Bharath Rang Mahothsav Parallel Festival in Colombo

International Theatre Festival of India
In Collaboration with
Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre, Colombo
University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo 6-9 February 2025
Tower Hall Theatre, Colombo
Panibharatha Theatre, UVPA Colombo

by Saumya Liyanage

Bharath Rang Mahothsav (BRM) is one of the foremost theatre festivals in the world. It is an annual theatre festival organised by the National School of Drama, popularly known BRM India. This year BRM is taking place in the month of February with the diverse theatre groups and productions representing various regions and countries in India and the World.

For the first time in the history of BRM, National School of Drama has extended its theatre festivals to other regions and has decided to showcase two of their NSD repertory productions in Sri Lanka and Nepal. With the collaboration of the University of Visual and Performing Arts Colombo, and the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre, Colombo, two theatre productions, namely, Tajmahel Ka Tender and Babuji produced by the NSD repertory theatre company along with the two Sri Lankan selections for BRM 2025, Sindu Kirilli 2 (Veronica Returns) by Buddhika Damayantha and Romeo and Juliet by Jayanath Bandara will be staged at Tower Hall and Panibharatha theatre, UVPA Colombo on the 6-9 February 2025.

Taj Mahal Ka Tender is a hilarious story about the construction of the famous Taj Mahal monument and it is a story told in a style of a traditional poetry and drama. According to the production notes, the play is about the construction of Taj Mahal and its bureaucratic process leading to many hilarious situations and calamities. This bureaucratic procedure takes 25 years to float the tender notice of Taj Mahal.

The playwright of the Taj Mahal ka Tender is Ajay Shukla, a graduate from the Lucknow University India and is an award-winning poet and a playwright in the Indian contemporary theatre. Ajay Shukla received Sahithya Kala Parishad award for this play, Taj mahal Ka Tender in 1997.

Taj Mahal Ka Tender is directed by Chittaranjan Tripathi, the director of the National School of Drama New Delhi, India. Tripathi has MA in Sociology at University of Hyderabad, India and is a graduate from the National School of Drama, New Delhi India, specialiing in Acting. He has obtained his Sangeeth Visharad in Oddissi vocal from Prachin Kala Kendra, Chandigarh and is a recipient of the prestigious Charles Wallas Fellowship to study at the Department of Music, Guilford School of Acting,

Guilford, UK. He is a practicing director, writer, actor and musician in the field of theatre and has directed many theatre productions for various theatre groups and repertory companies.

Taj Mahal Ka Tender will be staged at Tower Hall Theatre Maradana on the 6th of February, 2025, at 6.30 pm.

Babuji, an NSD repertory production encapsulates a story of the fate of a traditional artist, his struggle to survive in the midst of his own personal family life and his art. The main protagonist is an artist who is struggling to maintain his integrity in arts and also to his family responsibilities.

His fondness in folk dance like Nautanki and his struggle to maintain the balance between his artistic journey and the family life finally comes to a tragic end. This play is dedicated to one of the eminent theatre personalities in Indian Theatre, Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth. Karanth is one of the most celebrated theatre practitioners in the contemporary Indian theatre.

He has served as the director of the NSD between 1977 and 1981 and has composed music for many theatre productions ranging from folk theatre to contemporary productions. Karanth has received many prestigious national accolades including Padmashree, Kalidasas Samman, Sangeeth Natak Academy, and Amritlal Nagar. NSD repertory production, Babuji will be staged at Tower Hall theatre on the 7th of Feb 2025 at 6.30 pm.

This year, two Sri Lankan plays have also been selected for Bharath Rang Mahothsav. A play, Sindu Kirilli 2 (Veronica Returns) directed by Sri Lankan award winning director, Buddhika Damayantha and Romeo Juliet Written by William Shakespeare and directed by award winning actor Jayanath Bandara will be staged at Panibharatha theatre, University of the Visual and Performing Arts on the 8th and 9th of Feb at 6.30 pm. Sindu Kirilli 2 (Veronica Returns) is a translation of the play, Coming Home by renowned South African playwright and director, Athol Fugard.

Babuji

Romeo Juliet, a well-known masterpiece by William Shakespeare, is translated by Vindya Harankaha. The production is a debut directorial intervention of Jayanath Bandara. Both Sri Lankan plays will be staged at Bharath Rang Mahothsav in India and the two theatre groups will return to Sri Lanka in order to take part in the parallel festival In Colombo.

As Jepson and Clarke assert community festivals are more important activities for the world today as the austerity measures are imposed on societies due to economic recession and calamities. They further argue that ‘festivals offer all stakeholders an opportunity to ‘celebrate community values, ideologies, identity and continuity’ (ibid.). As a social cultural phenomenon festivals can be seen as prime manifestations of the experience economy (Pine & Gilmore, 1999) as they entertain, educate, hold aesthetic value and provide the platform for escapism. Farber (1983, cited in Getz, 1991) investigated festivals and public celebrations and learned much about a community’s symbolic, economic, political and social life’ (Jepson and Clarke, 2014, p.3). As a society, and as a university community, it is important for us to re-establish these symbolic social values, communal essences and empathic projection to engage with each other which has been a vital ingredient in the democratic sphere of the society.

The UVPA as a premier university for creative and performing arts, it is vital for its teaching and learning communities to explore various communal engagements through festivities and other social activities. This allows the students and academics to deepen their creative insights through engaging with professional artists and communities. Particularly the faculty of dance and drama, encapsulates various degree programmes ranging from traditional dance drama to theatre and ballet. The undergraduates who pursue their degree programmes learn traditional dance drama, contemporary dance, Ballet, theatre and film acting, playwriting and directing, scenography, set designing and makeup in their curricula. This opportunity opens up avenues for students and academics to experience how professional theatres work in the region and also how the cultural industries are a part of the economic growth of a country.

Tickets, priced at Rs. 1,000, Rs. 500 and Rs 300 are available at Tower Hall Theatre and Panibharatha Theatre, University of Visual and Performing Arts from 30 Jan 2025 onwards.

(The writer is Professor in Theatre and Drama, Dept. of Theatre Ballet and Modern Dance Faculty of Dance and Drama University of the Visual and Performing Arts (UVPA), Director, Social Reconciliation Centre, UVPA Colombo, Editor in Chief, Journal of Visual and Performing Arts – Sri Lanka (JOVPA_SL) ISSN 2651-0286, University of the Visual and Performing Arts – Colombo, Sri Lanka jovpasl@vpa.ac.lk, and Member – Research & Innovation Committee (RIC) Association of Universities of Asia and the Pacific.)

Reference Jepson, A., & Clarke, A. (2014). Defining and exploring community festivals and events. In Exploring community festivals and events (pp. 1-13). Routledge.