28012025-LSTC-01.qxd 1/28/2025 12:06 AM Page 1 c m y b CHHAAVA DANCE TO BE SNIPPED Filmmaker Laxman Utekar on Monday said the lezim dance scene will be removed from his upcoming movie Chhaava, based on the life of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Sambhaji, after it faced objection from politicians and history enthusiasts. Nonika Singh “I regard the theater as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being. This supremacy of the theater derives from the fact that it is always ‘now’ on the stage.” - Thornton Wilder/ Oscar Wilde TRIBUNE Stunning! Sharvari attended Sabyasachi’s 25th anniversary celebration in Mumbai. Draped in a stunning Sabyasachi saree, the actress embodied the timeless elegance. CHANDIGARH | TUESDAY | 28 JANUARY 2025 Stage set in Bathinda Good news for theatre buffs in Bathinda as National School of Drama will stage five plays at Balwant Gargi Auditorium as part of its Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2025 A S the National School of Drama gets ready for what its director Chittaranjan Tripathy calls Mahakumbh of theatre, the famed Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2025, one of its tributaries will land right in Bathinda district in Punjab. The theatre extravaganza that opens in New Delhi today at Kamani auditorium would be celebrated across 13 cities, including two in foreign countries namely Colombo and Kathmandu, in a first of its kind initiative in foreign lands. Featuring more than 200 unique productions from nine different countries, the festival includes myriad flavours and colours of theatre. Though its credo line goes ‘ek rang, shresth rang’ in actuality it will be a complete bouquet of theatre. From folk forms to tribal, from classical to contemporary, from nonverbal to verbal, the festival will showcase many traditions of theatre all through 20 days of its run time. In Bathinda the festival kickstarts on February 8 and ANTIM RAAT (L-R) SUMAN VAIDYA, PRADEEP KUMAR MOHANTY, CHITTARANJAN TRIPATHY & BHARAT GUPT FROM NATIONAL SCHOOL OF DRAMA ABHIJAAN concludes on February 12, offering five insightful plays. “Reasons for choosing Bathinda in Punjab,’ according to Tripathi, ‘is our PHEONIX POKHI SWAPNOLOK endeavour to spread the fragrance of the 25-year-old festival in hitherto unexplored areas, where the festival has not gone before.” He further adds, “In Punjab since in the previous editions Chandigarh and Amritsar have been satellite locations, we decided to move to fresh- c m y b er pastures.” Besides he shares they got immense support from organising partners in Bathinda. Starting February 8, theatre buffs in Bathinda will get to savour Hindi play Antim Raat. Starring noted actor Rajendra Gupta, the play takes a leaf out of the Founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s life, days before Partition of India. His fractured relationship with his daughter Dina Wadia who like him married a Parsi forms the dramatic core of the play. Other plays in the offing at the Balwant Gargi auditorium are Abhijaan in Bengali, which focuses upon the volatile period of Bengal, and Phoenix Pokhi in Assamese will be staged on February 11. Swapanlok in Hindi is inspired by an interesting folktale of a woodcutter and realisation of his dreams in a fairytale fashion. If you are wondering why a Punjabi play is not part of the Bathinda capsule Tripathi has a credible answer. “For people in Bathinda must have watched plays in their language by Punjabi theatre stalwarts several times. The idea is to introduce them to plays in other languages and regions.” Bharat Rang Mahotsav will showcase plays in nearly 21 languages and Punjabi certainly is one of them. Noted theatreperson Navdeep Kaur’s play Sohni Mahiwal, a production of the department of Indian Theatre, Panjab University, Chandigarh is also an integral part of the festival, only it will be staged in New Delhi. No doubt, New Delhi which is where the hallowed institute was set up in 1959 as part of Sangeet Natak Akademi and later emerged as an autonomous entity will be the epicenter of majority of its allied activities. Besides interactive sessions, master-classes, a programme on literary arts, Shruti will feature book launches and discussions on literature. Another major highlight is artistic performances themed around a common subject. This year through an interesting programme Vishwa Jan Rang, a short play bringing out the relevance of Natyashastra will connect people and cities across different continents. If the live medium of theatre ignites your imagination, get ready for Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2025, where NSD is expected to fire on all four cylinders.
The Tribune, now published from Chandigarh, started publication on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan). It was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising four eminent persons as trustees.
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The English edition apart, the 133-year-old Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).