Mangaluru: National award winning actor Prakash Raj inaugurated the 10-day ‘Karavali Utsav’ exhibition here at Lalbagh on December 22.

Raj who addressed the gathering after the inauguration, said that the coastal region was a symbol of unity and festive spirit. “Coastal region which stands between the Arabian sea and Western ghats, is a beautiful region to stay.”

Taking potshots at BJP MP Prathap Simha for making an issue over his surname, Raj said, “People have been questioning me over my surname whether it is Prakash Rai or Prakash Raj. I clarify that my screen name is Prakash Raj and my name is Prakash Rai, which should be understood by someone who has common sense. Will you also question Rajnikanth(Shivaji Rao Gaekwad), Vishnuvardhan(Sampath Kumar) or Rajkumar(Mutturaj) for their names? he asked.

He went on to say that if name was to imply anything, then the MP needed to clarify if he was a human being or an animal because his second name is Simha! “Do you eat food like a human or by hunting down your pretty? Don’t you have any language other than abuse?,” he questioned urging people not to pay heed to those who spread communal violence.

District-in-charge minister Ramanath Rai, minister U T Khader, MLA J R Lobo and other guests were present.

The event began with a procession from Nehru Maidan to the Karavali Utsav grounds at Lalbagh at 3.30 p.m, displaying various cultural heritage of the coastal regrion passing through the major road of the city.

Different cultural programmes have been scheduled at the grounds and at the Kadri Park in the evenings.

Major programmes scheduled at Kadri Park included a magic show by Kudroli Ganesh and team, sitar recital by Padmashri awardee Ustad Shaeed Parvez of Pune, Shivam nritya by a Mumbai’s Vaibhav Arekar team, violin duet by Tejas Manjunath and Pranav Manjunath of Bengaluru, and devotional songs by Vidyabhushana. There will be Hindustani concert by Sangeetha Katti and carnatic concert by Neyveli Santhanagopalan of Chennai.

In addition there will be yogasana show by yoga teacher Gopalakrishna Delampady and his students and various other dance programmes.

The two day Yuva Utsava will also be conducted in Kadri park on December 28 and 29 in which selected college students would present various programmes.

Festival of cartoons has been scheduled at the park on December 30 and December 31 from 10.30 a.m.

A three-day beach festival at Panambur from December 29 will be an added attraction of the festival.

There will be food festival, beach sports events and music programmes at the beach on the three days.

Volleyball, netball and throw ball tournaments, surfing have been scheduled at the beach.

B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada, will deliver the valedictory address of the festival at the beach on December 31 evening.

Yakshagana, drama, talamaddale, light music, folk and classical dances, multi-lingual kavi gosti would be the attractions at the utsava grounds in Lalbagh.