JHARSUGUDA: The nondescript Gumadera village in Jharsuguda’s Belpahar witnessed a record attempt for the world’s longest play which was staged for a marathon 49 hours by the Mirror Theatre involving 200 amateur artistes.The play began at 7.45 am on December 1 and ended at 8.45 pm on Sunday. It was live telecast in the YouTube channel of Mirror Theatre, a 31-year-old theatre research and promotion organisation of Jharsuguda.It was aimed at both setting a world record and promote the artistic and cultural richness of regional Odia theatre play and performing arts, especially Sambalpuri, at the global stage.
Director of Mirror Theatre and the play Subhash Chandra Pradhan said the world’s longest play titled ‘Kaeanjuri’ was successfully performed with participation of 200 amateur artists drawn from all walks of life and around 100 support personnel. The artistes included a 45-day-old baby to 75-year-old persons including first-timers like school teacher and housewife. He said around 100 of his Odia plays were clubbed together and presented live without interruption for the record-breaking act.
Pradhan said, “We have registered with at least seven renowned record agencies including Limca Book of Records and Asia Book of Records. Though we fulfil the guidelines of Guinness World Records, getting recognition from the agency instantly is unlikely as it requires payment of a hefty fee.”
He further said all criteria needed for acknowledgement of the record-breaking play were fulfilled including the requirement of it being watched by a minimum of 25 viewers for four hours during night and not repeating the same batch of audience for the next four hours. “We have also provided names, details and contact numbers of the all 200 artistes to the agencies concerned so that they can call anyone randomly for verification.”
During the evenings on Saturday and Sunday, more than 2,000 viewers enjoyed the play on each day. Event patron and Odisha Natya Sangh secretary Subhakanta Padhy lauded the efforts to organise the unique event and said the enthusiasm among the local population was thrilling.
