The 16 day long 16th Bharat Rang Mahotsav ends with huge pomp and show

The 16 day long 16th Bharat Rang Mahotsav here in the National School of Drama ended today with huge pomp and show with a vibrant performance of Tamasha, a traditional form of Marathi theatre, often with singing and dancing, widely performed by local or travelling theatre groups, on the concluding day of the theatre festival.

Bharat Rang Mahotsav or the International Theatre Festival, established in 1999, is the annual theatre festival of NSD, India's premier theatre training institute. Originally founded to show case works of Indian theatre practitioners, over the year it has grown to attract international performers as well.

The 16th Bharat Rangmahotsav featured 71 productions, out of which 7 were overseas plays from China, Poland, Germany, Sri Lanka, Japan and Israel over a span of 16 days.

This year’s festival saw a gigantic fervour among theatre buffs which was evident from the sale of tickets and the frequent house full boards seen outside several play venues much before the play started. The ticket sale crossed Lakhs on even the first day of bookings that was held in three phases. Several shows had to be repeated on public demand.

Today it is acknowledged as the largest theatre festival of Asia, dedicated solely to theatre, however the 16th Bharat Rang Mahotsav was not only about theatre performance from across India and the world but took into account all correlated activities such as Book Reading, Seminars, Meet the Directors, other discussions etc so as to enlighten and enrich the audience with all facets of modern-day theatre. With all the flavours of national and international drama NSD succeeded in making Bharat Rang Mahotsav the vital platform for theatre in India.