Bratya Basu, Sharman Joshi, others to light up theatre festival

The 15th Vodafone Odeon Theatre Festival, which is one of the biggest and oldest theatre festivals of Kolkata, finally commenced on February 22. The festival that promises to enthrall the cultural capital of India with some magical performances by eminent theatre personalities like Sharman Joshi, Bratya Basu, Debshankar Haldar, Goutam Haldar and many more, will last until February 25.

Vodafone has always encouraged and appreciated the cultural ethos of the city and this theatre festival is one of them. This year the Vodafone Odeon Theatre Festival 2018 is bringing some popular Bengali and Hindi plays together, thus giving Kolkata the opportunity to watch some legendary theatre performances. Theatre groups of leading artists like Sharman Joshi, Bratya Basu, Debshankar Haldar and Goutam Haldar will stage premier plays like 'Mein Aur Tum', 'Mumbai Nights', 'Mulya', '21 Gram' and many more.

As a step towards encouraging youngsters to participate in theatre and nurture fresh talent, theatre festival has extended the platform to the young theatre enthusiasts of Kolkata. The festival saw 20 colleges and 20 renowned theatre groups across the city competing in different segments. The participating artists got a unique chance to be mentored by eminent Bengali theatre stalwarts like Bratya Basu, Soumitra Chatterjee, Debshankar Haldar, Goutam Haldar, Meghnad Bhattacharya, Anirban Bhattacharya amongst others. The top 4 winners from both the segments got an opportunity to perform at Minarva Theatre on February 22, who later will be felicitated by the celebrities on February 24 and 25. The winning colleges are Vidyasagar College, Moulana Azad College, Sarojini Naidu College and Vivekananda College. The selected theatre groups are Frankly Speaking, Naihati Spartan, Repertory, Bawandule and Rabindranagar Natya Youth.

Announcing the 15th edition of Vodafone Odeon Theatre Festival, Arvinder Singh Sachdev, Business Head, Kolkata and rest of Bengal, Vodafone India said "Vodafone as a brand has always encouraged and appreciated the cultural heritage of Bengal. Vodafone Odeon Theatre Festival being a perfect example of has strived towards bringing the best theatre experiences to the city audiences and hosted some living legends in Indian Theatre. Like every year, this year too is a

delightful ensemble of plays for the culturally conscious and discerning audience of Kolkata. Simultaneously, this year we are also focusing on nurturing fresh talent in the field of

theatre who are being mentored by the masters like Bratya Basu, Debshankar Haldar, Goutam Haldar, Soumitra Chatterjee, Meghnad Bhattacharya, Anirban Bhattacharya etc. We hope new talent to be part of a supercharged Bengal Theatre circuit".

Vodafone Odeon Theatre Festival to celebrate theatre was initiated in 2001 to rejoice the rich Bengali heritage and culture. Over years, the stage has been graced by Lilette Dubey, Mohan Agashe, Saurabh Shukla, Anupam

Kher, Makrand Deshpande, Satish Kaushik and others.

The festival to celebrate theatre was initiated in 2001 with the aim to rejoice the rich Bengali heritage and culture and the stage has been graced by Lilette Dubey, Mohan Agashe, Saurabh Shukla, Anupam Kher, Makrand Deshpande, Satish Kaushik and others in the past.