Wednesday, October 19 2005 17:09 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Celebrating 60 years of India's association with the United Nations, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is holding a five-day cultural festival here next week that will feature performances by renowned Indian artistes as well as the first-ever screening of the English version of Ketan Mehta's 'The Rising' in India.

Aptly titled 'Building Bridges', the October 24-28 cultural festival is being organised in association with the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC).

To be inaugurated by ICCR President Karan Singh, the festival will feature performances by noted classical dancers Geeta Chandran and Shovana Narayan, fusion music by famous writer and singer Amit Chaudhuri and an exposition of Indian wear by designer J J Valaya.

The festival will culminate with the first ever screening of the English version of the Aamir Khan starrer 'Mangal Pandey and The Rising'.

"The festival brings together elements from our culture and other cultures, showing that culture can be a medium to bring cultures together," said Pavan K Verma, Director General ICCR.

"The attempt is to show how vital and contributing and substantial our association with the body (the UN) has been," he said.