District magistrates of Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur R Laxmanan (left) and Santosh Kumar Mall (right) break into a jig during the Mithila Lok Utsav in Darbhanga. Picture by Mohan Mahato

Darbhanga, Dec. 2: Mithila Lok Utsav, the first-of-its- kind endeavour to promote tourism in the region, has drawn flak for not focussing on the region’s heritage but falling back on the time-tested Bollywood formula to draw crowds.

The event had been organised by the district administration in co-ordination with the department of tourism on November 26 and 27 to save the cultural heritage of Mithila and its language.

The function had been organised to give local artistes, painters, scholars and novelists a chance to showcase the culture, craftsmanship, painting, language, literature and folklore. But Bollywood ruled the two days as Shilpa Rao and Aishwarya Nigam belted out tracks.

Artistes entertained the audience with Punjabi, Hindi and Bhojpuri songs. The district magistrate (DM) of Darbhanga, R. Laxmanan and Muzaffarpur DM Santosh Kumar Mall, too, shook a leg.

Expressing concern over the performances at Mithila Lok Utsav, BJP district president and Hayaghat MLA Amarnath Gami raised questions over whether the performances could contribute towards saving the Mithila culture or they have tarnished the image of the region with Bhojpuri songs.

Gami said paan, maachh and makhana were missing from the function even though the event punchline was “Paan, Maachh and Makhana”. Sources said there was no place for mridang, an integral part of Maithili culture. Sources said had the organisers been serious about showcasing Mithila’s cultural heritage, they should have included basket-making from waste paper by women.

“The department has made an effort to save the cultural heritage and provide a platform to local artistes and develop tourism in Mithila. Mithila Lok Utsav had been organised Keeping this in mind. The entire performance will be uploaded on the website of the tourism department. It will attract foreign tourists,” state tourism minister Sunil Kumar “Pintu” told The Telegraph.

When asked whether songs such as Munni Badnaam Hui, Tu Lalipop Lagelu, Jhum Sharabi Jhum. bhangra and dancing to these tracks by district magistrates could preserve Maithili culture, Sunil said it should have been avoided.

He added that this was the first utsav and whatever went wrong would be taken care of in the next function.

Chandra Nath Mishra, a Maithili scholar, asked how scholars, novelists and artistes were ignored at the function.