Lexington, MA — Nine months of planning and preparation, and weeks of intense practices by 50+ dancers and efforts by 30+ Vision-Aid volunteers culminated in a spectacular Vision-Aid 2023 Annual event – “The Son of the Wind – The saga of Hanuman” by renowned producer and choreographer the one and only Shri Ramachandran Muralidaran ( a.k.a Madurai R. Muralidaran) on July 23rd 2023, dazzling audiences at the in-person event in Littleton, MA as well as those watching online.
Vision-Aid offered the show in this hybrid model for the first time, with live dancers on stage in Littleton enthralling audiences in both the 700+ sold out show as well as virtual viewers.
While the superb dance show which many acclaimed as “Better than Broadway”, was the crowning jewel of the evening– there were many other glittering aspects to the show.
Opening ceremony
The Keynote speaker Sushil Tuli, CEO and Chairman of Leader Bank delivered a truly uplifting and inspiring keynote address which deeply resonated with the audiences. Vision-Aid’s opening ceremony also featured a very compelling opening speech by Vision-Aid’s volunteer
President Lalit Sudan. This was followed by an introduction of the Chief Guests Sushil Tuli and Alka Kotak by Vice Chair Veena Handa. Chairman Emeritus Puran Dang eloquently thanked the Chief Guests on behalf of the Vision-Aid team. Vision-Aid Co-Founder Revathy Ramakrishna, thanked the sponsors of both the event and the cause for their support which enables programs to enable, educate and empower the visually impaired throughout the year. The opening ceremony concluded with Mr. Syed Ali Rizvi, long time Vision-Aid Board member and past President.
Quadruple Matching Grant Announced
Vision-Aid founder Ramakrishna Raju ( Ram Raju ) announced two exciting matching grant programs at the event:
- Every donation of $300 made towards AI-powered Smart Vision Glasses will be equally matched thanks to the generous support of renowned author Suresh (Sam) Mehta of Florida, who has donated the proceeds from his remarkable book “Bharat” towards charitable causes.
Every donation of $150 towards a smart phone will be doubled by Trees for Life Foundation.
Beyond these US based matches, Rotary clubs in India and CSR donations also offer matches for both Smart Vision Glasses and Smart Phone, effectively quadrupling the donation.
The match announced at the event has been extended to Sunday July 30th at 4 pm so any donor interested in quadrupling the impact of these life-changing gift can go to www.VisionAid.org/event to make their donation before 4pm on Sunday July 30th, to avail the match.
Audience Reactions
Prashanth Palakurthi, well known entrepreneur and philanthropist remarked “Revathy & Ram & Veena & Lalit & Syed & Vision-Aid & many teachers and students of classical dance: What a show! The story of Hanuman was a visual masterpiece! Juju and I are so glad to just watch, agape, the broadway-esque drama/dance/music creation of Madurai R Muralidaran whom we’d like to thank for sharing his craft and time with Boston.
There’s still time for you to contribute to the cause – your $1 gets quadrupled for the next few hours (through matching grants). And assists 4 visually severely impaired people for every one that you help. In India, that liberates 8 people back to productive work (an impaired person usually consumes all the time of a caregiver).”
Dr. Salil Midha, one of the founders of Boston Cardiac Foundation said “The Son of the Wind was a jaw dropping spectacle! It was one of the best shows I have seen. It exceeded my expectations with excellent choreography, visual artistry and music. This show is a great inspiration for everyone and literally better than broadway plays!”
Dr. Suraja Menon Roychowdhury, Founder of Crossing Point Acupuncture and Vision-Aid Advisory Board member, said “What an amazing evening!!!! A zillion congrats to the dancers, teachers, Jeyanthi Ghatraju, Muralidaran, Sripriya Natarajan Moorthy and the whole team. I saw the Broadway style Mughal-e-Azam a few weeks ago, and I would say that this was at par, or even better. Just incredible.”
Producer and Choreographer, Ramachandran Muralidaran said “By the grace of Lord Hanuman, the premiere of my newest dance musical “Vayuputra” – “The Son of the Wind- The Saga of Hanuman” received a standing ovation from the sold-out full house. After spending so many months researching Anjaneya Puranam and other ancient texts to develop the screenplay and working with almost 40 musicians to record brand new compositions, I am so happy to work with local Boston dancers and Vision-Aid to bring my original concept to life on stage. By the grace of Hanuman, I am looking forward to staging this production throughout the world.”
Facebook and social media lit up with many other comments flooding in from all directions from well known community leaders like Manju Sheth, Ranjani Saigal, Manisha Jain, Manorama Chowdhury, Sanjay Kudrimoti and many more.
Vision-Aid recognized several outstanding volunteers, as Vision-Aid Ambassadors for their volunteer service – Roopa Modha, Amal Balachundhar, Sarayu Gadam, Krithi Sekharan and Dyuthi Prashanth, apart from Jeyanthi Ghatraju who continues to remain the biggest ambassador of the cause.
Mr. Mukesh Chatter presented the President’s Gold Volunteer Service Award to Viritha Reddy, Divyashri Prasath and Medhita Sinha for their outstanding contributions to Vision-Aid.
