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Nandikar creates milestone with 40th National Theatre Festival

Save the dates and book your tickets today

Image courtesy: Nandikar

Nandikar, one of the oldest theatre groups of India, is all set to host its 40th National Theatre Festival. The theatre festival started in 1984, and carries forward the legacy of theatre legends Rudraprasad Sengupta and late Swatilekha Sengupta. Other than Nandikar, well-known theatre groups like Chetana, Iccheymoto, Naye Natua, Angik, Shyambazar Mukhomukhi and Anya Theatre from Kolkata are participating in the 10-day long festival this year. Productions by Chakdaha Natyajan, Backstage from Uttar Pradesh, Ujaagar Dramatic Association from Rajasthan will also be showcased. Theatre artiste Luckyjee Gupta from Jammu and Kashmir will be directing the play Maa Mujhe Tagore Bana De too.

There will also be an exhibition on Rudraprasad Sengupta along with a felicitation ceremony. Theatre activist and Nandikar’s secretary Sohini Sengupta, in a video byte posted on Nandikar’s Facebook page shared, “I have been associated with the mela since my childhood. I have seen many prominent theatre groups from across India on stage during the mela. It felt like watching magic unfold on stage.” Eken Babu aka Anirban Chakrabarti will be acting in the play Mahatma Vs Gandhi. Debesh Chattopadhyay will be directing Barricade, Sohini Sengupta will be presenting Panchajanya and Manush, Saptarshi Maulik will be directing Ek Theke Baro. Children’s Ensemble by Nandikar will be presenting Lakshmaner Shaktishel, Alice in Wonderland and Podi Pishir Bormibaksho.

Dates: December 16 to 25

Venue: Academy of Fine Arts

Note: On December 16, Aajker Shahjahan, presented by Shyambazar Mukhomukhi and directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay, will be showcased at Rabindra Sadan from 6:30 pm. The first play of the festival, Mareech Sangbad by Chetana, will have both Suman Mukhopadhyay (Laal) and Neel Mukhopadhyay acting in it, at Academy of Fine Arts from 3 pm.

— Pooja Mitra

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