. Involvement of women as workers, competitors and audience has been very conspicuous year after year. The Festival Queen competition has become a major attraction during the Women’s Festival every year. Women are enthused to participate in this competition because it gives more importance to personality and qualities along with beauty.

The Festival gets willing response from hundreds of sponsors.

Thus, in all the respect, the Pune Festival has been accorded a permanent stable place in the city’s life. Indian and foreign tourists and travel writers have been visiting the Festival. Employment at local level has been increased at least to some extent.

A lot has been achieved through the Pune Festival. Mr. Suresh Kalmadi’s (M.P) vision, determination and organising skills have received spontaneous response from the people of Pune and have made the Festival a successful cultural movement.

The Team: Mr. Kalmadi has received strong support from Mr. Krishnakant Kudale who has been the Chief Co-ordinator of the Pune Festival. Both of them have the benefit of a dedicated team of activists in the Pune Festival Committee, the People of Pune, Government of India’s Tourism Department and Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation.

Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak - the inspiration for the Pune Festival.

Lokmanya Tilak was witness in 1892 where he saw the grand scale on which the Ganesh festival was celebrated in Gwalior and the enthusiastic participation of people therein. This alone inspired him to make the Ganesh festival a public event in Maharashtra. He saw an urgent need to reshape the Indian society based on our own heritage and philosophy. He severely criticised the blind imitation of western ways and said that it amounted to spiritual and moral bankruptcy.

Tilak wished to bring about social change for political reasons too. He was convinced that social change was the key to political awareness. The country was under a foreign rule. It was necessary to arouse the masses to oppose the tyrannical British Rule. It was necessary to stir the masses and mobilise public opinion for national ends. To achieve the desired result it was necessary to awaken the masses and what else would be fit than the already popular Ganesh festival?

Love and admiration for freedom fighters like Mr. Bal Gangadhar Tilak resulted in a prompt response when he called to observe Community festival of Lord Ganesh. Thus, the Ganesh festival at Keshav Naik Chawls began with the initiation of such festivals in Maharashtra in the year 1893 in a rather humble manner. 1893 saw the beginning of Ganesh festival as a public and popular event with Shri Bhau Rangari, Shri Khajgiwale, and Shri Ghotwadekar in Pune and residents of Keshavji Naik Chawl in Mumbai acting as pioneers. In 1894 the festival spread to other places throughout Maharashtra. Year after year, the number kept increasing. His writings in Kesari and Maharatta and his public speeches had great influence in making the festival a truly public and participative event.

Initially the Ganesh festival at KNC was rather an informal affair with a few families participating in the celebration. However, as the community festivals became more popular, more members joined in and gradually the festival took a more formal shape. Today it is one of India's biggest festival's and whole of Maharashtra, including Pune, comes alive with the 10 day celebrations.