Aiming to promote Hindi literature among the youth, veteran theatre directors are now staging a bouquet of plays based on Hindi short stories here.
Spearheaded by the Department of Art, Culture and Languages, the four-day Hindi Natya Utsav titled "Char Rang", that ends on August 1 features 13 plays based on short stories spanning the beginning of the 20th century till date.
"This four-day festival is our attempt to bring to stage some very interesting stories and depictions under the direction of some very respected directors," Harisuman Bisht, Secretary, Hindi Academy said.
Stories by noted writers like Bhisham Sahni, Yashpal, Jainendra Kumar, Amar Kant and others have been dramatised.
Veteran diectors M K Raina, Tripurari Sharma, Devendra Raj Ankur and Bansi Kaul have directed the plays.
The festival was inaugurated on July 29 by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in the presence of veteran theatre personality Vinod Nagpal and Ashok Chakradhar, Vice President of the Hindi Academy.
The ensemble list of plays include Prem Chand's "Kafan", Gyanpeeth award winner Amarkant's "Zindagi aur Jonk" and Bhisham Sahni's famous short story "Chief ki Dawat".
The first day of the festival saw the staging of "Usne Kaha Tha", "Paajeb", "Parda", and "Chief ki Dawat" directed by Devendra Raj Ankur.
The directors have lauded the efforts of the Hindi Academy to organise such a theatre-festival bringing together for the first time the work of so many hindi writers.
"The four-day festival is devoted to Hindi stories only. The Hindi Academy, in a first of its kind effort, has concentrated an entire festival on Hindi stories," said director Devendra.
"I think it will be a delight for the students, theatre persons, critics and everybody else to watch these plays," he said.
