Bhubaneswar: The 23rd Kalinga Natya Mahotsav, a five-day multilingual drama festival began at Rabindra Mandap here Sunday.Organised by Satabdira Kalakar, one of the prominent theatre troupe of Odisha, the festival was inaugurated by Agriculture and Higher Education Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo.Nirman Kala Manch of Patna staged Hindi play Gagan Ghat Ghahrani on the first day of the festival. The play, written by Suman Kumar, came alive on the stage under the direction of Sanjay Upadhyay.
The plot revolves around the drama’s main protagonist Kabir, a weaver, who raises his voice against the misuse of power and exploitation in the name of religion. Through this play, director Upadhyay has made an attempt to promote brotherhood and send a message against greed.Mukesh Kumar, Abhisek Anand, Md. Zaffar Alam, Kumar Uday Singh, Krishna Kumar, Neha Niharika and Sadhna Srivastava were among the artistes who performed on the stage.
Satabdira Kalakara general secretary Dhira Mallick said, “Theatre artistes yearned to get back on stage and perform. So, the festival has created the perfect ambience to do so. It is not just about the artistes, the smile has returned on the face of the audience also. This has made us believe that the show will go on despite the looming threat of Covid-19 across the globe.”
Earlier, actress Dharitri Khandual was conferred with Sumitra Samman while actor Rajkishore Nayak received Satabidira Kalakar Lifetime achievement award. Similarly, actor Shankar Basumallik, playwright Fakir Singh and journalist Arunika Mohapatra were felicitated on the occasion.