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Theatrical rendezvous in Kolkata

Kolkata is bracing for a theatre soiree from May 30 till June 4 in the form of Kalindi Bratyajon's sixth International Theatre Festival. The Curtain Raiser of the festival took place on the evening of May 29 in the Oxford Book Store, Kolkata. The event was attended by dignitaries of Russia, Japan, Slovenia and Lebanon along with other eminent guests from the city.

The programme was chaired by the State IT Minister and Festival Convener, Bratya Basu in presence of the Russian Consul General, Alexey Idamkin; Consul general of Japan, YashuhikoTanaka; Slovenian director, Yonatan Esterkin; Slovenian theatre artiste, Mirjam Drnovscek, and eminent poet Subodh Sarkar.
Alexey Idamkin in his speech expressed great enthusiasm in being able to present Russian theatre for the second successive year in Kolkata. Anton Chekov's story 'And why you are in a tailcoat?' will be presented as a play 'Proposal' on June 4 at 11 am at the Academy of Fine Arts by Moscow Dramatic Theatre. The Consul General of Japan surprised everyone by presenting his speech in Bengali. He was proud to be associated with the culture of Kolkata and its theatre world.

The Slovenian Director Yonatan appreciated ways in which theatre breaks all barriers by narrating his own experience of how despite being born in Israel he has directed the play, 'The Jewish Dog' in Slovenia focusing on torture of Jews during Nazi rule and how he was presenting it in Kolkata, India. This was followed by the unveiling of festival brochure followed by a book launch. The famous poet cum activist, Subodh Sarkar launched the book, 'Sakkhatkar Sangroho', a compilation of interviews of the playwright, director and actor Bratya Basu taken in the last 16 years.

Subodh described Bratya Basu as one of the greatest playwrights of this generation. He wished that writings and interviews of Bratya Basu would be translated in other languages as well so that his work reached theatre lovers across countries and abroad. Palash Barman of Kolikata Letterpress, the publishing house of the book declared that it is the first book of its kind. The event concluded with the speech of Bratya Basu as he quoted Stella Adler to describe how theatre reflects the progression of the society. He referred to theatre as a minority art form universally and emphasised how its growth will continue in its own trajectory.

The festival will showcase eleven different productions of various genres including the children's workshop based production, 'Damurucharit Katha'. In the six days, audience will get to see Bratya Basu in different roles – as a playwright, an actor and as a director.

Kalindi Bratyajon will also felicitate nine theatre enthusiasts in their effort to promote talent in theatre namely, Premangshu Ray, Shuvodeep Guha, Kaustav Duttagupta, Indudipa Sinha, Niladri Bhattacharya, Supratim Roy, Rudra Prasad Chakraborty, Raja Bhattacharya and Supriyo Chakraborty.
Senior actor, Writa Datta Chakraborty will be delivering the 'Bishnu Basu Memorial Lecture' on June 3.new

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