Srinagar, Aug 01: On the concluding day of the “Pagah” Theatre Festival, Tagore Hall witnessed jam-packed audience for the intense solo play “Vaishya” written and directed by Shazi Khan and performed by Ridhima Kalsi, under Nav Durga Kala Manch.
The 3-Day long festival organised by renowned theatre group of the state, Vomedh from July 30 to August 01, 2024, and dedicated to Bharat Singh Manhas, Secretary J&K Academy of Art, Cultural and Languages, who passed away recently, was inaugurated by Principal Secretary Department of Culture Suresh Kumar Gupta on the first day who was also the chief guest at Tagore Hall Srinagar.
The festival is part of the Vomedh’s initiative for preservation and promotion of Theatre, Kashmiri language art and culture under project Pagah. The brother duo Rakesh Roshan Bhat and Rohit Bhat, the co-founders of Vomedh, were the festival directors.
Reputed theatre and cultural groups from Jammu and Kashmir presented their Kashmiri plays over the course of three days.
The concluding day was presided over by Dr Satish Vimal, renowned writer, broadcaster and critique of the state with Rajinder Premi, prominent Social Activist as Guest of Honour. Renowned Bollywood actor Mir Sarwar was the chief guest on the second Day of the festival while renowned artist and director Mushtaq Ali and senior political and social activist Nana Ji Wattal were the guests of honour.
“We are overwhelmed by the response received from the participating theatre groups, the audience and people in general for this initiative. We are happy that people are connecting with our mission to preserve and promote Theatre. The roots of Vomedh are in theatre and we want to leverage our expertise in theatre to propagate it”, said Rohit Bhat while expressing his pleasure over the successful completion of the theatre festival.
The plays and programmes performed over three days included famous play “Mar Kar Jeena” written and directed by Rakesh Roshan Bhat and designed by Rohit Bhat under the banner of Vomedh, “Chitta Singh” by Reflection Group written and directed by Ravinder Sharma, “Mobile Addiction” by the students of Radiant Public School (RPS), Anantnag, written and directed by Aqib Ahmed , “Baand Nagma” by Manzoor Ahmed under Pomposh Folk Baand Theatre and very intense solo play “Vaishya” written and directed by Shazi Khan under Nav Durga Kala Manch, with Ridhima Kalsi performing the solo act on the last day.
The performances in all the plays were top notch. The theatre connoisseurs who attended the festival applauded the efforts of the theatre groups to pull off top quality productions which shows the commitment of these theatre groups towards theatre and love towards theatre, culture and language.
The prominent guests from art, culture, academics, administration, and armed forces and others who attended the festival commended Vomedh for organizing such a theatre festival on regular basis. They appreciated the efforts of Rakesh Roshan Bhat and Rohit Bhat and appealed to audience to encourage such initiatives.
On this occasion various personalities from art, media and events faculties were felicitated for their role in promoting culture and art in the valley viz Suresh Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary Department of Culture, J&K, Sanjeev Rana, Additional Secretary JKAACL, AK Raina, Vice President AIKS, Sanjay Saraf, National Spokesperson, RLJP, Mushtaq Ali, Mir Sarwar, Nana Ji Wattal, Apni Party, Shah Jahan Azad, Chairman Folk Art Association, Satish Vimal, Rajinder Premi, Farhat Siddiqui besides appreciation awards to Sunny Mujjoo, Pomposh Folk Theatre, Nav Durga Kala Manch, the Reflection Group, Radiant Public School Anantnag and Team Vomedh.
“We are making a serious and sustained effort to work towards bridging the gap between the various communities and create an atmosphere of complete communal harmony and brotherhood through theatre. We feel delighted that people are realizing the need for such a sustained initiative. We appreciate the help we are getting here,” said Rakesh Roshan Bhat, convenor of project Pagah. Rakesh is also a famous playwright and co-founder of Vomedh.
