Dipanita Nath
Articles By Dipanita Nath
Suresh Sharma’s first play on Gandhi traces the evolution of a leader through freedom movements
To mark the 150th birth anniversary of the Mahatma, Suresh Sharma is directing a play, Pehla Satyagrahi, (pictured) with the NSD Repertory Company, of which he is the chief.
A new play explores Gandhian Narayan Desai’s account of being a child at Sabarmati ashram
Over the last year, MK Raina has staged Stay Yet A While and Hatya Ek Aakar Ki on Mahatma Gandhi. Now, he has turned Desai’s memoir into a musical play, Baabla Aur Bapu @ Sabarmati Ashram.
Arclights on History
Theatre director Zuleikha Chaudhari dips into the past to explore performative element in text, space and light
A Dozen Ways Of Seeing
An art residency draws out cutting-edge works on socio-cultural realities and the environment.
The Birdbox Challengers
A group of engineers in Pune are addressing the problem of vanishing sparrows by teaching enthusiasts to build birdboxes.
‘People like me exist outside the education system for a reason’: Theatre director Hina Siddiqui
Hina Siddiqui has been working with young learners and teachers since 2008, and is focussing on training people to work with children in various economic and social contexts. “Drama is my key methodology whether I am teaching performing arts, life skills, English, history or gender studies,” she says.
Joy Maisnam on the violent Manipur of his childhood, crafting a body language and winning the META awards
Site of Resistance: Now a 42-year-old theatre director, Joy Maisnam remembers telling them that he was an actor and the half-pants were for rehearsal.
In the red: Kotpad handloom and its ties with nature, tribal rituals
Filmmaker Biswanath Rath attempts to turn attention to an old handloom tradition from Orissa’s tribal belt
Theatre director Chanakya Vyas on Algorithms, a play that delves into the lives of cab drivers in an app-based industry
Chankya Vyas, artistic director of Bengaluru-based theatre company Indian Ensemble, is a chatty passenger when he is travelling by cabs. A couple of years of drawing life stories out of cab drivers, Vyas realised that he was staring at a potential play on a subject that was hidden in plain sight.
I don’t think I will ever write a play that will be devoid of any political statement: Playwright Kaustubh Naik
Kaustubh Naik on Avyahat, which won top honours at a state-level theatre competition, playwriting and the importance of ideology.
Scripting Revolution: Playwright Abhishek Majumdar on his new play on the Tibetan movement
Bengaluru-based Majumdar, an alumnus of the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, and the London International School of Performing Arts, excels at drawing out human narrative amid conflicts.
Theatre artistes from across the country to protest against NSD’s award ceremony
The B V Karanth Smriti Puraskar and the Manohar Singh Smriti Puraskar were instituted in 2004. It was last held in 2010.
The Inheritor
In a new play staged by Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Arts and Research, theatreperson Nimmy Raphel looks at the present through the lens of mythology.
‘The poster image is always an appropriation’
Navtej Singh Johar explores the mindscape of Bhagat Singh in Tanashah.
Sunil Kumar S taps into the power of repetition in his intimate theatre production, Maze
Staged as part of the Bharat Rang Mahotsav (BRM), the annual theatre festival organised by the National School of Drama in Delhi, Maze held the audience in its grip.
‘The only antidote to the poison of caste is love’
Valavane Koumarane on Chandala, Impure, and why a tragedy about caste and honour killings is his ‘most optimistic play yet’.
Three Lovers and Some Voyeurs
Theatre company Guild of the Goat plays with space, sexuality and Shakespeare in Sonnets c.2019
Theatre company Guild of the Goat plays with space, sexuality and Shakespeare in Sonnets c.2019
Sonnets c.2019, devised by Nair’s group Guild of the Goat, sided with the liberal discourse on gender in India, where Section 377 was read down last year.
Dharavi rappers are the stars of FTII alumnus Udayan Biswas’s short film Mumbai Hustle
The film does away with the traditional mould of a documentary and observes the culture of hip-hop by following Dharmesh Parmar or MC Tod Fod, Aklesh Sutar or MC Mawali and Sreejit Nair aka Mayavi from Swadesi, who have also featured in the Bollywood film, Gully Boy.
Through Her Eyes
Winner of this year’s Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Hema Singh’s oeuvre spans the life experiences of Everywoman.
