Natyansh Society
Fourth National Theatre Festival ‘Alfaaz 2016’ was held in last week of November at Darpan Sabhagar organized by Natyansh Society of Dramatic and Performing Arts in collaboration with West Zone Cultural Center, Udaipur. Alfaaz 2016 was unique in terms that the entire festival organised with contribution of theatre lovers and no big sponsor was there.
This women centered theatre festival was spread over 19 days including ‘On The Spot Drawing Competition’, ‘Short Play Competition’, ‘Online Photography Competition’, ‘On The Spot Photography Competition’, 100 Street Plays, Movie Screening, Poetry Slam, Art Exhibition and many more along with 3 full length stage plays.
Festival began on Nov. 5, 2016 with Poetry Slam. Natyanshcollaborated with writer group WOW and it was held at Stories Less Told Cafewhere 30 + poets shared their poems on status of women in society.
During Alfaaz 2016, Natyansh screened movies at schools, colleges and institutions in rural areas. We collaborated with Khula Manch, a Bangalore based film group who provided us best of short movies and films which we screened at various government schools and colleges in rural areas.
Drawing Competition was held as part of Alfaaz 2016 at Arvana Mall, Udaipur with the support of IKP Developers where more than 400 students participated. All the paintings were judged by the prominent and renowned artists of Udaipur viz., Prof. Meena Baya, Prof. Manohar Shrimali. They divided the participants into two groups senior and junior and certificate of participation were given to each participants. Manasvi Khamesara and Harshita Talreja won competition while Rashi Mehta was 1st runner up and Tanish Bajaj and Hukum Raj was 2nd runner up in Junior Category. Ritu Raj Mali and Prathna Neema won competition while Sumit Jangid was 1st runner up and Sejal Ushania was 2nd runner up in Senior Category
Short Play Competition was organized with the help of Vidhya Bhawan Society at Dr. Mohan Sinha Mehta Memorial Auditorium where 100 students of 10 schools participated and performed short play on the theme of ‘Status of Women in our society’. Sh Vilas Janwe, internationally recognized mime artist and Kaviraj Laique, NSD graduate judged the performances and awarded the best play, best actors and actresses. Students of Vidhya Bhawan Public School won the competition while Guru Nanak Public School was 1st runner up and Seedling Modern Public School was 2nd runner up in short play competition.
Online Photography Competition took the international level in Alfaaz 2016 and we received about 200 entries around the world. Best photograph was selected by the Jury members including Mr. Rakesh Sharma (Senior photo journalist – Rajasthan Patrika), Mr. Cluade D’souza (Department of Photography and Previous Manager – The Times of India) and Mr. Dheeraj Bilochi ( Rama Studio ). Photograph of Parth Pritam Saha was liked by judges and he won the competition. Shibhashish Saha and Gautam Kamat stood 2nd and 3rd position respectively.
On The Spot Photography Competition was held on the final days of performances where about 20 budding photographers participated in it. They clicked the photos of full length play performed in Alfaaz 2016.
Exhibition of the drawings made by students and photographs received during the competition was exhibited.
Team Natyansh performed 100 street plays in various social events and public places of Udaipur to aware people about the services of lady patrol police which was recently launched and thereby giving details of festival.
Full length stage plays were performed at Darpan Sabhagar in collaboration with West Zone Cultural Center. The three days events were as follows:
Alfaaz 2016 begins with solo play ‘Astitva’ written and directed by Amit Shrimali on 25th Nov. This play is based on the gender discrimination and is a mirror of society. The struggle of woman for her dignity and self esteem in today’s dual and narrow minded society forms the basis of play. Even after all kinds of conflicts, the woman is constantly engaged in the search for her own identity, her own existence. The protest towards society’s inefficient, irrevocable and hollow mentality is what actually play ‘Astitva’.
Shine Theatre troupe from Kolkata performed their play ‘Tomar Dake’ written and directed by Suvojit Bandhyopadhyay on 26th Nov. This drama is an experimental theatrical performance of modern age based on the story of Malala Yousufzai of Pakistan along with the famous composition of Ravindra Nath Tagore’s drama Raktakarabi, Bisarjan, Achalayatan, Muktodhara and Dakghar. The woman folk, in particular, are the worst affected community in our social front. There is no change in the scenario starting from the mythological age of Sita-Savitree to the present age of Malala. They are still fighting for their right and justice.
Jaipur based theatre group Parampara Natya Samiti performed their 100th show of ‘Agni Partiksha’ on 27th Nov. based stories of Mata Sati, Seeta, Rani Padmawati and Sati pratha in India. Written by Dr. Hariram Acharya and directed by Dilip Bhatt, this play was performed in Tamasha Style (Art Form). Agni Pariksha is not a fiction but an ideological drama. The four important incidents of mythological period described in the play, hold significant relevance in today’s society. Many scenes of play have shaken the hearts of audience.
Crafted by Tick Tech Toe