A Week Full of Drama

For theatre enthusiasts in Mumbai, Nehru Centre every year rolls out a week-long festival of plays featuring some of the classics of Indian theatre as well as new plays that have managed to catch the audience's imagination. On Saturday, its latest edition featuring 13 plays opens with Moteram. This IPTA play, directed by MS Sathyu, was created by some of the best names of Indian theatre. Based on a story by Munshi Premchand, it has been written by Safdar Hashmi and Habib Tanvir.

Barring the opening day, the festival will stage two plays daily. The second day of the festival will present Marathi play Satyashodhak, written by GP Deshpande and directed by Atul Pethe, and Gujarati play Tirade Phooti Kanpal, based on playwright Mahesh Elkunchawar's famous play Wada Chirebandhi. "While the former attempts to relate the life and message of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule, the latter offers a glimpse into the depth of the human psyche," says LA Kazi, director-culture of Nehru Centre, Mumbai.

Other plays to be staged are Sandip Bhattacharya's Santaap in Bengali; Gopal Datt and Purva Naresh's witty musical drama in Hindi and Bundeli, Preth; Sai Pranjape's Aalbel; Vishwas Sohoni's Ghar Baar in Marathi; Farid Bazmi's Nain Nachaiya; Nadira Babbar's Yumraj Ji Kuchh Kariye; Suma Dwarkanath's Kerege Haara in Kannada, Waman Kendre's Le Saugandh Tu, inspired by Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes, and Kewal Dhaliwal's Heer Waris Shah in Punjabi. The popular Tumhari Amrita, adapted by Javed Siddiqui, will be staged on September 10. A poignant love story told through letters, it stars Farooq Shaikh and Shabana Azmi.

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