NAGPUR: Multimedia show and fountain project at Futala Lake, being executed by Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), will be ready by August 15, says the trust’s superintending engineer Leena Upadhye.
Upadhye told TOI that recently film actor Revathi had visited Nagpur and submitted script for the show. “The script as well as the music to be played along with it and after has been approved by the project’s steering committee,” she said.
The technical committee had suggested some changes in the fountain design, which have been incorporated.
Nagpur Heritage Committee had given in-principle approval to the project in 2016. Now, the project will come up before the panel for final approval on February 15.
Once the NIT gets nod from the heritage committee, it will ask the contractor to import the fountains from France. “After installing the fountains, we will seek the approval of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT),” she said.
Upadhye said the project took some time because it had to get approval from several committees comprising eminent people.
The multimedia show will be of 30 minutes duration. The first 10 minutes will be a commentary on the history of the city and the next 20 minutes will be pure entertainment. Music will be provided by Oscar winner AR Rehman while another Academy Award winner Resul Pookutty is the sound director. The commentary has been penned by eminent lyricist Gulzar.
NIT had floated the tender for designing the multimedia show in April, 2017. The tender was bagged by a consortium of Studio One and Khalatkar Constructions. The then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had granted administrative approval to the project in March, 2018.
The consortium had submitted the draft of the script in January, 2020, but it took the steering committee over a year to clear it. The members suggested many changes in the script.
Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari, who is the brain behind the project, has told NIT that he wants to inaugurate the project on August 15. As a result, work on the project has picked up speed.
Gadkari wanted a light and sound show on the life of Swami Vivekananda in Ambazari Lake, but it was shot down by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), which is developing a garden there.