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Delhi's date with best of drama
IT HAPPENS to be one of those rare opportunities to catch India at its emotive best. And the Capital will once again get that chance when it keeps its annual date with the best of drama this March.
The National School of Drama's national theatre festival Bharat Rang Mahotsav comes to town on March 20 with over 73 groups from across the country and eight international ones.
While the festival itself has as its focus theatre groups from the Southern state, a special section of performances will be made to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Agha Hashra Kashmiri, with the festival also seeing two volumes of his dramatic writings being released.
To be inaugurated by the renowned film-maker Mrinal Sen, the festival will have Girish Karnad as the guest of honour along with Secretary Culture, Dhanendra Kumar. Opening with the premiere show of Ratan Thiyam's new production "Hey Nunghshipie Prithvi", the festival will go on to feature more in the coming weeks.
According to the NSD, the selection procedure was much more broad-based this year with the plays being categorised into major productions, fringe and experimental productions, productions of theatre groups, works of foreign theatre groups, productions prepared under the extension programme of the NSD and solo performances.
Incidentally, the festival also marks the silver jubilee celebrations of the NSD's Extension Program workshops that have over the years helped take theatre to remote parts of the country and find young talent. Representing nearly 17 Indian languages and three foreign ones including English, this year will see the plays once again being staged at different venues like Kamani, Shri Ram Centre, Abhimanch, Sanmukh/Bahmukh and the open lawns of Bahwalpur House.
To make the festival more interesting, an exhibition of the materials used during the extension programme has also been planned. The NSD has also instituted two annual awards this year to be conferred on senior alumni of the school and the other to a young graduate up to the age group of 50 years.
As part of its special focus on plays from the southern states, around 15 groups from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry will be showcasing their talent while the international players will have groups from Germany, Iran, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh taking part in the festival.
By Lakshmi Balakrishnan
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