Special Movie-Themed Program of Telugu Association of Greater Boston by Siva Reddy and Vijaya Lakshmi

The Telugu Association of Greater Boston (TAGB) presented a movie-themed entertainment program centered around music, dance and humor, to a capacity audience in Littleton on Sunday, 27^th May 2007. Judging by the enthusiastic participation of the audience, especially the younger ones, till the very end of the program late into the night, the program was a resounding success. More than 700 people, including many children, not only were the audience, but in many cases entertainers themselves – having utilized many opportunities to exhibit their skills on-stage along with the main artistes. It is quite remarkable that essentially only two invited artistes kept the audience enthralled for more than five hours. After an opening prayer by Mounika Donepudi, President of TAGB, Mr. Sreenivas Kaki, thanked the many sponsors without whose help it would not have been possible to organize this program and provide free admission to all the members. He also highlighted the pending amendments to Association’s by-laws that will be discussed in the upcoming General Body meeting. As always, Mr. Kaki encouraged members to participate in community programs, and stay in touch with TAGB either through their website (http://www.tagb.org) or via email to president@tagb.org. The evening’s program was compered by TAGB vice-president Dr. Surya Jayanti, who managed the performances efficiently despite inevitable time over-runs.

The evening’s chief guest, former minister and current MLA Dr. Ravinder Reddy, was felicitated by TAGB. Dr. Reddy mentioned in his remarks that while India and AP have made great strides in economic development, this progress is not reflected in the state of our primary education and primary health care, and urged NRI Telugus to do their part for the betterment of these institutions in India. TAGB also felicitated Sri Mohan Nannapaneni for his recent election as Treasurer of TANA, and Dr. Ammani for her role as the member of TANA Board of Trustees.

The first of the evening’s two main performers was ‘Andhra Nightingale’ Smt. Vijayalakshmi, a well-known movie and TV artiste not just in Telugu but in several other Indian languages as well. With her melodious voice, elegant stage presence, and her efforts to connect with the audience, Smt. Vijayalakshmi was an instant hit. She rendered several popular new and old movie songs karaoke-style, some as duets with Californian Sri Prabhu, Bostonian Sri Madhu Chary, and primarily with her co-artist Sri Siva Reddy. Her ability to imitate other singers with ease when performing their songs, to pepper her renderings with humor and jokes, and to provide appropriate dance steps to the tunes, all endeared her to the audience.

The second artiste, ‘Fun Star’ Sri Siva Reddy, already well known in Andhra Pradesh, provided a program centered around humor and mimicry, laced with songs and dance. An excellent multi-faceted talent, Sri Reddy drew uproarious laughter and applause with his humorous pieces on daily incidents, parody of Telugu TV serials, mimicry and caricature of the peculiarities of several well-known politicians and movie stars, and several other innovative pieces, as well as with song and rigorous dance numbers. The openness with which both Sri Reddy and Smt. Vijayalakshmi encouraged audience members to participate, and energized the several young children who took to performing on the stage, is indeed remarkable. The climax event of the evening was the last rendering, a duet by Smt. Vijayalakshmi and Sri Siva Reddy, during which about a hundred or so people, including TAGB committee members, children and adults from the general audience, participated in an on-stage chorus and group dance.

The TAGB committee honored both the artistes of the evening with mementoes and titles that reflected the appreciation of the Boston area Telugu community – ‘Melody Queen’ for Smt. Vijayalakshmi and ‘Vinoda Ratna’ for Sri Siva Reddy – along with trendy shawls. In addition, the two artistes were also presented with golden bangles gifted by Sri Ranjan Vadlpatla and Sri Ramana Ganni. An additional highlight of the program was a presentation by the 45-member strong TYAGB (TAGB’s youth wing), which included several dance numbers and an AV presentation on their activities and goals.

Several people that contributed to the success of this program were recognized and honored. Special mention was made of the sponsors and donors in the Vote of Thanks, first among whom was Sri Prakash Reddy. As Platinum Sponsor, not only did Sri Reddy provide financial support, but was also instrumental in providing moral support and encouragement to TAGB for this program. Other key people without whom the program would not have succeeded included Sri Mohan Nannapaneni (Gold Sponsor), Sri Ranjan Vadlapatla, Sri Ram Sudireddy and Sri Ramanatha Reddy (Silver Sponsors), Sri Baburao Polavarpau (General Sponsor), as well as several institutional donors, including Leader Bank, Law Offices of Tripti N. Patel and Associates, Softline Systems Inc., and Tadmor and Tadmor LLP. The program ended with an offering of thanks to the many volunteers that worked hard to make this program a success.

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