Mysuru: With a week left for this year’s Dasara, the festive fever has already gripped the youth of Mysuru who gathered in large numbers for the inauguration of ‘Yuva Sambhrama – 2024’ at the Open Air Theatre in Manasagangothri here last evening.

The event, which provides students from across the State to showcase their talent, is held every year prior to the commencement of the Dasara festival. The presence of Kannada actors Srimurali and Rukmini Vasanth added more glitter to the inaugural event.

While Srimurali was addressing the gathering, youth demanded him to sing for which the actor obliged with the song ‘Hudugir Kannu Loaded Gannu…’ from his movie ‘Rathavara’ which set the tone for the celebrations.

Srimurali, who said that ‘Our Nada Habba is Our Pride,’ added that it was only in Mysuru that a grandeur Dasara could be witnessed and no other place in the country. Later, the actor, promoting his upcoming movie ‘Bhageera,’ urged the youth to watch the film in theatres.

Earlier, inaugurating the event, District Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa said that among the 470 colleges which had applied to take part in the Yuva Sambhrama, 150 colleges were selected and another 120 colleges out of those not selected would be given an opportunity to showcase their talent by extending the event by a day.

Tribute to ‘Appu’

Yesterday’s inaugural event also witnessed the organisers paying tributes to late actor Puneeth Rajkumar, fondly called ‘Appu.’ Dr. Madhusudan and troupe rendered the song ‘Bombe Heluthaithe…’ from the Kannada movie ‘Rajakumara’ joined the audience who also sang along by waving their mobile phones turning on the torch.

A delayed inauguration

The students and audience present at the Open Air Theatre, who had arrived much earlier to scheduled time of inauguration (5 pm as per the banners at the venue; 6 pm as per the invitation) waited for more than two hours for the guests to arrive. Finally, the event was inaugurated at 8.20 pm which caused a great inconvenience to the students who had to wait for long wearing their costumes.

On day-1, Holenarasipur Govt. FGC for Women, Hassan presented a dance programme portraying the folk and desi culture; Hunsur’s Sri Mahaveer College of Education showcased Dasara heritage through dance. It was followed by performances of 18 other colleges.

MLC C.N. Manjegowda, Karnataka Exhibition Authority Chairman Ayub Khan, Karnataka State Guarantee Schemes Implementation Authority Vice-Chairperson Dr. Pushpa Amarnath, DC G. Lakshmikanth Reddy, ZP CEO K.M. Gayathri, SP N. Vishnuvardhana & DCP M. Muthuraj were present.

‘Yuva Sambhrama’ programmes will be held from 6 pm onwards till Sept.  30.