Pune, April 22, 2025: The Hrishikesh Pawar Centre of Contemporary Dance proudly announces the 16th edition of the Prayatna Film & Dance Festival, scheduled to take place from April 25 to 27, 2025, at The Box, Erandwane, Pune. Carrying forward a legacy of sixteen impactful years, this edition stays rooted in its vision of promoting collaborative innovation, artistic inquiry, and dance as a profound tool for social reflection and transformation.
Recognized as one of India’s leading festivals focused on the evolving intersections of dance and film, Prayatna continues to shape Pune as a prominent center for movement arts in South Asia. With an emphasis on cross-disciplinary collaborations, experimental choreography, and intercultural dialogue, the festival offers a rich space for exchange and exploration.
This year’s festival features headline performances by celebrated artists Padmini Chettur, Surjit Nongmeikapam, and Hrishikesh Pawar. It also includes film screenings supported by the Goethe-Institut, Germany, critical panel discussions, and the Emerging Choreographers Platform, moderated by renowned artist Diya Naidu.
Day 1 – Headline Performance: Hrishikesh Pawar
In collaboration with the Pralay Band (Ecology Society Band), Hrishikesh Pawar presents a contemporary-Kathak journey inspired by verses of mystical saint-poets. The piece, titled after the evocative line “Pani mein meen pyasi” (“The fish is thirsty in water”), delves into themes of disconnection from nature and the wisdom of simplicity, through rhythm, poetry, and live music.
Day 2 – Headline Performance: Padmini Chettur – “Stilling”
Chettur’s latest work, “Stilling,” explores stillness as a dynamic force. With ten dancers, the choreography embodies counter-rotational movements and oscillating forces, emphasizing dualities and the elegant tension between motion and interiority. “Stilling” redefines stillness not as absence but as presence — a space where beginnings and endings merge.
Day 3 – Headline Performance: Surjit Nongmeikapam & Babina Chabungbam – “Embodied”
A lecture-demonstration that investigates Manipuri dance traditions, “Embodied” questions the core of embodied knowledge. Surjit’s inquiry juxtaposes traditional and contemporary frameworks, probing whether the essence lies in content or the disciplined restraint of the form.
The festival will screen a curated selection of German dance films courtesy of the Goethe-Institut, sparking conversations on movement, identity, and storytelling through film.
Moderated by Diya Naidu, this platform provides early-career artists a chance to present work-in-progress pieces, opening the floor for dialogue with mentors, peers, and the public. It celebrates the courage, creativity, and urgency of India’s rising choreographic voices.
Hrishikesh Pawar, Festival Curator and Artistic Director, said:
“Prayatna has always been about more than just performance — it is about presence, process, and the people. This year, we return to nature, to wisdom, to the root of movement as expression. Collaboration remains our heartbeat.”
Diya Naidu, on the Emerging Choreographers Platform, added:
“The work emerging from new artists today is raw, urgent, and necessary. We must provide them space, support, and serious artistic engagement.”
Padmini Chettur, on “Stilling”:
“Stillness is not silence. It is the place where everything begins and ends — the moment before motion, and the memory it leaves behind.”
The social impact of Prayatna is a testament to the love and labor invested by Hrishikesh Pawar, whose vision for contemporary dance in India is carried forward by a dedicated team that believes in making art inclusive, healing, and transformative.
