Dramatic Showcase: Masters in Performing Arts (Drama) Present’s Two Plays “Kaalchakra” and “Bank Manager” at Rabindranath Tagore University

A three-day workshop (28 to 30 in 2024) was organized at Rabindranath Tagore University under the Faculty of Sanskrit Prachaya Bhasha Kendra Manviki Udaar Kala Sankay. Its participants were students of Masters in Performing Arts (Drama). Two plays were prepared by them. The play “Kaalchakra” written and directed by J.P. Singh and the other play “Bank Manager” written by Anton Chekhov and directed by Shyam Kumar were staged in the Sharada Auditorium of the University on 30 May. The play “Kaalchakra” is based on the legend of Raja Bhoj and Gangu Teli, in which the lead roles were played by J.P. Singh as Raja Bhoj and Tarun Jalota as Gangu Teli. Vaidyanath Sharma as Vaidya and Amatya, Vashishtha Upadhyay played the role of Ang Raj, Jyoti Upadhyay as Chandramukhi, Ashfaq as Musician, Vansh Rathore as Singer, Neeraj played the role of Dwarpal and Lights Designed by Shyam Kumar. The play Kaalchakra was started with a Jarjar Puja as per the rules of Natyashastra. A unique amalgamation of music and acting was seen in the play.

The second story full of humour “Bank Manager” is about a woman who comes to a bank, forces the manager to fulfill her unreasonable demands, the play is full of some humorous exchange of dialogues between the two and ends with the manager literally losing his mind. Nagendra Sharma played the role of the bank manager, the role of the woman was played by Shraboni Saha, Sachin Verma played the role of the assistant manager, music was directed by Vansh Rathore and lighting was designed and directed by Shyam Kumar.

In both the presentations, senior theatre artist and former director of M.P.S.D. Alok Chatterjee and the Vice-Chancellor of the University Dr. Aditi Chaturvedi Vats and the Vice Chancellor of the University graced their dignified presence as the chief guests. Alok Sir appreciated the play and praised the acting of all the artists. Dr. Aditi Chaturvedi Vats called the students’ presentation commendable and called it the heritage of the University. All the students were given certificates after the play. The coordinators of this workshop were Dr. Sanjay Dubey and Dr. Savitri Singh Parihar, co-coordinator Dr. Deepak Tiwari, cooperation from the Faculty of Humanities and Liberal Arts and Mr. Sharad Mishra, Abhishek Deshmane.




Natsamrat Theatre Festival spreads its wings to Mumbai

By Shraboni Saha

After establishing itself in Delhi, Natsamrat is now steadily making a mark in Mumbai as well. It successfully organised the 3rd Mumbai Theater Festival for Maharashtra audience

Natsamrat brought the Kumbh of plays for Mumbaikars i.e. 3rd Mumbai Theater Festival where five different plays were staged on May 26, 27 and 28 at Creative Adda Auditorium, Versova, Andheri West, Mumbai.

On May 26, at 6:30 pm, the play Napunsak, written by Manjul Bhardwaj, was staged and at 8:00 pm, the play Teen Bandar, written by Prabuddha Joshi, directed by Nagendra Kumar Sharma, both plays were staged.

The play Aadhi Raat ke Baad which was written by Dr. Shankar Shesh was staged on 27th May at 6:30 pm and the play Chukayenge Nahi, written by Dario-Fo and adapted by Amitabh Srivastava was staged at 8:00 pm and both the plays are directed by Chandrashekhar Sharma.

On May 28, at 7:30 pm, the play Kambakkht Ishq written by Satya Prakash was staged and the play is directed by Shyam Kumar, director of Natsamrat.

Artists from Delhi, Ambala, Mumbai presented the five different plays at the theater in Mumbai. In these plays, there was humor, adventure as well as social messages for the audience. Seeing the audience of Mumbai, it seemed as if they had a lot of love for theatre, that’s why the entire auditorium was packed on all three days. Natsamrat director Shyam Kumar says that if anyone wants to give something to the society, it can be done through drama and the audience definitely pays attention to it because it does not give stress to the mind, instead it gives a beautiful message through entertainment.




Editor Manohar Khushalani got Natsamrat Best Critic Award this day in 2019

Left to Right Jaidev Taneja, Prof Manohar Khushalani, Shyam Kumar

9th March 2019. The Glittering night of Natsamrat Theatre Awards. This was the most memorable moment of that year for StageBuzz Ed, Manohar Khushalani To be Awarded The 2019 Natsamrat Best Theatre Critic Award. It was indeed a fulfilling moment and an acknowledgement of his decades of consistent and persistent work as a critic for Pioneer (Column: Foot Lights), Mid Day (Culture Cocktail) and of course StageBuzz (Editor). The Award Ceremony was Organised by Shri Shyam Kumar, who is the driving force of the event . Well Known thespian Jaidev Taneja was the Chief Guest

Please listen to Prof. Manohar Khushalani’s Award Citation in the video above
Audience at the Awards
Excited Audience at the Glittering Award Ceremony

Winners of the 11th Natsamrat Theatre Awards:
Best Writer – Danish Iqbal
Best Director – Kichenassamy Madavane
Best Actor – Mohit Tripathi
Best Actress – Mona Chawla
Best Back-stage (Lights) – Himanshu B. Joshi
Best Critic – Manohar Khushalani
Lifetime Achievement – Feisal Alkazi
Theatre Promoter – Lalit Jaiswal

Natsamrat Awards List
Natsamrat Awards List

During that festival there was never a dull day in Delhi !
16th Natsamrat Natya Utsav included
10 plays in 5 days | 6 – 10 March | All plays in Hindi
6:30pm and 8pm everyday

Acceptance Speech of Prof. Manohar Khushalani