Bahuroopi national theatre fest begins on Jan 11

Mysuru: One of India's most popular national theatre festivals, Bahuroopi, which draws theatre groups and artistes from across the country, will be held from Jan 11 at Kalamandir here. This will be the 25th edition of Bahuroopi, which will pay tributes to national leader B R Ambedkar. Speaking to reporters after releasing posters of the winter festival Wednesday, Rangayana director Satish Tiptur said this year's eight-day festival revolves around the works and contributions of Ambedkar, with the focus on the theme of freedom. As Rangayana celebrates the silver jubilee of the national theatre festival, the state govt released Rs 1 crore for the silver jubilee celebrations of Bahuroopi. Tiptur said this year's multilingual theatre festival, to be ceremonially launched by chief minister Siddaramaiah on Jan 12 at Vanaranga, includes 24 plays, of which 12 are non-Kannada (English, Hindi, Marathi, Tulu, Tamil, and Malayalam), along with six children's dramas. The plays will be staged at different venues of Rangayana, including Vanaranga, Bhoomigeetha and Kalamandir. During the musical narrative event of the festival, renowned singer Ginni Mahi from Punjab and her team, Janardhan, Gollahalli Shivaprasad, Devananda Varaprasad, Picchalli Srinivas and Anirudh Vankar and their teams will perform. Senior theatre artist from Manipur, Heisnam Savitri Devi, district in-charge minister Dr H C Mahadevappa, Kannada and Culture minister Shivaraj Tangadagi, MPs Sunil Bose and Yaduveer Wadiyar will attend the festival. Savitri Devi will be presented with the ‘Belli Bahuroopi Ranga Gaurav Award' in recognition of her contributions to theatre. This year's film festival will be inaugurated by senior theatre personality Baraguru Ramachandrappa on Jan 11 at Sriranga Mandira. Senior theatre personality Rameshwari Varma will inaugurate the Children's Bahuroopi at Kalamandir on Jan 12, which will be one of the main attractions. Tiptur said apart from these events, about 72 stalls will be set up on the festival premises, featuring a book fair, handicrafts exhibition and food mela. The University of Mysore's Dr B R Ambedkar Research Centre and Extension recently hosted a two-day seminar to mark the festival. The director of the centre, S Narendra Kumar, said experts, including 15 directors from Dr B R Ambedkar Research Centres from across the nation, will attend the festival.