Mirroring social reality

Mirroring social reality

Art forms can never be divorced from the socio-political reality; in fact they are meant to hold a mirror to the social truths and adhering to this line of thought is the line-up of seven plays that are being staged in the city as a part of Rangmahotsav 2018.

The 16th annual national theatre festival organised by Maharashtra Cultural Centre, has a clutch of plays that talk about social stigmas, communal riots, conflicting beauty standards for women and crossed relationships.
 
“We got 47 entries this year and seven plays have made the cut. They were selected on the basis of their content, performance and relevance. Besides, this year, we also have four platform performances,” say the co-ordinators of the festival, Harshad Rajpathak and Vedant Ranade.

“There is a strong feminist theme running through all the plays,” Ranade adds.

The five-day festival, starting from December 21, will be inaugurated by Sanjna Kapoor  of Junoon organisation. “The inaugural play is Rasika Agashe’s Sat Bhashe Raidas, which draws parallels between the 15th century and 21st century social stigmas and oppression in a joyous musical manner. Another important play is Venkatraman Balkrishnan’s Ásghar. It is based on a collection of prolific Hindi writer, Asghar Wajahat’s 10 satirical short stories. On the third day of the festival, Saudamini Kalra’s Kalpana aur uski (DOST) Yonika, will make its debut. It is inspired by the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma and is a journey of two friends who discover something, which is of greater value than any person or competition. Kalra’s team will also be staging Whole Sum Parts, a biting comedy. The predominantly English play revolves around the lives of women in millennial India, who have to battle conflicting beauty standards as prescribed by Eastern and Western societies,” says Ranade.
 
On the fourth day, Shiv Subrahmanyam and Divya Jagdale will present Toxic and a solo play,  The way I see it. Toxic written by Subrahmanyam explores crossed relationships using elements of physical theatre, while The way I see it, is a solo performance by Jagdale. The play directed by Subrahmanyam takes a satirical look at a 40 something married woman charting a perilous course between independence and responsibility.
 
The last day of the festival will feature Neha Singh’s critically acclaimed musical play Jhalkari, which is based on the real life character of Jhalkaribai, a close associate of Rani Laxmibai.  
“The platform performances include Madhura Aphale and team (movement), Pranjal Akkalkotkar and team (music band), Shreyas Badve (Kirtan) and Chandralekha (Veej mhanali Dhartila — solo performance),” says Rajpathak.

The duo sign off with a request for the audience to reach the venue, Jyotsna Bhole Sabhagruha, on time. “Maharashtra Cultural Centre starts its plays on time and if the  audience is punctual, the experience for all would be good,” they conclude. 

ST Reader Service
Maharashtra Cultural Centre’s Rangmahotsav 2018 will be held from Dec 21-25 at Jyotsna Bhole Sabhagruha, Tilak Road. Except on Dec 21, when the show starts at 7 pm, on the other days, the plays would begin at 7.30 pm sharp. Tickets/season passes are available at bookmyshow.com and also at the venue, one hour before the show.

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