Some of the best artistes in the city will come together on Sunday night to raise the curtain on the festive season.
The 11th edition of Vodafone Aagomoni, in association with t2, will present an extravaganza of music and dance, drama and recitation through the night to end on Mahalaya morning, at the Science City auditorium.
The programme will start at 7pm with Aparajita, a play reading by Mamata Shankar, Arpita Chatterjee and Soumitra Chatterjee, interspersed with songs by Monomoy Bhattacharjee and Paramita Banerjee. "It's a tale of a mother who lives in Calcutta and a daughter who lives abroad and how they connect over Skype during the days of Puja," said Mamata Shankar, who will enact the role of Arpita's mother in the play.
Next up will be the musical trio of Srikanto Acharya, Raghab Chatterjee and Neepabithi Ghosh in a section titled The Moments. The third part of the programme, called Ahoban, is split into two sections. The first will be a storytelling session in which Rajatava Dutta and Gargi Roy Chowdhury will play a married couple who come to Kumartuli from the interiors of the Sunderbans and discover the "origins of Mahalaya". In the second section, Rupankar and Subhamita will sing DL Roy's Puja songs and some numbers from their new album Dui Duguney Prem.
"Vodafone Aagomoni gives you the feeling that Puja is here," said Rupankar, who has performed at the programme for the past four years. He will be joined on the stage by the winner of a special singer hunt contest organised by Vodafone for the first time this year.
The You and I duo of Soumyojit Das on vocals and Sourendro Mullick on classical piano will then collaborate with singer Srabani Sen to present a mix of tunes that blend with Tagore compositions.
"From Carnatic varnam to Ghalib's ghazals to kirtan, we will try to celebrate all forms of music," said Soumyojit.
In the next section, Love, Peace and Joy, actresses Koneenica Banerjee and Soumili Biswas will play the goddess and welcome her to earth through a fusion of contemporary and classical dance.
Late into the night, singer-songwriter Anupam Roy and his band will belt out his hits before Bickram Ghosh takes over with a medley of beats and rhythms in keeping with the sounds of the festive season.
In between, Soumitra Chatterjee will be felicitated for his "contribution to Bengali cinema and for being a part of Vodafone Aagomoni for the last five years", said Saurav Mukherjee, business head (Calcutta), Vodafone India.
Priced between Rs 40 and Rs 200, Vodafone Aagomoni passes will be available at select Vodafone stores and the Science City box office from Tuesday. The passes will also be available online at www.indianstage.in.
