mumbai karnatakotsava a tenday festival showcasing the rich cultural heritage of karnataka was flagged off at a function in mumbai on thursday the event marks the platinum jubilee of mysore association a mumbaibased organisation which aims at fostering better cultural ties between karnataka and maharashtra prominent kannada literatteurs and poets including gs shivarudrappa ns laxminarayana bhatt hs venkatesh murthy br laxman rao ba sanadi tulsi venugopal jayant kaikini and hema pattan shetty among others will participate in the kavyotsav poetry festival along with marathi poets such as shankar vaidya ashok nandgaonkar and nalesh patil to name a few landmark plays in kannada marathi and hindi including iptas kurukshetra se kargil tak based on kannada writer kuvempus jnanpithwinning masterpiece smashana kurukshetra rudali a kannada play based on mahasweta devis bengali classic and girish karnads yayati will be staged during the week an art and sculpture exhibition and a food festival complete with delicacies such as chiroti gojju avalakki bangalore masala dosa and kadalebele payasa will also be held at the matunga headquarters of the association according to spokesperson ks upadhyay ipta udayan karnataka governments departments of information kannada and cultural affairs and the karnataka state tourism development corporation are jointly organising the event never mind the vexed maharashtrakarnataka boundary dispute the two states have for centuries shared a close cultural rapport as reflected in the continued exchange of ideas in the exalted domain of classical music theatre and literature fabled kannada writers dr bendre shivram karanth and ur ananthamurthy are held in high esteem in maharashtra wellknown marathi writers vs khandekar vw shirwadkar both jnanpithlaureates and playwright vasant kanetkar are said to have a considerable fanfollowing in karnataka stalwarts such as sawai gandharva pandit kumar gandharva mallikarjun mansoor pandit bhimsen joshi gangubai hangal and basavraj rajguru household names in maharashtra originally belong to the musicallyprosperous dharwarhubligadag belt moreover many popular padas of bal gandharva and master dinanath mangeshkar from marathi plays of yore have been inspired by songs from kannada plays