42nd Foundation Day Of Bharat Bhavan: Saga Of King Vikramaditya Showcased Through 32 Puppets In Bhopal

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The performance of Baiga tribal artist Padma Shri Arjun Singh Dhurve and a play ‘Adi Vikramaditya’ were held at state capital's Bharat Bhavan. It was part of the 5th day of the 8-day celebration of 42nd anniversary of the Bhavan on Saturday.

The event began with the enchanting performance of 72-year-old Dhurve and his troupe from Dindori district. The audience witnessed his performance after a long time at the Bhavan. 

Dressed in  colourful  Baiga tribe costumes, the artists presented  Karma dance in their tribal language at Purvayan, an open stage of the Bhawan. Karma, an agricultural ritual based dance, is based on harvesting and agriculture. This is a popular dance of the Baiga tribe.

After this, art lovers got the opportunity to watch the play Adi Vikramaditya which was staged at Antarang Hall.  Directed by  Teekam Joshi, the play was presented by the students of Madhya Pradesh School of Drama .

The play creates a new vision of looking at history in the present social scenario. It is a compilation of the stories of Sinhasan Battisi and Betal Pachisi. It centres on thirty-two puppets who tell the story. The director has used many devices to portray the story effectively.

 The story of the play begins with the appearance of the throne by King Bhoj and the narrative takes it to the mysterious world of King Vikramaditya and Betal.

In the end, the throne is put back in place because the void created by Vikramaditya's death can never be filled by the powerful and capable King Bhoja. The play was staged at  Bharat Rang Mahotsav at New Delhi recently.

Film, Ransangeet , poem-story recitation to be held on Feb 18 

A film ‘Saaz,’ directed by  Sai Paranjape will be screened at Bharat Bhawan on February 18 at 2 pm..  On the same day, theatre actor and director Preeti Jha Tiwari and  her troupe will perform Rangsangeet and there will be a multilingual poetry-story recitation session which will be held at 7 pm. Kshama Kaul,  Kalpana Dudhal,  Yatindra Mishra,  Anand Singh,  Zia Farooqui and  Draupadi Chandnani will  recite their poems and  stories.