Cuttack: The upcoming Bali Jatra in Odisha’s Cuttack city is all set to offer many new attractions for the visitors with the organisers planning a number of captivating shows.
The registration process for the annual festival, scheduled to begin on November 15, officially started on Tuesday.
Visitors to the Bali Jatra ground will be treated to spellbinding performances by renowned singers and celebrities like Sonu Nigam, Suresh Wadkar and Piyush Mishra during a ‘Bollywood Night’ programme this time.
A new drone show with as many as 500 drones is slated to be held during this year’s festival. The audience will also be enthralled with an attractive laser show, sources said.
Sources said ‘Odia Asmita’ will be this year’s theme, while Odia cinema will be a special feature. A special “Cuttack-in-Cuttack” pavilion will showcase Odia Asmita through Odia cinema (Ollywood).
Sharing detailed information about the annual festival, Cuttack Collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde said the green crackers show will also feature in this year’s edition of the popular festival.
For the first time in the event’s history, the rich heritage and history of Bali Jatra will be showcased through spectacular drone and laser shows, offering visitors a unique experience.
A total of 1100 plots will be put up for auction which is slated to be held on October 27.
The festival, which marks the end of the holy ‘Kartika’ month, celebrates the day when Odia ‘Sadhabas’ or mariners used to set sail for distant lands such as Bali, Java, Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia, and Sri Lanka for trade.
The literal meaning of Bali Jatra is ‘voyage to Bali’. Bali is an island in Indonesia.
It is a unique socio-cultural event with a glorious history which commemorates the past association of the people of Odisha with Bali and the glorious maritime tradition of transoceanic voyages they undertook to Southeast Asian countries.
According to historians, in the early days, traders from Odisha, called Sadhabas used to go on voyages to Bali, Java, Borneo, and Sumatra in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.