Virasat may refer to:
Virasat (English: Inheritance) is a 1997 Indian Hindi film, directed by Priyadarshan. The story was adapted from the Tamil film Thevar Magan. Mushir-Riaz duo produced the film. It starred Anil Kapoor, Tabu, Amrish Puri, Pooja Batra, Milind Gunaji and Govind Namdeo. The music was composed by Anu Malik and S. P. Venkatesh, with the former composing the songs and the latter composing the score. The film marked a comeback vehicle for Priyadarshan in Hindi cinema. Music director Annu Malik reused some of the original tunes of Ilaiyaraaja from Thevar Magan.
After completing his studies in London, Shakti Thakur (Anil Kapoor) returns to the small Indian town where his family resides. Accompanying him is his girlfriend, Anita (Pooja Batra), whom he is in love with and wants to marry, much to the disapproval of his family. After a few days, Shakti starts to feel that nothing much has changed in this part of India and longs to leave. He tells his father that he would like to sell his share in the family land and would open Restaurant business and settle with his girlfriend, to this his Father(Amrish Puri) urges him to stay in the village and uplift it with his education, by saying "A man gets Education not to become a selfish being but to uplift his uneducated brothers and society". Shakti does not agree with his father and decides to leave. He is unable to bear the animosity between the townspeople in general and in particular between his Zamindar dad, Raja Thakur (Amrish Puri), and rival Zamindar Birju (Govind Namdeo), none other than Raja's crippled brother.
Virasat is a cultural festival comprising all aspects of Indian cultural heritage, and is held at various educational institutions across India. Organised by SPIC MACAY (Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth) which was established in 1977, the week-long festival includes performances and workshops in Indian folk and classical arts, literature, crafts, talks, theatre, cinema and yoga.
Virasat, literally meaning Heritage in Hindi, was launched for the first time in Dehradun in 1995, here in all the classical music and dance maestros, and master craftsmen are invited to perform at the festival, to enhance student interaction between with artistes and craftsmen, and during the first half of the academic year. PARAMPARA is like a mini-version VIRASAT, and includes 2-5 of the modules of Virasat.
Virasat 2008, began on September 2, 2008 with concerts in Delhi and 300 towns all over the country. and continued till December 2008. It was inaugurated by former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral and Dr. Karan Singh on September 2 with recitals by Girija Devi and Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia at the Vice-Regal Lodge, Delhi University. Artistes like, Pt. Birju Maharaj, Pt. Shivkumar Sharma, T.N. Seshagopalan, Alarmel Valli, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Shovana Narayan, Pt. Rajan and Sajan Misra, Teejan Bai also participated in the series.