Plays crafted out of the best scripts from over 100 submissions across India to be staged at a festival
Though the metros attract some of India's best talent, much of it remains at some tier of the hierarchy the rest of the cities are categorised in. Theatre is no different, and to ensure that an excellent script penned in the interiors of Chhattisgarh gets its due, just as one written at Prithvi's famous cafe over rounds of Sulemani chai might, the Sanhita Manch Festival was born last year. An initiative by Being Association — a group of professional actors, writers, directors as well as newcomers, some of whom are alumni of the National School of Drama — the festival returns with its second edition this Wednesday.
Zeeshan Aayub
With veteran actor Rohini Hattangadi as the chief guest, the three-day festival will feature three best scripts from over 100 entries, chosen by Ranjit Kapoor, known for his dialogues for path-breaking films including Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, and award-winning screenwriter Atul Tiwari. The plays will be interspersed with talks featuring theatre stalwarts.
"We received around 80 scripts in our inaugural edition and that encouraged us to go bigger this year. We even received a Hindi translation of a Telugu script this time," informs theatre practitioner Rasika Agashe, who, with husband and actor Zeeshan Aayub, is spearheading the project. "Apart from strong writing, our criterion is that the script should be an original one, written for the festival," she adds.
Rasika Agashe
About the call for entries, Agashe tells us that they took the social media route along with sending out posters to fellow theatre artistes across the country. "When you commission plays, the scripts tend to fall in line with preset concepts. The idea was to connect emerging writers with directors willing to work on good scripts," Agashe shares. One of the winning scripts, written by Jabalpur's Mukesh Nema, is a satire on the human struggle for survival, while Nirala by 20-year-old Ashwani Kumar Tiwari is about the life and work of the iconic poet, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'. Pashmina by Mrinal Mathur looks at the socio-political situation in Kashmir.
The plays, which will be staged in Delhi and Amritsar as well, have been published in the form of a book to be released at the festival. While the scripts are in Hindi, the organisers hope to include more languages in the coming years.
From: August 15 to 17
At: PL Deshpande Auditorium, Prabhadevi.
Log on to: bookmyshow.com
Entry: Rs 300 onwards
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