Vijay Tendulkar's Anji - By Nishumbita: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR VIJAY TENDULKAR'S ANJI -...

Samahaara, in association with the University of Hyderabad, the British Library Hyderabad, Yavanika, LIC of India, Hansel School, Ashish Pearls, Planet M, fullhyd.com, Hampshire Plaza Hotel, Jawed Habib Banjara Hills, Clear Vision, and 040, is conducting The Hyderabad Theatre Festival from the 10th June to the 14th at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium.

Adding to the budding fervour for theatre in the city, and taking passion for the field to another level is Samahaara, the theatre wing of 'The Magic If Creations,' the first theatre company of Hyderabad, and has been around for 5 years now, making efforts take theatre to the young, through plays, theatre workshops, technical support and directorial services.

The Hyderabad Theatre Festival is one of their initiatives in that direction. The event will see theatre groups from Hyderabad showcasing their productions.

On the 12th June, the third day of the festival, Nishumbita is presenting 'Anji', a play written during the 1970s by Vijay Tendulkar. It was first performed on 28th march, 1981 at Delhi's Sri Ram Center by 'Abhiyaan', a performing group with actors like Shekar Suman, Lalit Mohan Tiwari and Sanjeev Sahay.

The play deals with the concept of evil. If evil is defined as everything that destroys a human being or the 'human' in a being, it does not exist outside ourselves, and rather, lives within us. It lives on our prejudices, our societal obligations, and our definitions about the world, coupled with our limited inner sight. To find out what could bring us closer to being 'human', one must first understand oneself. With the 'evil' inside us thriving on a thousand internal conflicts, do we recognize what the 'I' in us wants to do to become more 'human'? While every soul finds an outlet towards feeling liberated, not all these outlets are healthy.

Anji is one such soul who wants to feel liberated and be much more human than she is. It is the story of a woman who wants to win against all odds, so much that she accepts a compromising situation in her life with vengeance, just to feel more 'human'.

Nishumbita Ballet And Theatre Group came into existence in the year 1995 to promote the values of dance & theatre among the populace of the twin cities, especially youth. It works with the motto of promoting social values. The group today has 55 members, both amateurs as well as professional artistes. The first production of the group was Lithuania, an English play by Rupert Brooke, follwed by Shrusti Ka Akhri Aadmi, a Hindi play written by Dharamveer Bharati, in the years 1996 and 1997, respectively.

The schedule for the The Hyderabad Theatre Festival is as follows:

10 June Main Raahi Masoom - By Rangadhara Theatre Stream

11 June Ayn Rand's Night Of January 16th - By Nasr Dramatic Society

12 June Vijay Tendulkar's 'Anji' - By Nishumbita

13 June Mahesh Dattani's 'Bravely Fought The Queen' - By D Fir Dramatics

14 June Neil Simon's 'The Good Doctor' - By Dramanon

Passes of Rs. 100, Rs. 200 and Rs. 500 are available at the venue, and at Planet M stores (Banjara Hills Road No. 1, Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad Central, Madhapur & Parklane). Booking can also be done on www.bookmyshow.com.

Please contact Rathna Shekar Reddy at 98852-88982 / Kanchan at 96524-59389 for further details.