Play time for Banarasis

Based on Kalidas's epic play '

Abhigyan Shakuntalam

' students of Varanasi centre of

National School of Drama

recently staged a play with the same name at Assi Ghat. The open air theatre of Subah-e-Banaras provided the perfect stage for the play which was directed by Ramji Bali.

A scene from the play Abhigyan Shakuntalam (BCCL/ Arvind Kumar)

Proper sound and light arrangements was successful in transporting the audience to the era of King Dushyant and Shakuntala, who loved this experimentation on the ghat. The enactments by the various artists were also appreciated which included

Ashwin Verma

as Dushyant and

Karishma Desale

as Shakuntala, being the prominent ones.

Varun Singh

, among the audience, said, "It is a rare occasion that a play is being staged on the ghats, where I have seen mainly dance and music performances. It is a good way to reach to the theatre lovers."
The use of live music also added to the performance.

Ashwin Verma and Karishma Desale in the play (BCCL/ Arvind Kumar)

(L) Ramji Bali (R) Abha Mishra (BCCL/ Arvind Kumar)

(L) Satish (R) Ratnesh Verma and Vijay Sankar (BCCL/ Arvind Kumar)

(L) Sumit Keshari (R) Sagar and Sandhya (BCCL/ Arvind Kumar)

(L) Urvashi (R) Aamod Bhatt (BCCL/ Arvind Kumar)