Thiruvananthapuram, Sunday, August 22, 2010: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan today inaugurated the Onam Week celebrations, at the Chandrasekharan Nair stadium.
Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy was the chief guest at the inaugural session, which was presided over by Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

A major attraction of the inaugural day was ‘Swarna Kamalam,’ a special programme designed to pay tributes to actor Kamal Hassan who has completed 50 years in the profession.

At the Poojappura Maidan, there will be ganamelas led by P. Jayachandran, M.G. Sreekumar, K.P. Udayabhanu, Unni Menon, Anuradha Sreeram, Rimi Tomy, Sudeep Kumar, Anvar Sadath and Ranjini Jose. At the VJT Hall, dramas of organisations including KPAC, Jana Samskrithi, Abhinaya, Sangeerthana and Sahithi would be staged on different days.

The N. Krishna Pillai Foundation Hall has been selected a venue for the Onam Week for the first time. Here plays staged by Kerala Theatres, Swadeshabhimani and Athulya will be staged.

The Kanakakkunnu palace will be the venue for classical music concerts by such artistes as Bavana Radhakrishnan, Mukhathala Shivaji, Sreevathsan J. Menon, Parvathipuram Padmanabha Iyer and Thrippunithura Girija Varma.

For lovers of Kathaprasangam, the venue to head to will be the Gandhi Park where there will be performances by Vasanthakumar Sambhashivan, V. Harshakumar, Thevarthottam Sukumaran, Ayilam Unnikrishnan and Kadaikkode Viswambharan.