This is perhaps the only theatre festival in the country which brings a smile to the face of the audiences without burning a hole in their pockets. Hriday Manch Theatre Festival, for the last seven years, has staged plays with comedy and satire as the main theme. This year too, theatre lovers in Delhi will be treated to this four-day theatre extravaganza organised by Sparsh Natya Rang.
The event will feature plays from New Delhi, Jaipur and Bhopal. Delhi based Sparsh Natya Rang’s Naadi Priksha and Pati Gaye Ree Kathiawaar, Jaipur-based Curio’s Flirt and Bhopal- based Nav Nritya Natya Sanstha’s Parsai Uvaach will be performed during the four-day festival. “The idea behind staging comedy and satirical plays is simple – offer the much-needed relief and comfort to the stressful Delhi people. In this mundane life, people have become so mechanical that they have forgotten to laugh.
Our aim is to make audiences create a laugh riot in the auditorium and at the same time help them introspect what they are lacking in their life seeing the comical and satirical characters picked up from lives around us,” says Ajit Chowdhury, festival director, Hriday Manch Theatre Festival. Chowdhury, who is directing two plays at the festival, Naadi Priksha (December 12) and Pat i Gaye Re e Kathiawaar (December 1 5 ) , s ays, “While the first one has been penned by Aabid Surti and is about a married army officer who is always flirting with young girls, the second one is a Sudhir Kulkarni adaptation of a Venkatesh Madgulkar play.
It shows the funny side of truth behind man-woman relationship.” However, the theatre director feels sad that despite efforts, the theatre scene in Delhi is witnessing a downward trend, and it has nothing to with audiences. “For most artistes, films and serials have become a priority as they offer financial security,” shares the director who plans to move his shows to cities like Mumbai and Kolkata. In the absence of any grants and aid from the government and NSD, the director says sustenance has become difficult. “One cannot be sure of getting a g o v e r n m e n t grant and the NSD too refuses to help us.
We recently requested them to provide some equipment for our plays but it was denied. It’s sad because it didn’t even involve financials,” he rues. But why can’t they have a ticket cost? “Putting a price to someone’s smile is something we cannot do. Theatre is a passion and we will keep doing it forever,” shares Chowdhury. Bhopal-based director Tarun Dutt Pandey will stage a play, Parsai Uvaach (December 14), based on the characters of noted satirist and humourist Harishankar Parsai.
“His satires are based on the common man and his daily routine, his psyche and his character. We have picked up four stories from Parsai Rachnawali – Shavyatra ka Tauliya is about a man who believes one who attends funerals of 100 people heads to heaven. Then there is Madhyanvargiya Kutta, a satire based on the thoughts of a middle-class person who, when a situation arises, turns into a poor man or transforms into a rich man. Vah Kya Tha is about a person who is least bothered on what’s happening around, even when he himself is getting to suffer.
Batooni is about a person who you don’t want to talk to but he keeps talking. All four are solo performances,” informs Pandey. Another not-to-be-missed play is Gagan Mishra-directed Flirt (December 13). Written by Narendra Kohli, the play throws up an important question – what is love and what is flirting? You need to watch the play to know more about the difference between love and flirt. What: 7th Hriday Manch Theatre Festival Where: Shri Ram Centre, Safdar Hashmi Marg, New Delhi When: December 12-15, 7 pm