Bahuroopi national theatre festival from December 8

The theme of the festival is Indianness 

Theatre repertory Rangayana will organise Bahuroopi national theatre festival, entailing a slew of plays depicting the theme of Indianness, from December 8 to 15.

Rangayana director Addanda C. Cariappa told mediapersons here on Friday that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will inaugurate the festival on December 10  and National School of Drama director and well-known actor Paresh Rawal will also be present. This year’s festival will feature 20 plays including 12 in Kannada, 1 in Tulu and 7 from rest of India.

The festival is not confined to staging plays and will also have exhibition of arts and crafts, book expo, food mela, folk festival, a national seminar apart from a film festival, said Mr. Cariappa.

An art camp will be held on December 3 to build up the tempo for the festival while folk form of Garudigombe will be used for door-to-door campaigning to create awareness about the theatre festival.

Mr. Cariappa said Bahuroopi is not merely about staging plays but reflects issues that are germane to society and hence the theme is Indianness for the current edition.

‘’India is not merely a geographical landmass but is our identity. The vast population with diverse cultures and religious beliefs with the underlying unity in diversity is its unique feature and one has to draw inspiration from the country’s traditions and promote social wellbeing’’, said Mr. Cariappa.

The plays listed for the festival include the controversial one written by Mr. Cariappa himself. Tipu’s Real Dreams (Tipu Nijakanasugalu) will be staged at Bhoomigeetha on December 9 at 6.30 p.m. The 20 plays will be held at Bhoomigeetha, Kirurangamandira and Kalamandira daily and entry is through tickets which can be purchased online or at the counter.