The NCPA’s Marathi production Kalgitura achieved a gleaming victory at the recently held Zee Natya Gaurav Puraskar. The play that won the maiden edition of Darpan—the NCPA’s initiative to promote new talent in Marathi theatre—Kalgitura brought home four awards out of six nominations it had received. The winning categories included ‘Special Recognition for Production’, ‘Best Writing’, ‘Best Music’ and ‘Best Light Designing’.

Last year, Kalgitura debuted at the Pratibimb Marathi Natya Utsav, the annual Marathi theatre festival that shines a spotlight on the vibrant theatrical traditions of Maharashtra. After a successful run at the NCPA, the play went on to tour several other cities of the state.

The play follows the story of the revival of a unique folk tradition nurtured for centuries in some rural pockets of Maharashtra. Talking about the achievement, director Sachin Shinde says, “It is a matter of great joy that our play has received four awards at the prestigious Zee Natya Gaurav Puraskar. This accolade belongs to artistes who have painstakingly worked towards preserving folk art, our audiences and the magnanimous people of the Umarani village responsible for keeping the kalgitura tradition alive and helping us in our journey. We dedicate this award to them.”

We spoke to Bruce Guthrie, Head of Theatre & Films at the NCPA, after the award ceremony. Excerpts from the conversation.

ON Stage: How do you view the journey of Kalgitura? 

Bruce Guthrie: Finding new plays can be a hit-or-miss situation. The fact that Kalgitura went through the whole process with our mentors and came out the other end as a clear, funny and touching production is a real achievement. The team has been an absolute joy to work with. Touring a show can be extremely challenging but they have approached it with so much passion. The opening at Pratibimb 2023 was a special evening for everyone. It was met with a lot of excitement from the audience and that feeling has been replicated wherever the play has travelled over the last eight months. It is only a matter of time before the word-of-mouth on the play grows so significantly that it becomes a must-see work of theatre, irrespective of whether you speak Marathi.

OS: What does its success say about the writing initiative, Darpan, and what does the 2024 edition look like? 

BG: It says we were fortunate! All of the ingredients fell into place. It was serendipitous. You need a little luck to go with hard work and expertise when it comes to a new piece. This year has had its own challenges. Some plays were radically different from year one. We trust in the process and the expertise of our mentors and recognise that not every play born out of Darpan will have the same journey as Kalgitura. In the third year, we are exploring options of having a writers’ residency included as part of the initiative. We don’t want it to be just a writing competition but to provide an opportunity for writers to develop their ideas and showcase their work to directors and theatre groups. And just because a script is not selected does not mean it will not have a future life. Our goal has to be to provide an opportunity for as many excellent plays to be produced as possible.

OS: How does the NCPA’s incubation of a promising script help it transform into a production of high professional value that may not be easy to achieve otherwise given the shoestring within which much of regional theatre operates? 

BG: We are still learning and all of us agree that we can do better. As of now, the mentors provide excellent and robust feedback to the writers and groups. Once we have the winning script, I attend the rehearsals and offer up thoughts where appropriate. The fact that we are producing the show, which takes a huge burden off of them from a financial and promotional point of view, is a step in the right direction. We can and will do more.

OS: What has been the Marathi theatre community’s response to Kalgitura and Darpan at large? 

BG: It is still too soon to say. As the saying goes, one swallow does not make a summer. We are only entering the third year of Pratibimb and it will be Darpan’s sophomore year. The fact that Kalgitura has received the recognition that it has is a great thing for the initiative, but more importantly, it is a wonderful triumph for the writer and the theatre group. It is a work of real significance and I see it being around for a very long time.

We look forward to replicating this success with our Gujarati Festival Vasant in March 2025 and then our Hindi Festival Anand, later in 2025. These festivals will have their own writing initiatives as part of the work that we programme. Creating, facilitating and producing work in multiple languages is our medium-term goal and I have no doubt that there is a great appetite for such work.