17 May, 2007

Indian classical danceuse Sonal mansingh threatens to return the Kalidas Sanmaan !

This post once again deals with the ego of an artiste, but this time it is more in suppot of the concerned artiste. I have received enough flak for attempting to paint Kishoritai in a poor light in one of my previous posts! There, it was more about the frills to a performance which could have been done away with.

It has happened on innumerable occassions and it happened again. Kishoritai has been reported to have stopped her recital midway when she espied Farooq Abdullah chit chatting, sitting in the front row. I supprot her stance in this regard at least. It was the turn of the noted Odissi Danceuse, Sonal Mansingh this time to register her protest at the lack of etiquettes shown by the BJP ministers in Bhopal. The same BJP fellas who keep harping about our "Sabhyata" and "Sanskriti" ad nauseum ! It was not a simple performance to boot. The occassion was to felicitate the danceuse herself with Kalidas Sammaan, the highest honour conferred by the MP government. After the felicitations, Sonal Mansingh began her performance and within minutes of commencing, Rajnath Singh, Shivraj Chouhan (CM of MP), Lakshmikant Sharma (ironically, the culture minister !!!) all began to leave the Ravindra Bhavan auditorium. Sonalji was so incensed that she stopped her performance instantly and spoke on the mike regarding such shocking manners or the lack of them! She also threatened to return the Kalidas Sammaan. However, the situaion was somewhat brought under control by the intervention of other dignitaries and ministers and the show then continued till its end.

Similar incident had occured at the residence of Vidushi Gangubai Hangal, the noted singer of Kirana Gharana. In this instance, she was to be conferred the Karnataka Rajya Ratna award by the CM Dharam Singh, who was quite late in arriving as is the wont of all politicians. Gangubai being the outspoken lady she's always been, lambasted the CM after his arrival, who was reduced to his apologetic best !

It only showcases the utter callousness of he ruling lot towards the performing artistes especially classical / folk arts. Had it been Aishwarya Rai's felicitation or any other Tom, Dick and Harry two bit Television stars also, the ministers would have queued up long before the appointed hour to pay homage to those idiots ! I have only disgust for such people. I had expected better manners from the guardians of our "Sabhya" and "Samskari" BJPministers. SHAME ON YOU BJP MINISTERS !

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