Date: 1-21 February, 2016
Venue: National School of Drama / Kamani Auditorium / Shri Ram Centre / LTG – Mandi House

The annual theatre extravaganza Bharat Rang Mahotsav is on in full swing at the auditoriums at National School of Drama (NSD) and adjoining theatre halls – Kamani and LTG. This 21 day theatre festival features 65 plays from all parts of India as well as about 15 plays from abroad. Additionally, folk performances, interaction with the directors and focus on the works of various eminent culture personalities like Kapila Vatsayan, Nana Patekar etc. are part of the program.

NSD gate and the lawns are transformed into one big “play zone” with hanging lights, arty make shift furniture, frescoes and sculpture. The gate is designed with colourful hand painted Andhra masks.

There is a huge theatre bazaar were goods related to theatre are being sold alongwith handicrafts, paintings, books, musical instruments, masks, ceramics etc.  

A food hub carrying cuisines such as parathas, idlis and dosas, kebabs and rolls, litti-chokha, Bengali sweets and jalebis and beverages is also a big draw. The food here is simple, tasty, affordable and festive!

We are trying to watch an array of plays that cover various flavors. For example, we are watching celebrity plays like “Dopehri” (Pankaj Kapoor), “Mera Wo Matlab Nahi Tha” (Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, Rakesh Bedi), “Dear Father” (Paresh Rawal). Alongside we watched the Bangla play “Antigone” by a Calcutta Group and “Jab sheher hamara sota hai” by a group from Jalandhar.

Our biggest attractions are perhaps the foreign productions. This is the only opportunity we get every year to experience overseas theatre first hand. We have already watched “Stories I want to tell you in person” by the Australian theatre group “Belvoir” and “Dear Children”, a collaboration between theatre artists from Sri Lanka and Rwanda. We intend to watch some more in this genre.

To promote the cause of theatre, the festival is concurrently being held at Thiruvananthapuram, Jammu, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar.

Tickets are being sold online as well as over the counter. Further details are available at https://eticket.nsd.gov.in/2016.

If you have been sitting on the fence about trying out theatre, this is the time to cross over. Not only would you get to see great theatre, but also the festive mood at NSD, we bet, would make you happy!