A city theatre festival stages five Hindi plays to celebrate the language
An earlier performance of Jug Jug Jiyo
As products of the National School of Drama in New Delhi, casting director Mukesh Chhabra and actor Dhirendra Dwivedi often felt that beyond the National Centre for Performing Arts and Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai offers few avenues for Hindi plays. To celebrate the language and stage plays in Hindi by new directors, the Mukesh Chhabra Casting Co. started the theatre festival Khidkiyaan last year, which is now back with its second edition.
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“The initiative was appreciated and well received, and this year’s edition is on a bigger scale with panel discussions, poetry recitals, music performances, stand-up comedy and script reading sessions apart from plays by veteran and upcoming directors,” shares Dwivedi, its technical director. “Sathaye College continues to be the venue, which is accessible to audiences from north and south Mumbai.”
Plays from the festival's first edition
The opening performance is Smita Bharti’s Jug Jug Jiyo, which won the Laadli Media and Advertising Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2013. Bharti, who is associated with the NGO Sakshi, has been working in the field of judicial reforms for women.
“My work informs what I write. The play has been treated with a good dose of laughter and pathos to make the subject accessible to the audience,” she says, adding, “It is about two strong women coming from two ends of the spectrum. While one has experienced the worst possible form of gender inequality, the other is a liberated woman, who society wouldn’t allow to be a single mother.”
Other plays in the line-up include Ji, Jaisi Aapki Marzi, Bade Miyan Deewane, Bobby Breaker and Saarthak Behas. There will also be performances by actor-director Piyush Mishra, Swanand Kirkire, Jasleen Royal among others. A discussion on Theatre vs Cinema will be led by Anupama Chopra, with Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte, Maanav Kaul, Richa Chadda and Pankaj Tripathy as panelists.
Dolly Ahluwalia Tewari in the play
From March 1 to 5, 4. 30 pm
At Sathaye College, Dixit Road, Vile Parle (E). LOG ON TO www.khidkiyaan.com
Free
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