Expat cultural show enthrals Doha audience

Indian Ambassador Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa receives the ‘Palakkadan Nattarangu’ assistance for the ICBF, from its president Prakash Menon, as other forum officials look on. ICC president Tarun Kumar Basu, Interior Ministry official al-Sherwani, K M Varghese,, V A Gopinath, K V Gopal and Unni are also seen.

Expatriate forum, ‘Palakkadan Nattarangu’ gave stage show lovers among Qatar’s Malayali community a special treat, with a well-planned ‘Nilolsavam 2012’ event at Doha Cinema on Friday. The holiday crowd is bound to remember it, as one of the best shows held in recent times. The forum, which has a good tradition of bringing artistes of repute for more than a decade, did not disappoint the audience this time either. Performers such as well-known classical dance exponent ‘Urvashi’ Shobhana, Padma Shri award recipient and veteran ‘Thayampaka’ artiste Mattanur Sankaran Kutty Marar, versatile playback singer M G Shreekumar and satirist Jayaraj Warrier were in the 34-member team flown in from India for the show. As in previous ‘Nattarangu’ shows, the hall had a capacity audience even before the event started and the audience had enough reasons to be pleased about the more than five-hour event, which extended almost past midnight. Shobhana and her team demonstrated that they had few parallels in the industry. A dedicated artiste par excellence, Shobhana proved her class and calibre with yet another stupendous performance on the day. The winner of the best actress title at the 1994 National Film Awards, also showed that she still has much to offer and also revealed why she is still regarded as an exceptional Bharatanatyam exponent. The musical concert that followed featured a mix of old and new songs, many of them memorable melodies. Sreekumar was repeatedly cheered by the sportive gathering. Upcoming Srinath, too, was well-received by the music lovers. However, female singer Rimmi Tomy turned out to be a disappointment. ‘Thayampaka’ maestro Mattannur made his presence memorable with an immaculate performance of ‘triple thayampaka,’ which has had few equals at any of the stage shows held in recent times. The artiste and his group members gave a superb show, to have the audience cheering loudly at regular intervals. The anchoring of the event by satirist Jayaraj Warrier, too, went down well with the audience. Earlier, Indian Ambassador Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa hailed the role played by expatriate forums, in particular by ‘Palakkadan Nattarangu,’ for extending help to needy and deserving community members. The forum president Prakash Menon also handed over the forum’s yearly assistance to the Indian Community Benevolent Forum (ICBF), which was received by Wadhwa. Menon reiterated that ‘Nattarangu’ is committed to assist families of needy members. Earlier, Nattarangu general secretary V A Gopinath welcomed the gathering. Besides Menon, Indian Cultural Centre president Tarun Kumar Basu, senior community member K M Varghese and Nattarangu officials, Ashokan M,  K V Gopal and M R Unni, were also present on the occasion. Ministry of Interior official Ali al-Sherwani was the guest of honour. Gulf Times was the official media. 4 June 2012 http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=510006&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16