The annual theatre festival of National School of Drama (NSD), now in its 20th year, kicked off Friday evening. It was inaugurated by Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and Rajya Sabha MP and classical dancer Sonal Mansingh.
The sounds of Kerala's Panchvadyam musical form echoed in the Kamani Auditorium here, during the opening of the festival of 111 diverse plays, Bharat Rang Mahotsav, in different Indian vernacular and international languages -- representing India's 'rang' (theatre) culture.
Calling theatre's message to humanity powerful and capable of communicating India's rich heritage to the world, the culture minister inaugurated the "theatre Olympic".
"Theatre has a social responsibility, because it's a direct and serious medium that reaches a larger audience, and receives their responses immediately.
"Although theatre festivals seem to be increasing, and many receive government aid, what needs to be questioned is the thoughtA and quality behind it," NSD Director-in-charge Suresh Sharma told IANS.
Highlighting the representation of languages, regions and regional cultural forms, Sharma said that the 21-day fest will also run inADibrugarh,AVaranasi, Ranchi, MysoreAand Rajkot -- "regions where theatre can achieve new heights if pushed".
A 50-minute performance of aKaranth ke Rang', directed by Amod Bhatt, also featured in the opening.
It is a medley of songs composed by late B. V. Karanth (1929-2002), a stalwart of Kannada and Hindi theatre, and a prolific composer of songs and scripts. The theatre and film personality was an alumnus and director (1977-81) of NSD.
The fest will stage plays in Hindi, English, Bengali, Marathi, Manipuri, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Odia, and Maithili (among others), along with international productions from Bangladesh, Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka, the Czech Republic, Italy, Nepal, Romania, and Singapore.
Apart from plays, it will also host folk performances and other traditional performing art forms, street plays by around 50 dramatic societies of colleges in Delhi, and two national and two international seminars.
A theatre bazaar, coupled with photographs from NSD's abiding plays, also has the NSD campus decked up.
Tickets to the shows can be bought online at www.bookmyshow.com or offline at NSD, and range from Rs 50 to 300. It will run at NSD, Kamani and Shri Ram Centre till February 21.
--IANS
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