BENGALURU: Kumara Krupa Road is all set to welcome artists and art lovers from across the country on Sunday as part of the 16th edition of Chitra Santhe organised by Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath.
This year, the theme of the annual art festival is ‘Gandhi 150’. Of the 2600 applications received from across the nation, 1500 were shortlisted from 16 states to participate at the event, which will be held from 8 am to 8 pm. Last year, Chitra Santhe saw at least 4 lakh visitors and this year more are expected. The turnover at the event last year was Rs 2 crore and the organisers say that they are expecting to cross that number this time.

Exhibition inaugurated
An annual painting exhibition was inaugurated on Saturday as part of Chitra Santhe. Among the paintings that have attracted visitors here is a ‘chat between Mahatma Gandhi and Hitler’ by Ravi Rekha. Another painting that caught people’s attention was that of Gandhi running on a treadmill, which is actually a war tanker. It was the artwork of Balaji Margonda.

Former chief minister SM Krishna was also present at the event. Also, Chitrakala Samman awards - 2019 were given to artists JSM Mani, Jesu Rawal and Neela Panch.

Gandhi Hut
CKP has constructed a bamboo hut on its premises called ‘Gandhi Kutira’, which will be inaugurated on Sunday. The hut was made in Gandhi’s memory because he used to meditate at the spot where CKP is located now. He also stayed at Kumara Krupa Guest House whenever he visited Bengaluru.