Government College, Sankhali in collaboration with Ravindra Bhavan Sankhali will hold the 22nd Goa Yuva Mahotsav at both venues on January 14 and January 15. Forty-six groups, including those from colleges and clubs, will participate in the two-day event which will have 14 different competitions. The total number of participants for the Mahotsav is over 3500 with an expected viewership of over 10,000 people.
This year the theme of the Yuva Mahotsav is ‘Goan identity’ and hence several competitions have been planned around the theme. The second day will see interviews of Uday Bhembre, Sadanand Kanekar, Shaikh Hanif, Sandesh Prabhudesai, Prajal Sakhardande and Prakash Vazhrikar.
The venue is named after tiatrist Ophelia D’Souza while the main stage of the Yuva Mahotsav has been named after activist and dramatist Eknath Naik, similarly the entrance is named after Bhajani artist Madhusudan Chari. Second stage is named after tiatrist Rico Rod and the third stage after tiatrist Alegro Roque Theodorio Antao better known as ‘Star of Arossim’. The street play square has been named after Konkani activist Motiram Kamat and Faski competition gallery has been named after Konkani activist Pandurang Desai.
A total of 14 events – five group events, five college events and four college and group events will be held at the two day festival. Events will include activities like procession, folk dance, singing competition, street play, dance, trio, play, painting competition, quiz, poetry competition, Goan musical instrument ‘jugalbandi’, ‘kavan kalijatle’ and ‘dhik thai’, and the crowning of ‘Mr and Miss Yuva Mohatsav’.
The winner will be awarded a cash prize of `25,000 and runners up will be presented a cash prize of `20,000. The disciplined group will take away a special prize of `5000. Besides this, winners in the different individual competitions will receive `2000, `1500 and `1000 as first, second and third prize respectively.
Principal of Government College, Sankhali, Joydeep Bhattacharya is chairman of the reception committee while Suprabhat Bhat is the working president of the Mahotsav, professor Sunita Kanekar is the main coordinator and Prasad Gaonkar is secretary of the Mahotsav.
(The Yuva Mahotsav will be held on January 14 and 15 at Government College, Sankhali and Ravindra Bhavan, Sankhali. The inauguration will be held on January 14 at 10 a.m. while the concluding ceremony will be held on January 15 at 5.30 p.m. The event is open to all.)