A visit to the Ahmedabad Theatre Festival (ATF) will show that theatre is not about mere make-up and glamour.
A visit to the Ahmedabad Theatre Festival (ATF) will show that theatre is not about mere make-up and glamour.
It is also about powerful casts, strong story lines and an aim towards bringing about a social change, using art as a medium and youth as the tools.
As rightly said by creative director, Atelier Theatre Society, Kuljeet Singh, "The intention of Team Budhan Theatre and its director, Dakxin Bajarange, is good enough to attract any meaningful theatre group to Ahmedabad to showcase what they do to bring about social change in their areas, states or cities."
Having shared a certain degree of commonality with Budhan and especially Bajarange, Singh added that he was approached by the latter for help since he already had the concept in mind. Singh simply replied, "I will bring my group and performance, rest is in your hands."
Singh was happy to see a lot of youngsters at ATF, like it is back in New Delhi, where Atelier belongs. Singh will come to Ahmedabad again in September, as he does the rounds of four additional cities, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Chandigarh.
"Last year we toured four cities, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata as Atelier Campus Theatre (ACT) and this is what we are extending this year across 8 cities in the country. However, this is only for college campuses", Singh informed.
It was déjà vu for Singh looking at Team Budhan's first attempt at Gujarati Sahitya Parishad with ATF, with a sense of informality clubbed with power.
Bajarange on the other hand added that they are likely to collaborate with ACT for the September show in Ahmedabad and are looking forward to working with a team that makes its presence in lanes and bylanes of the country.
For creative head of Haryana Gyaan Vigyaan Samiti, Naresh Prerna, knowing Budhan happened only after they became part of ATF.
He said, "We were attracted by the notion that people of Chharanagar use theatre as a medium to bring about a social change in their community. We wanted to see and understand their working style and we got to know the real side of their struggle only after coming here."
Prerna and his team work on honour killings,which happen across North India and Haryana, in all castes and creeds. As he handles this delicate situation through theatre, Prerna adds, "It is important to have a dialogue as honour killing is a social acceptance in villages and villagers even today think that marriages can only be planned by parents and not boy and girl."
Involving students in theatre to communicate a message is important as far as students of Kadvibai Virani Kanya Vidyalaya and Jasani Arts and Commerce College, Rajkot are concerned. Dr Neela Shah, assistant professor, says, "There is lot of creativity and zest in the students, and this is what helps in bringing about important topics on stage. They can understand the delicacies of situations and work accordingly."
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