Mangaluru: Stage is set for the much anticipated national level cultural extravaganza – Alva’s Virasat 2018 – that gets underway at Puthige in Moodbidri on January 12.

Leading names in the Bollywood entertainment stage – KK and team, Shankar Mahadevan-Ehsaan-Loy and Kailash Kher and troupe will hold centre stage on each of these three-days that will also see the Mishra brothers – Rajan and Sajan bestowed with Alva’s Virasat Award 2018 on Friday.

Focus of 24th edition of this cultural festival is firmly on youths and choice of the above artists reflects this mood, said Dr M Mohan Alva, chairman, Alva’s Education Foundation. P B Acharya, Governor of Nagaland will inaugurate the festival and D Veerendra Heggade, dharmadhikari, Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala will preside. The inaugural will be preceded by a short cultural procession. Rajan and Sajan Mishra will receive a purse of Rs 1 lakh with the award, he said.

While these leading names will hold sway over an audience of 40,000-plus at the sprawling open air auditorium at Vivekananda Nagar, the equally imposing 150 feet by 60 feet Smt Vanajakshi K Shripathi Bhat stage will also seek young talents and students from Alva’s Educational Institutions showcase their talent, Dr Alva said, adding the entire Alva’s campus and the stage and the open air theatre will be tastefully decorated to add to the festive mood that the event brings.

Post performance by Krishnakumar Kunnath (KK), Soorya Gayathri and team from Kerala will take stage with their devaranama. Students of Sanathana Natyalaya, Mangaluru will follow this with Sanathana Raasthramritha, a dance performance. Muthirikkas Kottapuram and team from Kerala will present daffmuttu. Students of Alva’s will bring down curtains on opening day with bharathanatyam, badagu yakshagana, folk dance of Gujarat and Manipuri dances.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy will start proceedings on day two with more than 2 hour performance. Mrudanga tharanga featuring young talent B S Ananda, Pannaga Sharma, Krishna Pavan Kumar and Sumukha Karanth on mrudanga and Dhanashri Shabaraya and Sumedha on violin will follow the trio.

Artists of Upasana Centre for Dance, Kolkata and Nritya Vasantha Natyalaya, Kundapura will present kathak dance and karavali vaibhava subsequently, Dr Alva said.

Alva’s students will round off the day with Mohiniyattam, stunts in mallakambha and Sri Lankan dance. Kailash Kher and team with start day three with popular and hottest songs from Bollywood. Talented child artist Sadgun Aithal will present magic of mandolin and this will be followed by Odissi dance by Orissa Dance Academy, Bhubaneswar.

Banjara folk dance, Gotipua, Manipuri stick dance and kathak by Alva’s students will bring down curtains on the fest, he added.