15th Bharangam Diary: notes, rants and experiences

DAY 9: 13th Jan 2013 A very promising day was on offer with Badal Sircar and Shakespeare at the helm. And to top that, the extra tickets we had because of a certain someone who chooses only the best-play-days to remain absent, were sold even before we reached the auditorium. People love watching Hindi plays...

15th Bharangam Diary: notes, rants and experiences

DAY 7: 11th Jan 2013 9 Days Newspaper Concept & Direction: Joy Maisnam (Treasure Art Association, Imphal) A very well-conceived script from the actual news items published in 9 consecutive days in a newspaper. This play was a mix of strong content and improvised stageplay. The performances were not up to the mark but all...

15th Bharangam Diary: notes, rants and experiences

DAY 6: 10th Jan 2013 Fatigue. Watching back to back performances, few good, many poor, is an arduous task. The brain freezes with overwhelmed sensations. I hate getting up in the middle of a play/film, no matter how bad it is. But in a festival like this, you just cannot help the urge. Metamorphoses Based...

Surabhi: Maya Bazar

Having grown up in Hyderabad, I ought to have known Surabhi Theatre Group but I didn't even know they existed until I saw them at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav. In fact, I bought the tickets solely because  I had never seen a  single Telugu play before. That says something about the waning popularity of regional/folk...

15th Bharangam Diary: notes, rants and experiences

DAY 4: 8th Jan 2013 Conversations at the food hub never seem to take a constructive turn. There is talk about politics but like a performance piece, abridged and censored. There is talk about the art but that entails a lot of ego. So, essentially, what you do is eat and drink, and wait for...

15th Bharangam Diary: notes, rants and experiences

DAY 3: 7th Jan 2013 Mohandas Script: Uday Prakash Director: Rajinder Nath (Theatre Repertory Company, Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts, Delhi) The question of identity is a many layered puzzle that baffles a human soul everywhere on this earth. How does one define oneself? A lower class kabirpanthi? A B.A pass graduate? A son?...

15th Bharangam Diary: notes, rants and experiences

DAY 2: 6th Jan 2013 The food hub is up and running with its usual fair of biryani, tikkas, momos, litti, chai and jalebi. With the extreme Delhi chill, the coals are also burning with gusto, giving warmth to the freezing hands of the audiences. NSD must experiment a bit more with the setting and...

15th Bharangam Diary: notes, rants and experiences

To the uninitiated, Bharangam (pet for Bharat Rang Mahotsav) is the annual theater festival of National School of Drama, Delhi. This festival showcases one of the best ensemble of modern theater from India and some other countries including Poland, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Srilanka. This year there is a small, but apt, focus on popular theater...

Dilli ki Sardi (this post is in Hindi)

  Lo, ek baar phir se thand aa gayi hai. Agar Dilli ke context mein is mausam ko dekha jaaye to ye aur bhi zyaada romaani aur artful lagta hai. Sirf 2-3 mahinon ki is aalas se bhari, kambal-razaai mein lipti aur dhundh se dhaki thand agar na hoti to Dilli kitna weeraan hota. Aur...

Thank you Delhi

It's been a little over a year since we began our "experiment" and since this blog came into being. We've been fairly successful in achieving what we set out to, but a lot of credit goes to the city of Delhi and it's art culture. I can't think of any other city in India that has so...