Bhubaneswar, Mar 30: A theatre troupe of Odisha named The Abhinaya Jagruti Institute of Theatre (AJIT) is organizing the national-level theatre festival for the fourth time named the Ajit Natya Mahotsav-2017 from Mar 28 at the Rabindra Mandap here. The festival is set to showcase three plays, one in Odiya, one in Bengali and one in Hindi, out of which the Odiya and Bengali plays have been performed on Mar 28 and Mar 29 respectively. The Hindi play named “Saraay” is scheduled to be performed today which is the last day of the festival, Mar 30. It has been directed by Ashish Pathak and will be staged by Samagam Rangmandal theatre group of Jabalpur. The inaugural evening on Mar 28 featured the Odia play titled as “Budhaa Sankhaari” scripted by Laxmikant Mohapatra and directed by veteran director Ajit Das. The second evening on Mar 29 featured the Bengali theatre titled “Bishadkal”, directed by Prabir Guha and staged by the Alternate Living Theatre Group of Kolkata.
The 3-day festival is being organized every year to popularize theatre among the younger generation. This year’s festival is dedicated to veteran stage artiste, theatre director, artist, painter, and writer, late Asim Basu who passed away on Feb 01, 2017. It’s been 15 years since Odia classics in the form of theatre are being performed by AJIT. Some of them are Budhaa Sankhaari, Rebati, Anuprasa, Sandhya Chhaya, Sadgati, Chhamana Atha Guntha, Mamu, Nataka Chitrakaro, Jayadev’s Gitagovindam, Kimbadanti, Nidhibabu Ghare Acha, Ae Nabaghanara Ghara and Swetapadma.
