BENGALURU: Jairangam Fringes, a theatre festival, is known for celebrating theatre by bringing iconic performances under one umbrella. The festival, which originally happens in Jaipur, is taking place in Bengaluru this year on Sept 28, 29 at Koramangala Club, featuring veteran theatre artistes such as Makarand Deshpande and Padmavati Rao.
With the aim of creating a national-level theatre festival, the organisers hope to explore theatre in different parts of the country. Ruchi Bhargava, convenor of the festival, says, “It is about taking theatre to different parts of India. Jairangam stands for Jaipur Rang Mahotsav. It started 12 years ago and for the last three years, we have been taking Jairangam to other cities in India besides Jaipur. The idea behind this thought is to have a cultural exchange to get to know people who are into theatre from different cities, as well as watch their works.”
The idea of bringing the festival outside Jaipur, however, has been controversial. But Bhargava says it was to explore the larger picture. “We mostly wanted to explore works outside Rajasthan. We wish to go in all four directions of the country and discover the kind of theatre that is happening, how it is happening, and bring them to Jaipur while taking Rajasthan’s work to other cities,” says Bhargava.
Last year Jairangam was held in Bengaluru as well. “Bengaluru is just the beginning. We want to take the festival to other parts of South India, especially tier-2 cities,” says Bhargava. The city will be treated to four plays, one workshop, and one talk show. The festival will have some critically-acclaimed plays like Patni by Deshpande, and Apne Ghar Jaisa by Anmol Vellani to name a few.