The much awaited Vinod Doshi Memorial Theatre Festival is back again in its new avatar Saarang Theatre festival supported by Parimal & Pramod Chaudhari and organised by Sahitiy Rangabhoomi Pratishthan. The gracious and rare cultural gift in the form of annual theatre festival to Pune city given by the Doshi family ten years ago is being carried forward uninterrupted by the Sahitya Rangabhoomi Pratishthan thanks to the generous support extended by Parimal and Pramod Chaudhari. The festival has served as a platform for multi lingual theatre in the city for a decade will now be known as the ‘Saarang Theatre Festival’. An announcement to this effect was made by Ashok Kulkarni, Managing Trustee of the Sahitya Rangabhoomi Pratishthan and also the director of the festival during a Press Conference held in the city today.
Parimal Chaudhari, who has extended the financial support to the fest, was also present on the occasion along with noted personalities from film and theatre fraternity including Satish Alekar, Mohit Takalkar, Atul Kumar and Suraj Parasnis.
The first edition of the Saarang Theatre festival being organized by the Sahitya Rangabhoomi Pratishthan between February 25th and March 1st at the Yashwantrao Chavan Auditorium at Kothrud. Timing of the plays that would be staged during the fest would be 7.30 pm onwards on all days. Tickets are available on bookmyshow.com and at the Yashwantrao Chavan Auditorium.
As many as five different plays in Hindi-English, Marathi, Tamil, Hindi – Urdu, and Hindi which are gaining praise among theatre lovers will be showcased in the festival including Director Atul Kumar’s ‘Detective 9-2-11’ (Hindi – English) on February 25th, A Marathi Play titled ‘Davikadun Chauthi Building’ directed by Suraj Parasnis on February 26th, Tamil Play ‘Chandala –Impure’ directed by Kumaran Valavan on February 27th, Mohit Takalkar directed ‘Chaheta’ a Hindi-Urdu play on February 28th and ‘Deewar’ a Hindi play directed by Sunil Shanbag on March 1st.
Speaking about this theatre fest Ashok Kulkarni, who will continue to be the Festival Director said, “The tradition of giving a platform to some contemporary and off beat works in theatre will be continued with the same enthusiasm and zeal as in the past 10 years. Plays from other than Marathi language is the differentiating factor of this festival so we stand committed to present the best from various languages to theatre lovers in the city.”
“In the past 10 years we have made a successful attempt to showcase plays from multiple languages like Hindi, English, Kannada, Punjabi and Gujrathi. In fact, some plays which became popular in theatre circles all across the country were staged first here like Gajab Kahani, Une Pure Shahar Ek and Sindhu, Sudhakar, Rum aani Itar”, he added.
“We are happy to extend support and be a part of this noteworthy initiative in theatre in Pune. This form of art has been known for giving way to creativity in communicating important messages to the society. Such a festival provides a wonderful opportunity to the art savvy citizens of Pune to witness the way theatre is active in the current times”, said Parimal Chaudhari.
