Telangana Yuva Natakotsavam provides a platform to nearly one hundred and fifty youth from all over the state to participate in a festival of eleven plays at Ravindra Bharati, Hyderabad.
For the past few weeks, one could observe youth from the theatre community rehearsing on the sets. Most of them are below thirty-five years of age, and are excited about the performances. Arun Kumar, who directs Hala Halam, a play about the fluorosis problem in Nalgonda district, says, “It’s about a Kabbadi champion who gets afflicted by fluorosis and suffers to such extent that he has in two minds about having a progeny, lest the future child gets affected with the disease.”
Kondal Reddy presents Baki Itihas, the famous play of Badal Sircar. He says, “When I went to Kolkata a few years ago, I was assisting a local theatre company to design the costume for a character called Vaasanti in the play and got a feel of the storyline. I was so inspired that when I came back, I got the script translated into Telugu.”
Thiruveer hails from Shadnagar and spearheads the Popcorn organisation, which has presented the Dawat play in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. Says Thiruveer, “This play is an adaptation of The Free Lunch by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. I came across this script and developed a liking for the story. I translated it into Telugu and some changes were made to connect with people today.”
Dr Mallesh Balast, coordinator of the festival, and director of the play, Muga Manushulu, says, “This is a silent drama without dialogues. It’s about the addiction to television that makes a family even overlook a thief entering home and escaping with the loot. It’s a great moment for the youth of Telangana region to create a niche for themselves and their style of theatre.”
— Jaywant Naidu, Musician, creator of ‘Jaywant Guitar’ and a freelance photographer
