A tribute to the legend

Another successful edition of the theatre festival recently took place in the capital as a tribute to the father of modern Hindi literature Bharatendu Harish Chandra.

Bhartendu Natya Utsav, a six-day-long theatre festival was organised by Sahitya Kala Parishad and Delhi Government’s Art, Culture and Languages department recently in the capital.

The festival has been celebrated for the last four decades and features some of the most popular works of eminent litterateurs along with a number of promising contemporary writers and directors. Parishad also encourage sand provides a platform to young and new talented artists.

The Natyotsav showcased one play at a day and started its fourth edition with Seedhiyan directed by Arvind Singh. Singh elaborates his views on Hindi literature. “Hindi Literature in the past had many relatable faces as compared to present days. Though there are high dynamics of writers present in our society nowadays, there is still a need of matching the high mark of standard to achieve stability if we wish for a bright future of Hindi literature,” he voiced.

Moving forward, the second day saw a musical play by Prathibha Singh Ram Ki Shakti Pooja whereas the following was A journey of Romeo Juliet (originally written by Shakespeare) directed by Manoj Kumar Tyagi. Expressing his excitement and gratitude he shared, “I am so grateful to Bharatendu Natya Utsav for giving me and my artists this opportunity to perform on such a big platform. This is also my first-time collaboration with this festival and by god’s grace everything was up to my expectation.” Tyagi also points out that the modern Hindi literature should be written and directed in a way that it should reach huge number of audiences, and the characters' struggles should be executed in a manner which the audiences can relate to.

Govind Singh Yadav, director of Sheeshe Ke Khilone was staged on the fourth day and after the exemplary act stated, “My play is totally based on a person’s dream who recalls the past. It also reflects the relationship between a mother, a son and a daughter. I chose this one amongst others as these days, I feel, everyone wants their own wish to be fulfilled and do not care about their families.” He also adds when talking about modern Hindi drama, “I think I am made only for theatre and if digital platforms such as Netflix support theatre and artists, the art form could grow as a whole.”

The last two days, where Kajal Soias’ Ardh Kavya and Prem Kabootar, by Sameep Singh came to life, it was evident from the crowd that Gen Z enjoys Natya (theatre) beyond all stereotyping. That is the most touching success of such a fest, isn’t it?