Date: 6-12 March 2019 
Venue: Kamani Auditorium, Shri Ram Theatre

14th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META), 2019 oncluded with a grand awards night. Kamani Auditorium was full to the brim with META team, META jury, actors and theatre lovers to watch this annual extravaganza. We were welcomed with wine and chai and an ensemble band playing table, mind boggling flute and the synthesizer at the Kamani foyer.

The evening had an interesting line up.

To give a brief background, we must mention that cinema and theatre joined hands for this event. The superb talented Singer / actor Ila Arun, who was part of the META jury, reminisced that they had 14 play entries during first year of META. The theatre competition has come a long way since then. Arun revealed 2019 META received a whopping 414 entries from all across the country and 9 of these plays where selected for the finals. The 9 selected plays, in Hindi, English and host of regional languages were staged between 6^th  to 11^th March, 2019 at Kamani Auditorium and Shri Ram Theatre in Delhi.

The plays were a combination of various forms of contemporary styles, folk theatre, modern themes as well as epics. We loved watching the classic ‘Andha Yug’ based on Mahabharata as well as ‘Loose Women’, a sardonic take on women’s empowerment. For the benefit of the audience who had not watched all the plays, snippets therefrom were performed during the awards night. The snippets helped in conveying an idea about the nature of a particular play.

The host for the evening was the radio jockey Mantra of Disney Aladdin fame and he entertained the house through his light hearted jibes. In addition, the new age band The Revisit Project was live on stage throughout the event and belted out a sole number which was perhaps their creation. Later in the evening, The Project Ganganis presented a piece in Kathak. The classical dance Kathak involves acting or abhinaya, and hence was very suitable for the event.  The expertise of the troupe was most humbling.

There were a host of awards and the Hindi Adaptation of ‘Andha Yug’ by TAAM, Manipur bagged Best Play and ‘Agarbatti’ by Samagam Rangmandal won Best Director and Best Original Script at the 2019 META. Our personal favourite ‘Bhagi Hui Ladkiyan’ by Aagaaz Theatre Trust, Delhi won the Special Jury Mention award. The noted thespian and playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar was conferred the META Lifetime Achievement Award. The whole audience gave him a standing ovation.

It was one gala evening that celebrated theatre like no other. Sanjoy K Roy, MD, Teamwork Arts & Festival Producer, said, “Each year META brings together stories of resilience, struggle and passion from across the country. The productions from small towns and buzzing metropolises showcases (sic) Indian theatre’s strength and diversity.”

We at Delhi-Fun-Dos couldn’t agree more. Here is wishing more power to Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META).

To watch the videos and more posts about this event check out our Instagram channel.