Hello,

Hope you are doing well!

Need your help :)

As you are aware, for the past few years I have been working on reviving and utilizing the learnings from Natyashastra, the most ancient text on drama and performing arts. Natyashastra is India's biggest contribution to theater and performing arts. Working with a 3000-year-old text and proving its relevance to modern stage is path-breaking. Despite that, Natyashastra has been limited to the academic circles. While there have been attempts at staging, adapting classical plays of India and sometimes even staging them in the classical style, but no serious attempt has been made to create new works based on the ancient paradigm.

It is time we took Natyashastra to the lay theater goer.

To my mind, we can acccompolish this by using Natyashastra to write new works. And that is exactly what I have set out to do as part of my fellowship at Vision India Foundation. The first play in the series is 'Padma Shri Prahasana'. Prahasana was the most popular of dasarupakas (ten genres) given in the Natyashastra. Prahasana is a Sanskrit word that translates to farce or satire.

The production is being mounted at JNU in collaboration with 'The Great Indian Storytellers'.

Padma Shri Prahasana
'Padma Shri Prahasana' was in development for a year-and-a-half. The first draft of the play was written over three months based on Prof Bharat Gupt’s ( an authority on Natyashastra) suggestions. This was followed by two months of script workshop with the actors and a public reading at the India Habitat Center in December, 2016.
The script was rewritten in 2017 and performed at IGNCA on 27th July, 2018. The premiere production was directed by Vineet Chopra of ‘The Great Indian Storytellers’.  

The first play was funded by IGNCA and performed as part of ‘Guru Purnima’ celebration at IGNCA, Delhi.

Theme
‘Padma Shri Prahasana’ is a satire on the system of awards in India and the politicking for awards.  The play mocks artists, scholars, and the English-speaking intelligentia of the country.  At the heart of the play is a conflicted musician caught in the trap of lobbying for awards and chasing concerts.  The play goes into deeper issues such as is Indian classical music a sadhana and a means to connect to the divine or an art to be sold in the market place?

Why Do We Need Funds?
We are performing at JNU convetion center on 23rd December,2018. And we need funds for artists fees/salary. It's a non-ticketed show, and your generous donation will help us pay the technicians, make-up artist, actors, musician and director for their services to making a great play.