Gandhi, Tagore letters imagined as a play sets stage for theatre festival

Delhi alone will host 89 plays in Hindi and in regional languages, apart from international productions from countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Russia and more

More than a century ago, Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore began an exchange of letters that formed an enlightening debate between two guiding lights of pre-Independence India. The letters, which addressed critical questions facing a nation struggling for independence, were compiled in a book that has been adapted into a play.

Stay Yet a While, directed by theatre actor and director M K Raina, is one of four plays shedding light on Gandhi’s philosophy that will be staged at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav that kicked off in New Delhi on February 1.

As the 20th edition of the international theatre festival organised by the National School of Drama (NSD) celebrates the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi, a play that imagines a conversation between the Father of the Nation and the poet, marked by a willingness to agree to disagree, is most relevant at a time of polarised discourses. The other three plays on Gandhi during the 21-day festival are Bapu by Samir Biswas, Satya ke Prayog (based on his autobiography) by Devendra Raj Ankur and Hind Swaraj by Arjun Deo Charan.

Suresh Sharma, director in charge, NSD, says an institution such as the theatre training school does not restrict itself to following the administrative practice of commemorating heroes during their anniversaries, but goes beyond by encouraging historical plays.

Overall, 107 plays — 69 Indian, 15 foreign, a handful of folk productions, some by NSD students and five invitee plays by eminent theatre practitioners — will be staged at the festival.

Delhi alone will host 89 plays in Hindi and in regional languages, apart from international productions from countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Nepal, Romania and Singapore. Besides Delhi, parallel festivals will be organised in Dibrugarh (February 4-10), Varanasi (February 7-13), Ranchi (February 9-15), Mysuru (February 11-17) and Rajkot (February 13-19).

The festival’s inaugural ceremony was followed by a performance of a Hindi play titled Karanth ke Rang directed by Amod Bhatt, a disciple of theatre personality B V Karanth. The 50-minute play features a medley of songs composed by the late Karanth, a stalwart of Kannada and Hindi theatre. Karanth, like his peer Habib Tanvir, was noted for the folk music in his plays, which also included the use of non-musical instruments. Bhatt showcases some of Karanth’s original compositions in the play.

Apart from the plays and interactions with actors and theatre personalities, the festival will have two international and national seminars each on theatre.

Bharat Rang Mahotsav, which started two decades ago, initially selected productions of theatre workers in the country. It has gone on to become Asia’s largest theatre festival, hosting groups from across the world. Last year, the annual festival was merged with the Theatre Olympics when it was hosted by India after an opening ceremony at the Red Fort. The addition of the eighth Theatre Olympics — an event that started in 1993 and had been held in seven countries since — meant a schedule that packed in hundreds of plays over nearly two months. But despite the pomp and show, the plays drew poor turnouts with questions being raised over the selection. International productions, too, remained underrepresented.

Sharma stresses that last year’s combined event made it the biggest theatre festival in the world, and adds that NSD has maintained a transparent process of selection of plays.

From the time it began in 1999, Bharat Rang Mahotsav has to date presented nearly 1,800 plays.

For details, log on to nsd.gov.in/delhi