No Theatrics this!

Can 277 plays actually change how we see the world? The Bharat Rang Mahotsav is ongoing, and it is a massive ‘Mahakumbh’ of stories.’ It features 277 plays in 228 different languages. This year, the stage includes productions by transgender communities, sex workers, and senior citizens. This is about finally seeing people we usually ignore. World’s right there at our fingertips, one tap away — still, we shuffle into those murky auditoriums, jammed up next to complete unknowns.

With the Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2026 filling up every hall in Delhi, it is pretty clear we are just fed up with staring at screens all day. They want something they can actually feel. When a room is packed for a play, you are seeing a city that is tired of being alone. Delhi has a very real soul that stays on those old wooden stage floors. The magic really happens during a show like Mai Hun Bhi Aur Nahi Bhi. Part of the Jashn-e-Bachpan lineup, this show uses a “get-in-there” style of theater to dive into imagination and who we really are.

You feel the energy change the instant the room goes dark. What’s cool is that this is a ‘devised’ play — meaning it was built from scratch through the shared work of the actors and directors. Seeing this Hindi performance makes one realise that the audience is just as important as the young actors. Take away those eyes, that heavy silence, and the play vanishes. We sit through every act because theater’s the final refuge for raw, unvarnished human bond. You cannot truly understand this through a screen.

To feel the curiosity of Nanha Scientist or the stress of The Simla Affair, you must be there. Sitting in the dark together connects people better than any app.  Across 40 spots globally, this festival puts ignored voices on stage, showing us who they really are. You need to be in that room to feel the energy. It is in these packed theaters where you feel like you belong.  So, can 277 plays actually change how we see theworld?

Finding Home in the Shadows

The theater remains a rare sanctuary where a child’s raw curiosity is celebrated rather than managed. Mohit Jain’s Nanha Scientist delivers this with startling clarity, peeling back the layers of Thomas Edison’s early years. The stage captures the sharp friction between a rigid, institutionalised school and a boy dismissed as ‘difficult’ saved only by his mother’s fierce, quiet belief in what he could become. The play’s beating heart? Resilience. Unconventional minds; they hold steady, spotting hidden worlds we adults often miss. Through flickers of invention and quiet pushback, it lifts imagination as rebellion.

Secrets in Simla

Why do people still choose to sit in the dark with strangers?  The Simla Affair. Performed by the Third Year Students of the National School of Drama, this play is a striking example of why physical presence matters. Written by Raja Sen and directed by Aditee Biswas, this original ‘noir’ mystery plunges you into 1952 Simla, where twelve people gather to mourn a dead General and hide a murderer. It is an immersive game of shadows where the audience’s will actually shapes the final climax.