Bengaluru: NSD's theatre festival kicks off

Bengaluru: The usually sober Gurunanak Bhavan stood transformed on Wednesday evening, as the National School of Drama kicked off its 10-day theatre festival, Dakshina Bharath Rangotsava.

Ten plays in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam will be staged at the venue every night, featuring a host of repertories, amateurs and of course students from NSD who have helped put the festival together.

Eminent playwright Girish Karnad, writer K. Marulasiddappa and Minister for Culture Umashree were the three dignitaries present at the inauguration. As always, the philosophy behind the festival is to bring regional theatre, both traditional and experimental, to a single stage.

Karnad, who kept his speech under three minutes, discussed the formation of NSD during the Nehruvian era. “At that time, it was mainly to look at the traditions of theatre in  Hindi,” said Karnad.

“It was when B.V. Karanth took over from Ebrahim Alkazi that NSD began to open itself up to regional and experimental forms of theatre,” he explained. “That was when students from all over the country came to the school, flagging off the real era of theatre in India.” That is, Karnad added, the true essence of Indian theatre and of India itself, “Finding oneness in diversity.”

Karnad added that NSD did more than just bring regional theatre to light - it gave several lesser known languages - Kannada included, a more national focus. “People didn't know Kannada was a language at the time,” said Karnad.

“When Sriranga's works were translated into Hindi, the public were introduced to dramatic works in a language they hadn't heard of until that point,” he said. The NSD, he pointed out, has allowed people in theatre to come together in so many ways. “It has also allowed tradition to mix and grow with modernity,” he said.

K. Marulasiddappa kept his focus to the state of local theatre – NSD’s contract with Gurunanak Bhavan, for instance, will expire next month. He requested Umashree, who was present, to give the venue to NSD on a 15-year-lease.

C. Basavalingaiah, the first director of NSD's Bengaluru chapter, added, “The place needs to be fixed up and that will cost us around Rs 4 crore. We are willing to put in the money, but only if we get the place on lease.

Otherwise, it simply isn't feasible. Having an auditorium in the heart of the town will be a great thing for our students, who have a space to perform and organise more festivals like this one,” he said.