Sir,

The Abracadabra titled “Welcome to Grand Dasara” by K.B. Ganapathy in Star of Mysore dated Aug.28 took me on a nostalgic trip down the memory lane.

I too, in my teens, regularly used to see the Dasara procession,  when the last Maharaja, Jayachamaraja Wadiyar along with the Prince, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, used to sit in the Golden Howdah on the back of Drona and later, Balarama, who didn’t complain of the additional weight on their backs. No one complained about it too.

The presence of the Maharaja was a sight to behold. All this has been chronicled much in detail and is readily available in the public domain.

What KBG missed to write was the choice of films that were screened during Dasara in the 1970s in all the theatres. It was a connoisseurs’ delight.

The best films in all regional and international languages (yes, Italian, Swedish, French too along with English!) used to be selected for the film festival. The public had the chance to see films of world renowned Directors like Bergman, Kurusowa, Satyajit Ray, Ritwick Ghatak and a host of others.

Whoever it was in the Committee which chose the films to be screened did a great job. The tickets were heavily subsidised (one or two rupees, not more than that) and the residents of Mysore and the tourists, had the opportunity to see the real classics in celluloid.

In short, the Dasara Film Festival was also one of the star attractions, besides the Exhibition, the illumination, the Circus, the Sports event and the daily cultural programmes at the Palace in the evenings.

 Well, those were truly heady days when Mysore city turned itself into a magical one!

– P.L. Jothindra, Ramakrishnanagar, 30.8.2022

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