Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2016
Venue: Kamani Auditorium
Date: 05 Feb 2016

Bharat Rang Mahotsav brings forth the best of theatre to the Delhi audience.

One of the first performances in the series was a play reading by Pankaj Kapur. This is the story of a lonely old woman Amma Bi and her journey of self-discovery.

On the backdrop of a minimalistic stage with some props that resemble a mansion, Kapur reads through the tale changing his articulation from the narrator to Amma Bi to the other characters who move in and out of her world. Though the story has a relaxed pace, Kapur races through the script and we had to make an effort to be able to understand the lines even though we had front seats. Given the undertones that he frequently uses, a lot of the narration is missed by the audience.

Notwithstanding the celebrity cast, the story is the star that elevates the mundane from the earth to the soft halo of the night sky – in a duration of a decent 1 hour 20 minutes. It was therefore perhaps easy to rise above the flaws and Kapur, flanked by his wife actress Supriya Pathak and daughter, got a standing ovation.