FOURTH DAY OF 19th EDITION OF NATIONAL SCHOOL OF DRAMA’S

February 5, 2017 Naresh Sagar

FOURTH DAY OF 19th EDITION OF NATIONAL SCHOOL OF DRAMA’S BHARAT RANG MAHOTSAV SAW FIVE PLAYS BEING PERFORMED  

New Delhi, 4th February, 2017: Today during the 19th edition of National School of Drama’s International Drama Festival Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2017, 5 plays were performed including Subhadeep Guha’s Multilingual Long March; Ajit Das’s Odia play Bheti; Surya Mohan Kulshreshtha’sBhagvadajjukeeyam in Hindi; NSD Repertory Company’s Aadha Chand in Hindi directed by Ms. Tripurari Sharma and a foreign play in Russian byVladimir Baicher Chekov- Chaika. These plays were well appreciated by students, theatre aficionados, litterateurs and theatre lovers.

Today, during the Meet the Director at National School of Drama Manohar Teli, Director of the play Sankraman as well as the sole performer, who alone sports all the three characters said, “I present the story of inner tension and conflict between a father and his son due to their age gap. I was born in a farmer’s family and all of the characters were present around me. My personal life has been a great inspiration behind this play. Generation gap is a big problem nowadays and after watching the play my son had tears in his eyes and now he tries to fill this gap. That is my biggest win.” He further added, “I read this story in 1998 and I liked the theme. Also, it is not easy to maintain a theater group in Mumbai, so I found it easy to do the solo performance comparatively. I learned the text of the story while jogging or doing other course of life and work on my voice modulation. I show my preparations to the friends whose feedback matter to me.”

Also, Tanveer Akhtar, the director of Gabarghichoran Ke Mai explained, “This play ‘Gabarghichoran Ke Mai’ is not written by Bhikhari Thakur in this form. In fact, I merged his ‘Bidesiya’ and ‘Ghabargichor’ to evolve this new one. He was a very strong person who had the courage to say such things in his times that we still feel shy to communicate.” Responding to a query about giving more appeal on emotional theme than on social contradiction, he said, “Being from IPTA does not mean to be always politically or socially vocal. I stayed with the essence of the theme that is emotional. I feel that even IPTA should be granted that liberty and should not be demanded for raising social issues only.”

Hema Singh, who plays the titular role of Gadal, was asked about her chemistry with the lead actor to which she responded, “Me and Suresh Sharma know each other since our school days and have worked together as freelancers back in the days. We both had a very good understanding of each other’s role which in turn helped us in creating an element of chemistry which for the characters is constantly changing.” Suresh Sharma, the lead actor of Gadal Gunda while being enquired on his preparation said, “The process for me for the preparations for the role was quite easy because of the strong relationship and a deep connect between the characters of the play. Even though I didn’t have much time for the preparations because of my hectic schedule, as an actor I put sensation and sentimentality in my body language and vocals which reflects my ‘inner to outer’ approach to the message which is delivered to the audience.”

Sudheer Rikhari, Director of Gadal Gunda says, “As an actor, I used to think that the job of a director is very easy and has not much to do but when you get into the shoes of a director then only you understand what are the responsibilities of a director, it is impossible to replace Late Prem Matiyani sir and this a tributary performance to him.”

Bharat Rang Mahotsav

The Bharat Rang Mahotsav was started around two decades ago by the NSD in order to contribute to the growth and development of theatre across the country with the aim of providing a platform for theatre performances and interaction. From being a national festival that presented the work of some of the most creative theatre workers in India, it has grown into an international event, hosting theatre companies from around the world, and is today acknowledged as the largest theatre festival of Asia dedicated solely to theatre. In addition to the national and international performances that are staged during the Festival, the fare also includes exhibitions, installations, interactive sessions with directors and performers for the general public and professionals, a vibrant theatre café, open forums and meetings and a shorter festival in another city to which some of the productions travel. For further information please visit : http://19brm.nsd.gov.in

National School of Drama

The National School of Drama is one of the foremost theatre training institutions in the world and the only one of its kind in India. It was set up by the Sangeet Natak Akademi as one of its constituent units in 1959. In 1975, it became an independent entity and was registered as an autonomous organization under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860, fully financed by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Training in the School is highly intensive and is based on a thorough, comprehensive, carefully planned syllabus which covers every aspect of theatre and in which theory is related to practice. As a part of their training, students are required to produce plays which are then performed before the public. For further information please visit : http://nsd.gov.in