Performance artistes, like everyone else have been affected by the lockdown. Amid these trying times, Amit Aggarwal, founder of Bangalore Hindi Theatre, decided to reassure artistes that their decision to opt for theatre was not a bad one. On the occasion of playwright Girish Karnad’s birth anniversary this month, Bangalore Hindi Theatre launched the Karnad Monologue Contest. “It is a virtual monologue contest that aims to celebrate and pay tribute to Girish Karnad as well as provide a platform to theatre actors to showcase their talent. We need to create more such opportunities for artistes to be motivated and audience to be entertained,” says Amit.
Many professional artistes chose theatre over other career options. Amit is forthright when he says: “They are now doubting whether they should have chosen something else instead of art. This contest gives hope to artistes to keep the art form alive.” Bangalore Hindi Theatre (founded in May 2017) is an association of prominent Hindi theatre artistes from Bengaluru. It has 800 members now. “I started it because there weren’t enough platforms for Hindi theatre artistes in the city. The objective of Bangalore Hindi Theatre is to provide an opportunity for collaboration among production houses, directors, playwrights, actors and technicians. We also provide a platform for theatre groups from other cities to perform in Bangalore,” says Amit, a professional theatre actor, who has acted in 50 improv and scripted shows over the last 15 years, and has performed in Mera Dushman Manto (Kalayan Theatre), Parent Teacher Meeting (Being Theatre), and Mi'raj (Indian Ensemble).
The contest is open to everyone, of all age groups, irrespective of their experience in theatre or acting. The last day of submission is May 31. “The participants have to record a high quality video of their enactment of monologues (chosen by Bangalore Hindi Theatre) from the Hindi translation of Karnad’s Tughlaq by BV Karanth. They then have to upload it to YouTube and submit the link. The participant’s profile needs to be submitted on this google form: https://tinyurl.com/karnad-registration.” Tughlaq, considered an unparalleled play in the history of theatre, was written in 1964.
The judges are Amit, Mathura Kalauny, founder of Kalayan Theatre, Zafer Mohiuddin, Kathputliyan Theatre, Pooja Tripathi of Being Theatre, and Srinivas Beesetty of Kahe Vidushak. The criterion for judgement Amit says, are the following: body language, voice modulation and articulation, facial expression, emotional graph and characterisation. The first prize carries a cash reward of ₹1,500 while the second prize winner gets ₹1000 and ₹500 for the third prize.
To participate in the contest : https://tinyurl.com/karnad-registration. Detailed rules are available here : https://tinyurl.com/karnad. For any queries, you can mail bangalorehinditheatre@gmail.com