About the Production and Performers
Shri Muralidaran was assisted in his choreography by his wife Smt. Chithra Muralidharan & daughter Kavya Muralidharan. The global premiere of the show materialized in New England with two leading Artistic Directors who were the driving forces for the show this year. Jeyanthi Ghatraju, the founding Artistic Director for Vision-Aid events since 2009, worked closely with Sripriya Natarajan Moorthy and Dhanashree Karmarkar to forge a team of over 50 talented dancers from across New England.
They were ably supported by Senior Dance Teachers and Mentors –
Sheethal Dwaraka, Aishwarya Chakravarthi, Kalaimangai Anbalgan, Shilpa Narayanan, Krithi Sekaran, Chitanya Gopu, Roopa Modha, Radhika Narayanaswamy, Divyanka Gupta and Tejasvi Bhadrinath
The dancers and performers in the show included –
Ensemble Group A
Diya Shenoy, Dyuthi Prashanth, Gauthami Sreedhar, Praksitha Rajasekaran, Sakhi Kulkarni, Shreya Kalavur, Siri Srivatsa, Vaidehi Moorthy
Ensemble Group B North
Aadhvi Gopalakrishnan, Joshitha Gopalakrishnan, Aarya Atale, Aishwarya Ananthakrishnan, Amal Balachundhar, Ashvitha Eyalarasan, Kavya Krishnan, Sarayu Gadam, Shakthi Sorensen, Varaliikaa Satheesh
Ensemble Group B South
Akshadha Ghantasala, Anika Nambiar, Avantika Nair, Anamika Nair, Dharshana Lakshmanan, Harini Jeyaraman, Prisha Nambiar, Sheethal Udupa, Sravya Gurajala,
Ensemble Group C
Aanya Challuri, Aarna Mahadevan, Druthi Choudavarapu, Preetika Guntireddygari, Saanvika Sammishetty, Vanshika Kukunoor, Yashi Dwivedi, Isha Dwivedi, Anoushka Nair, Maedha Nalavula, Subramaniam (Subi) Moorthy, Parth Dwivedi, Shravya Suresh, Swarna Rishika Suresh
Vision-Aid thanks the enablers of the dance production –
Props by: Saravanakumar Ramamoorthi, Deepa Vakkalagadda, Saritha Tummalapalli, Sreeja Pillai, Amita Nambiar, Vijay Moorthy, Anika Nambiar, Sravya Gurajala, Vanshika Kukunoor, Avantika Nair, Anamika Nair
Costumes by: Nandinidevi
English narration, dialogs and subtitles by: Vaidehi Moorthy & Sripriya Natarajan Moorthy
English dialogs performed by: Vijay Moorthy, Bijay Kumar, Jayakumar Natarajan
Stage managers: Kalpana Balachundar, Hema Iyengar and Suja Meyyappan
Lighting: Swapna S, Raajan Narayanan
Photography By: Sanjay and Vasudha Kudrimoti of Fotu Duniya – The Picture World, Atul Nimbalkar, and Veerappan
Videography By: Fotu Duniya – The Picture World
Brochure Design By: Meyyappan Meyyappan of Kolam Media Creations
The Vision-Aid Volunteer team:
The tireless volunteer team at the event included Vijaya Nelavelli, Srivatsan Sathyamoorthy, Dr. Nalini Rangaswamy, Reena Das, Dr. Swaroop Vattam, Venkatesham, Mayuri Shah, Itesh Shah, Vimal Mannava and Neeta Agarwal in addition to all Vision-Aid Leadership team members: Kanth Ghatraju, Shashank Bakre, Anurag Wakhlu, Dr. Dhruv,
Youth volunteers led by Ronak Wakhlu (Vision-Aid Youth President) along with Ishani Wakhlu, Shlok Kudrimoti, Shreyas Tanjore, Neel , Arnav Ajay Manchala, Aditi Wadhwa, Preyanshi Charnalia & Deeya Khamesra
The Vision-Aid leadership team includes –
Board of Advisors:
Puran Dang, Chairman Emeritus, Veena Handa, Vice-Chair, Ram Gupta, Ashok Khanna, Cynthia Asmus, Dr. Loubaina Buxamusa, Ritu Goswami Chawla, Dr. Bharti Gangwani, Dr. Deeba Husain, Vijay Narang,
Dr. Suraja Menon Roychowdhury, Dr. Sabera Shah, Dr. Nilesh Sheth, Dr. Santosh Vempala
Board of Directors
Lalit Sudan, President, Ramakrishna (Ram) Raju, Founder & Executive Director,
Revathy Ramakrishna, Co-Founder & Vice President, Sudhir Varma, Treasurer
Ujwala Phene, Assistant Treasurer, Syed Ali Rizvi, Past President, Sonal Bakre
Dr. Arathy Kartha, Dr. Sanjay Kudrimoti, Dr. Aparna Raghuram, Dr. Ramkumar Ramamirtham
Ravi Rastogi, Dr. Sundar Subramanyam, Hiral Desai Wakhlu, Dr. Jaya Vatsyayan
Council of Ambassadors
Dr. Vivek Badami, Jeyanthi Ghatraju, Dr. Arun Kumar Krishnan, Revathi Pillai, Dr. Monika Manocha Wadhwa
