The Hindu : New Delhi News : A celebration of excellence

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Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008
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New Delhi

New Delhi

A celebration of excellence

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: After six days of staging insightful plays, the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) were announced at a colourful ceremony here in the Capital this past week. The ceremony was attended by a who’s who of the theatre world and luminaries and leading lights of the country’s art community. In this third year of the awards, the grand jury had Sushma Seth, Habib Tanvir, Neelam Maansingh, Mahesh Dattani and Manoj Bajpai as judges. The finalists hailing from Delhi, Mumbai, Guwahati, Kochi, and Bangalore walked home with trophies, along with cash prizes ranging from Rs.35,000 to Rs.1 lakh.

Speaking on the occasion, META Creative Director Ravi Dubey said the response this year was overwhelming and inspiring. “We had an opportunity to scout for talent not only in the mainstream but also in regional theatre which was a refreshing experience. India has a vast talent pool which starts from the budding stage artistes to the eminent professionals in the field. META was started two years ago with the objective of creating a platform for excellence in theatre and the participation of regional theatre this year has made the evaluation process far more challenging than it was last year.” Stating that he was impressed with the abundance of talent in Indian theatre as witnessed during the course of the event, Mahindra and Mahindra Managing Director Anand Mahindra said: “The quality of entries we have received and the interest that has been evoked in the theatre community strengthens our belief that this is the right stage to showcase theatre talent in India.”

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