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Northeast India’s leading socio-cultural organization AMRAPALI (Society for ARTS), founded by the internationally toured dance duo and cultural activists Rudro Jayanta Bhagawati and Pranaame Bhagawati recently organized and hosted the Cultural Extravaganza & Prize Distribution Ceremony of the 5th CHIMERA 2020, the International Mega Cultural Event for Students on November 27, 2020 at Rabindra Bhawan in collaboration with the State Level Advisory Committee for Students & Youth Welfare and Directorate of Cultural Affairs, Govt. of Assam, NCC Directorate of North Eastern Region (Shillong), FASS International (USA), Radha Krishna Foundation (USA), Asomiya Pratidin, South Point School (Barsapara), Amrapali Magazine, North East Online Shop (NEOS) and Amrapali TalkArts. The event marked its first phase with the grand exhibition arranged by the NCC Directorate of North Eastern Region (Shillong) upon their various activities and youth affairs, hence personifying the purpose and motive of youth development of the event. Various competitions for students from Nursery to Master’s Degree level was conducted virtually from November 17th to 21st.
The event was graced by Maj. Gen. Ananta Bhuyan (Additional Director General), Directorate of NCC North East Region, Dr. Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur – Assistant High Commissioner of Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh, Shri Bishnu Kamal Borah – Director, Directorate of Cultural Affairs, Govt. of Assam, Shri Ranjit Mazumdar – Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Minister of Assam and Pranjal Saikia – eminent actor. The cultural extravaganza was presented and performed by the Amrapali Institute of Arts and Amrapali Repertory, choreographed and artistically directed by Pranaame Bhagawati and conceived and musically directed by Rudro Jayanta Bhagawati with the core team of their performing artistes that includes Minakshi Bordoloi, Manmit Mahanta, Mandeep Mahanta and Tribeni Bujorbaruah on vocals, Pritam Ghosh and Taranga Kashyap on Tabla, Arunabh Jyoti Malakar and Giren Kalita on Khol, Nabajit Saikia on flute, Anand Prasad Dikshit on Sitar, Bishwajit Bhattacharjee on Cymbals, Kobindro Das and Shubham Mallick on Keyboard. Smt. Pranjana Dutta, leading Assamese actress and Sudipto Bharali, anchored the event.
The 5th CHIMERA 2020 catered international collaboration this year having participation from USA, Guyana and Australia and conferred 5 bicycles as Special Prize to talented youths (sponsored by FASS International USA and Radha Krishna Foundation USA), 5 scholarships to promising young artistes and honoured 5 eminent artiste personalities with the Amrapali Abhinava Aador award. The awarded personalities were Shri Digen Mahanta – eminent singer of Assamese folk, native and modern style singing, Shri Bipul Das – eminent Kathak dance exponent, Shri Jatin Bora – eminent acting personality, Shri Pabitra Margherita – eminent cultural activist and Sangeet Sattra – an organization actively associated with Sattriya performing arts.
The event also marked its grandeur by releasing a souvenir namely ‘Kopol Kolpito’ which equally binds with the name and purpose of the event and having written contributions by dance art practitioners, experts and exponents like Dr. Mallika Kandali, Smt. Marami Medhi, Smt. Anita Sarma, Smt. Ranjumoni Saikia, Smt. Rinjumoni Saikia, Smt. Dreamly Gogoi, Smt. Meenakshi Medhi, Smt. Pranaame Bhagawati and Shri Rudro Jayanta Bhagawati.
The CHIMERA happens to be a rare event of its own kind, which generates a platform for more than 35 artistic competitions, and dozens of cultural presentations that are organized and hosted onto a single platform. Talents of CHIMERA joins Amrapali Repertory from time to time on various recognized cultural platforms at the national and international levels. CHIMERA is a multi-dimensional cultural event specially curated for students. Encompassing some of the most wonderful and marvelous achievements by students, the CHIMERA happens to be the most sought-after platform for rising stars and upcoming talents at the student’s level. This event is conceived to establish a notion of developing and nurturing the creative intelligence, artistic hope and most importantly an insight to creative professionalism amidst the students and making them aware of establishing themselves as an emerging artiste of our nation.
More photos of the event can be viewed and downloaded HERE.