Siddharth Kak of Surabhi Foundation ‘s Dhamaka Arts & Craft Festival

Siddharth Kak of Surabhi Foundation ‘s “Dhamaka Arts & Craft Festival ” (scheduled from January 21-30 at Urban Haat, Belapur )Cast of ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’ Anushka Sharma & Ranveer Singh ably supporting the festival promoting art and culture attended the press meet along with Maneesh sharma Director ,Manpreet singh the sardar and niraj vohra ,the flower decorater . Anushka Sharma looked gorgeous in Blue jeans and white shirt,and was chatting with Siddharth kak and understanding about the festival and forms of art available ,Siddharth Kak expressed his thanks for the people associated and who had lend there hand .

The artiste Priyanshu a young child prodigy is a part of “Dhamaka Arts & Craft Festival”and into pottery,who taught Ranveer and Anushka to make some pottery and Anushka and Ranveer Singh seemed competing with each other who makes the best clay pot, Ranveer looked handsome in black . Ranveer singh shared his story about how he made his clay pot as a child and while making he slept and when he woke up his teacher said he made the best one and Ranveer Singh said he goes back to his school days being here . Geeta Kak and Pamela Chopra the trustees of Surbhi Foundation were present at the venue. Anushka Sharma was enjoying every bit of clay pottery and she said she never had done it before ..The evening was wonderful and Siddharth Kak was ecstatic at the wonderful response on the festival and said it was wonderful youth icons are recognising and willing to preserve the culture. The evening followed with Abhijit Pohankar ‘s performance at the press meet. It was a wonderful cultural get together and all seemed glad that there was overwhelming response .

Trustees -Pamela Chopra ,Anup jalota,Raza Murad, Pandit Shiv Sharma ,Sangita jindal,Prafulla dahanukar,Gita kak,Mukti Verma,Dr Jyotinder Jain

Mumbai, January 17, 2011: Bollywood blockbuster ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’ stars Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh expressed support to the Surabhi Foundation for Research and Cultural Exchange (Surabhi FORCE), a non-profit organization, involved in the documentation, preservation and dissemination of India’s Cultural Heritage at the National and International level. As a part of these activities, the Surabhi Foundation , which is holding a 10-day Festival called the Surabhi Dhamaka – Arts & Crafts Festival from January 21 to January 30, 2011 at Urban Haat, Belapur, Navi Mumbai in collaboration with the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India. Attending the festival will be cCelebrity Guests such as like Anup Jalota, Rakesh Bedi, Raza Murad and several film/ TV artistes will also attend the festivalmany others. In fact, Ms. Pamela Chopra of Yashraj Films is also a Trustee of Surabhi FORCE. (this line should come last when we’re talking about the Foundation and the Trustees) .

A Celebration of Art and Artisans!
The Surabhi Dhamaka Arts & Crafts Festival will showcase 150 craftsmen from all over across India, making and it will be a platform for the people to experience and take home the work of these ordinarily unsung masters. buy various unique crafts and everyday products from the artisans directly. Here you can buy Buy the most colourfulvibrant Phulkaris, hand woven Phulkari Duppatas from the mastercraft personby a National Awardee; a . Get your T Shirt painted in by a traditional Warli designsartist, learn pottery from get your hands dirty by making pots on a master potter!the potters wheel . Buy exotic hand made Tribal Jewellery from the interiors of Chattishgarh. A key highlight of the Festival is the presence and performance of child prodigy painter Priyanshu Thakur, who has showcased art his work at premier art galleries in Mumbai and whose Paintings & Ceramics Collections have been featured jointly with renowned personalities such as Mr. Amol Gupte, Mrs. Neena Rege, Mr. Jay Raghoonathan , Mrs. Tulika Gajarao and Mrs. Pratibha Wagh.

The festival also boasts a variety of cCulinary delights such aslike Hyderabadi Pattar Ghost, Dilli Paneer Tikka and Chat, Biryanis, Juhu Beach ka Gola, etc.

Evenings will also see sSpecial performances in the evening will take place at the open air amphitheatre to complete the experience of a Family Outing. Some of the by artistes like performers include well known fusion artist musician Abhijeet Pohankar of `Piya Bawri’ fame and the well known Marathi artist Ms. Vaishali Samant performing a unique jugalbandi with a young rock band `Shoonya’ for the Closing Ceremony. On Wednesday, January 26, In addition it will feature a band from Punethere will also be bellydancing, performances by, possibly, noted Ghazal Artistes Javed Bashir and Akbar Ali from Pakistan. It will also showcase , ‘Lavani’ performances from by well known artists such as performers like Akansha Kadam, Anil Hankare and a unique Fire Dance known as `Poi’ along in tandem with with break dance in the evenings!.
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Mr. Siddharth Kak, Founder Trustee and Producer-Presenter of popular TV series `Surabhi’ show who has won and winner of three National Film Awards and several Television Awards, says, “The Surabhi FORCE Dhamaka Arts & Craft Festival is a key initiative in our vision of preserving India’s rich heritage through audio visual documentation. The Festival explores the vibrant colors, the fascinating lifestyles and the priceless treasures of our cultural and natural heritage. We are grateful to Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh of Yashraj Films’ ‘Band Baaja Baarat’ for their cooperation and support in making this Festival a grand success.”

Mr. Kak added, “The Surabhi Dhamaka Arts & Crafts Festival is a unique model of Public-Private partnership to present and celebrate our golden culture and heritage in all its diversity. Through this exciting Festival, the youth of India have an opportunity to connect with their cultural roots. The presence of popular film/ TV stars will attract the masses as well as classes to this Festival.”

The driving vision of Surabhi FORCE includes the creation of The Living Heritage Centre (LHC), a multi-faceted initiative to build a global centre for cultural exchange through cutting edge technologies and interactive installations which would that will create a new paradigm of communication model, interpreting India’s cultural ethos in a memorable form. The special features of the Living Heritage Centre include the Living Heritage Museum, Cinema Heritage Centre, Miniature Monuments Gallery, Moving Dinosaur Exhibits, International Media Resource Centre, Amphitheatre, Food Courts, Musical Fountains, Singing & Talking Trees, and many other innovative, interactive features. Such a Living Heritage Centre would be a first for India and the forerunner of many such Heritage Centres, not only in India but also in many parts of the world.

About Surabhi Foundation
The Surabhi Foundation for Research and Cultural Exchange (Surabhi FORCE) is a non-profit organization, involved in the documentation, preservation and dissemination of India’s Cultural Heritage at the National and International level. Surabhi FORCE is based on the remarkable success of `Surabhi’ (Fragrance) India’s longest running culture series on National Television, which was telecast for eleven years at prime time. As a result of the amazing success of ‘Surabhi’, India’s largest independent audio-visual archive of Indian art and heritage was created, a resource that lies at the heart of the Foundation. Surabhi FORCE has received an endowment of $1 million from the Ford Foundation, USA to carry on its activities and establish a National Cultural Audio-Visual Archive in India.

Since it’s inception in 1998, Surabhi FORCE’s endeavor is to use the treasures unearthed by ‘Surabhi’ as a National and Global resource to understand and interpret India’s vast and diverse cultural heritage. Surabhi FORCE has completed a number of projects in the field of culture, folk art and heritage with the support of the Ford Foundation, USA. It is also the recipient of the US Ambassadors Award for Archiving of Monuments for the year 2004/2005.