Vomedh’s 3rd Edition of “Pagah” Theatre Festival concludes successfully with Play “Vaishiya” at Srinagar
Mar Kar Jeena, Vaishiya, Chitta Singh, Mobile Addiction and Baand Nagma widely appreciated
Vomedh assured of support by all the attendees in its mission for preservation of Theatre, Art Culture and Languages
Srinagar, August 01, 2024: On the concluding day of the “Pagah” Theatre Festival, Tagore Hall witnessed jam-packed audience for the intense solo play “Vaishiya” written and directed by Shazi Khan and performed by Ridhima Kalsi, under Nav Durga Kala Manch.
The 3-Day long festival organised by renowned theatre group of the state, Vomedh from July 30 to August 01, 2024, and dedicated to Bharat Singh Manhas, Secretary J&K Academy of Art, Cultural and Languages, who passed away recently, was inaugurated by Principal Secretary Department of Culture Suresh Kumar Gupta on the first day who was also the chief guest at Tagore Hall Srinagar.
The festival is part of the Vomedh’s initiative for preservation and promotion of Theatre, Kashmiri language art and culture under project Pagah. The brother duo Rakesh Roshan Bhat and Rohit Bhat, the co-founders of Vomedh, were the festival directors.
Reputed theatre and cultural groups from Jammu and Kashmir presented their Kashmiri plays over the course of three days.
The concluding day was presided over by Dr Satish Vimal, renowned writer, broadcaster and critique of the state with Rajinder Premi, prominent Social Activist as Guest of Honour. Renowned Bollywood actor Mir Sarwar was the chief guest on the second Day of the festival while renowned artist and director Mushtaq Ali and senior political and social activist Nana Ji Wattal were the guests of honour.
The plays and programmes performed over three days included famous play “Mar Kar Jeena” written and directed by Rakesh Roshan Bhat and designed by Rohit Bhat under the banner of Vomedh, “Chitta Singh” by Reflection Group written and directed by Ravinder Sharma, “Mobile Addiction” by the students of Radiant Public School (RPS), Anantnag, written and directed by Aqib Ahmed, “Baand Nagma” by Manzoor Ahmed under Pomposh Folk Baand Theatre and very intense solo play “Vaishya” written and directed by Shazi Khan under Nav Durga Kala Manch, with Ridhima Kalsi performing the solo act on the last day.
The performances in all the plays were top notch. The theatre connoisseurs who attended the festival applauded the efforts of the theatre groups to pull off top quality productions which shows the commitment of these theatre groups towards theatre and love towards theatre, culture and language.
The prominent guests from art, culture, academics, administration, and armed forces and others who attended the festival commended Vomedh for organizing such a theatre festival on regular basis. They appreciated the efforts of Rakesh Roshan Bhat and Rohit Bhat and appealed to audience to encourage such initiatives.
On this occasion various personalities from art, media and events faculties were felicitated for their role in promoting culture and art in the valley viz Suresh Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary Department of Culture, J&K, Sanjeev Rana, Additional Secretary JKAACL, AK Raina, Vice President AIKS, Sanjay Saraf, National Spokesperson, RLJP, Mushtaq Ali, Mir Sarwar, Nana Ji Wattal, Apni Party, Shah Jahan Azad, Chairman Folk Art Association, Satish Vimal, Rajinder Premi, Farhat Siddiqui besides appreciation awards to Sunny Mujjoo, Pomposh Folk Theatre, Nav Durga Kala Manch, the Reflection Group, Radiant Public School Anantnag and Team Vomedh. Senior Journalist, Social Activist and Artist King C Bharati, Rohit Bhat, Director Vomedh, Mushtaq Ali, Ayaash Arif , Bharti Kaul, Vice President Vomedh, Suman Bhat from TRN and other prominent personalities were present among the audience.
Rakesh is also a famous playwright and co-founder of Vomedh. The programme was hosted by Bidiya Tickoo.
