The youth forum at the 20th Bharat Rang Mahotsav presents 3 plays

New Delhi, February 12, 2019: The youth forum at the 20th Bharat Rang Mahotsav today presented the following three plays:
Jungle Ke Davedaar: The street-play by Rukmini Devi Institute of Advanced Studies is based on the plight of ‘tribal communities’inhabiting India. The play highlights their culture and lifestyle and tries to focus on the relevance of their role in the past, present and future and shatters myths associated to them. It focuses on critical issues like ‘Land Alienation’, ‘Ambiguity and Loopholes in Laws', ‘Heinous Crimes Against Them’ and ‘Collapse of their community due to violence caused by Naxalism’. The play pinpoints the indifferent attitude of the government and public towards tribals' miserable and appalling condition. It ultimately questions the web of greed, exploitation and selfishness that the modern world builds around the old-world tribals where no one bothers to care for their growth and upliftment.

God Promise: A street-play by Pratibimb, The Dramatics Society of Delhi Technical University, is an attempt to answer the question that’s been looming unanswered in plain sight for too long, the question that questions the ‘why’of religion.

Ayushman-Bhava: The play by Sifar, The Theatre Society of Maharaja Surajmal Institute, revolves around the last phase of life i.e old age, which is the most adorable yet the most neglected one. Through the play we want to depict society’s often overlooked behaviour towards senior citizen. Time to time we mistreat our parents without realising it what they do for us.

Ambiance performances bring cultural charm to Bharat Rang Mahotsav and showcase a colourful landscape of our culture. These performances show the lesser-known local, traditional, and folk forms from the states to the heart of the national capital. They are performed at intervals within the NSD premises at the auditoriums before the plays begin. Today’s ambiance performances were Cheri Dance, Pandwani and Bhavai Dance.

Pandwani Dance is a folk dance form which is performed in Chattisgarh, as well as in neighbouring places like Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. It narrates the tales of Pandavas.

Bhavai is a popular Rajasthani folk dance form, where men and women performers balance a number of earthen pots or brass pitchers on their heads, dancing agilely on the edges of glass, swords and brass thali.

Director’s Meet

Directors Ms. Nimmy Raphel(Bali), Mr. Baharul Islam(Swabhav) and Mr. Arun Mukherjee(Nirnoy) attended the session. Theatre critics Mr. Manohar Khushlani and Mr. Sanjay Sahay too attended the session.

“I am not a conscious writer. Bali came as a result of ‘Aadhishakti’, a 3-year project we did from 2009 to 2011. I am occupied with this notion how you can perceive your own sense of right and wrong,”says Ms. Nimmy Raphel.

Talking about his play, Nirnoy, Mr. Arun Mukherjee shared his experience of taking the best out of the story where a woman spends years caring for her brilliant father, who is a famous mathematician.

Mr. Baharul Islam pulled out a realistic story where a photographer is confused and stressed, and wants to live a life full of excitement. He shared his work behind his play.

Plays

Tajmahal Ka Tender:The Hindi play by Chittaranjan Tripathy, follows Emperor Shah Jahan, who invites the chief engineer of CPWD, Guptaji and shares his dream of
building a monument in the memory of his late wife, Mumtaz. After much deliberation he comes to the conclusion that a mausoleum be built in her memory and he wants it to be named Taj Mahal. Guptaji, a shrewd, corrupt, official, entraps the Emperor in the snares of bureaucracy and red-tapism leading to many hilarious situations. The ridiculous bureaucratic procedure takes 25 years only to float the tender notice of Taj Mahal.(Shri Ram Centre, 4:00 P.M)

Bhrundabanara Shesa Dhupa:The Odia play by Nalini Nihar Nayak, follows The Bhakti Movement flourished in Eastern India, and the temples provided shelter to the destitute, abandoned children, widows and community dancers. It talks of a modern day situation where, as time passes, darkness spreads on those glorious days. The priest, failing to receive patronage of the modern generation, is accused of inheriting temple property. The successor, a differently abled and abandoned child once picked up by the temple priest, shoulders the responsibility of the spiritual world. The spiritual world of women and the devadasi tradition are accused of prostitution. The last hope of the destitute suffers major losses in the claws of modernity. The prayers are often interrupted by DJ’s music that profoundly challenges the existence of traditional bhajans and dances.(LTG, 5:30 P.M)
Three Sisters:The English play by Rose Schwietz, takes place in a modern, provincial town that is in the Russian countryside and simultaneously far away from it. The three Prozorov sisters, Olga, Masha, and Irina, are celebrating the 20th birthday of Irina, the youngest. Moods are light and festive, despite this also being the first death anniversary of their father. The play is a window opening into four moments across four years of their lives, showing the emotions that humans experience in a lifetime. The sisters spend their days longing for their youth in Moscow and staving off malaise with the officers from the nearby artillery post. As the years pass, the sisters fall in and out of love, attempting and failing to create the beautiful life they dream of. Unfulfilled in work and in love, they face despair as Moscow becomes a continually more distant dream.(Kamani, 7:00 P.M)
Vacant Lot: The Hindi play by Apporva, reveals a middle aged couple forced to come to grips with a sense of ennui that has fallen over their lives, a fact represented literally by the sudden disappearance of their house. Wife and husband push, pull, drag and crawl their way through the theatre-space and their lives embark upon a search for the meaning of reality.(Abhimanch, 8:30 P.M)
Master Class
Pt. Bhajan Sopori graced the ‘Master Class’session with his rich experience as an instrumentalist. Accorded with the Jammu and Kashmir State lifetime achievement award, he is one of the renowned players of the ‘Santoor. Sopori hails from Sopore in Kashmir Valley and traces his lineage to ancient Santoor experts.
Tomorrow’s Highlights for performances:
Here is a brief information about the plays happening tomorrow.
1. Kathivannoor Veeran (Theyyam)
Group Leader: Sasikumar V
Group: Story Teller’s Grove, Kerala
Language: Malayalam
Duration: 4 hrs 30 mins (with rituals)

2. Arshinagar
Playwright: Anil Saha
Director: Debasish Chakraborty
Group: Tala Dhrupad Natya Sanstha, Hooghly
Language: Bengali
Duration: 2 hr 10 mins
3. To’Poidam
Playwright and Director: Sukracharjya Rabha
Group: Badungduupa, Assam
Language: Rabha
Duration: 1 hr
4. Charaharuko Sammelan (Conference of the birds)
Playwright: Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière
Director: Deeya Maskey
Group: Actors’Studio, Nepal
Language: Nepali
Duration: 1 hr 30 mins
5. Thousand and One Nights (Barbarian Nights)
Director: Ingrid Bonta
Group: Theatre Coquette, Romania
Language: English
Duration: 1 hr 20 mins

Director’s Meet
(Venue: Yoga Hall; National School of Drama, Time: 11 am to 1 pm)
Name of the directors attended the session:
1. Director: Mr. Chittaranjan Tripathy (Tajmahal Ka Tender)
2. Director: Ms. Nalini Nihar Nayak (Bhrundabanara Shesa Dhupa)
3. Director: Rose Schwietz (Three Sisters)
4. Director: Apoorva (Vacant Lot)

*Programmes subject to last moment changes