21st Bharat Rang Mahotsav to begin from February 1

The 21st Bharat Rang Mahotsav is set to begin from February 1 in Delhi and five other cities including Puducherry simultaneously.

The 21 day-long international carnivals of theatre, to be organised by the National School of Drama (NSD), will liven up the wintry afternoons with as many as 91 plays in various Indian languages including 10 foreign plays lined up to enthrall the audience with a heady mix of romance, suspense, comedy, and music.

A total of two Kannada plays have been selected for the festival.

Veteran actor-director Amol Palekar’s crime-drama ‘Kusoor’ will be the first show in Delhi to kick start a long line-up of top-notch performances over the next 21 days.

“Palekar, a theatre veteran, is coming back with his crime-drama after a gap of 20 years,” NDS's director-in-charge Suresh Sharma said, announcing the schedules of the mega event here on Wednesday.

Shillong, Deharadun, Nagpur and Vellupuram are the other cities besides Puducherry where the 21st Bharat Rang Mahotsav will be organised simultaneously.

The Mahotsav, however, will conclude in seven days in these five cities.

“Eagerly anticipated by theatre enthusiasts, the festival will commence in New Delhi on February 1 and continue till February 21. The inaugural ceremony will be held at Kamani auditorium on February 1,” Sharma said.

During the festival, theatre enthusiasts will be treated to an exciting mix of post-modern theatre that promises an indulging theatre experience, alongside authentic deep-remote-area regional performance forms.

“Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2020 will showcase a range of productions comprising 101 shows from critically acclaimed plays carefully curated from across India and around the world,” Sharma said.

The 21-day long festival this year will include plays in Hindi, English, and other regional languages.

Foreign plays to be showcased during the festival includes two each from US, Russia, Bangladesh, and Nepal, as well as one each from Sri Lanka and the Czech Republic.

Besides, the plays which will be staged every evening, the NSD campus will be abuzz with allied performances which will include street plays, director-meet events and living legend master class. The youth forum shows will comprise performances by the dramatic societies of nearly 50 colleges in Delhi while ambience performances will bring folk dance and other traditional performing art forms.

The World Theatre Forum and the National Seminar on Theatre will also be held as part of the annual festival in Delhi.