Cooli Raju - Dance Drama By Jayasri Arts

The Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, the Boyi Bheemanna Sahitya Peetham, the Sahitya Nidhi Academy and the Department of Culture are jointly organizing a drama festival, where several theatre groups will take part. Today, the sixth day, Cooli Raju, a play, will be presented by Jayasri Arts (Hyderabad). There will be a concluding ceremony tomorrow.

Cooli Raju is a real story scripted by Boyi Bheemanna. It talks about the atrocities of landlords and their henchmen on daily wagers/coolies. The war for justice between the two parties is the integral part of the story, set in a village.

In spite of increases in daily costs, landlords abstain from increasing their coolies' daily wages. That causes severe inconvenience and the coolies starve for food. Anyone raising his voice is snubbed. Madhumurty, who has just completed his degree, abstains from taking up his new government job, comes to this village, and starts a movement against landlords. Paramjyothi and Mitra join him. As part of the movement, coolies stop going to work, creating problems for landlords. Prem Kumar, a kind-hearted person, represents the landlords, and arranges an agreement between the two groups, and all ends well.

Dr. K Ramaswamy (retired Supreme Court justice), Acharya Ketu Vishwanatha Reddy (ex-Vice Chancellor, DRBROU), and P J Sudhakar (News Director, DDK) will preside over the function as chief guests. There will be several cash awards and mementos given away to the best performers at the end of the festival. The best drama will get a cash award of Rs. 25,000, the 2nd prize is Rs. 15,000, and the 3rd is Rs. 10,000. Individual awards will be given to the best actor, best actress, best child artist, best villain, best music director, best director and best stage designer.

Please contact Dr. Chennaiah (PRO), Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, at 2323-0435/2323-0641 for further details.