Malayalee theatre fest regales locals in Pune

A one-day Malayalee theatre festival was organised by local Malayalee magazine, Vakdevatha at the Acharya Atre auditorium in Sant Tukaramnagar, Pimpri, on Friday.

The organisers claimed that this was the first festival of its kind organised in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune. The festival was inaugurated by well-known Malayalee actor Shri Devan. Two short plays and one full-length play were presented at the festival.

Nrithanjali Malayalee dance school presented the story of Karna from the Mahabharata in the play named Karnan. The 30-minute play traced the life of Karna and focused on his positive qualities. The other play, Goodnite, depicted a captivating conversation between two strangers in a park. The full-length play, Mukangal (Faces) was presented by the Kerala-based Kaliyuga Theatre. Written by Pune-based playwright, KV Sankaranarayanan, the adaptation was directed by Malayalee actor VP Ramachandran.

Krishna Nair, a resident of Pimpri who came to see the festival said, “It was a wonderful festival. We miss Malayalee art and literature and this festival satisfied our thirst.’’

Manoj Nath, one of the event organisers, who played the lead role in the play Goodnite told DNA, “In this festival we selected some of the old, prominent plays which had been written 40 years ago. We received help from the young student team of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), who handled the lighting, sound, art and
design for our plays.’’

According to Nath, Vakdevatha was popular among the Malayalee community in the city as it lists events, happenings and gives literary updates.

“One of the reasons for holding the event in Pimpri-Chinchwad was because the majority of the Malayalees are settled in Pimpri-Chinchwad,’’ Nath said.