Bharat Rang Mahotsav in its 20th edition brings together more than a hundred theatre productions in a variety of Indian and international languages. By Team Viva

Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasise about a world we aspire for,’ said William Dafoe once.

Through interactive sessions, innumerous plays, and a range of cultural events, Bharat Rang Mahotsav is back in the city to do just that, to the great delight of theatre connoisseurs.

As the National School of Drama (NSD) gears to launch the festival, it talks about how this edition with bring a diverse range of productions comprising of 111 shows and allied events like the Directors’ Meet, Living Legend, and Master Class.

The festival, this year, celebrates the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by staging four important plays on the life, philosophy and principles of Bapu.

Arjun Deo Charan, acting chairman, NSD society, said, “It is an honour to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the father of the nation.”

The festival acts as a host to 69 Indian and 15 international plays across India. There would be a wide range of productions by eminent theatre practitioners — nine folk ones, five plays by diploma students of NSD, one production from the theatre school’s Sikkim centre, three plays by the NSD repertory and five invitee plays.

One of the important performances at the inaugural, as Charan highlighted, will be the 50-minute long Karanth Ke Rang, showcasing a medley of songs composed by the Kannada and Hindi theatre stalwart, B V Karanth.

The 21 days-long festival will host around 89 plays in several Indian languages — 25 in Hindi, 16 in Bengali, five in Kannada, two in Marathi, two in Odia, two in Gujarati, two in Manipuri, three in English, two in Assamese, two in Malayalam and one each in Maithili, Telugu, Nepali, and Sanskrit each, including 15 foreign plays. It also stages eight folk performances.

There will be international productions from countries like Bangladesh, Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka, the Czech Republic, Italy, Nepal, Romania, and Singapore as well as non-verbal performances.

While the festival celebrates theatre and performing art in all its forms, there will also be certain discussions on various themes revolving around theatre like, ‘Is modern theatre inclusive?’ There will also be sessions dedicated to ‘Notion of state and representation’, ‘Unrepresented form’, and ‘Non-governmental curating and funding policy.’

Suresh Sharma, director, NSD also highlighted the ‘Theatre Bazar’ that will a provide space to a motley of stalls offering various culinary delights and nukkad nataks or street plays.

Well, this bazar also holds a place for students from dramatic societies of around 50 colleges of Delhi, representing the youth forum.

He said that theatre is one of the oldest and strongest media to convey human emotions in a manner that defies “temporal boundaries.”

Talking about how the best plays have been selected from a huge number of entries, he said, “We have made a lot of efforts to bring a selection of quality plays, choosing the best out of 960 submissions. There are nine folk performances being presented as well as invitee plays and productions in regional languages. We have tried to accommodate as many young theatre enthusiasts since the institution aims to foster the growth of young talents through the festival.”

Charan believed that theatre gives a chance to celebrate and visualise a world that we only “imagine” and hence, it should reach as many people as it can.

He added, “We have spread the festival across the country so that theatre could reach more people.”

(The festival begins tomorrow and will go on till February 21 across India.)