A star-studded award night
The theatre fraternity and audiences came together in the national capital for red-carpet award night of 14th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) Festival. Promoted by Mahindra Group as part of its cultural outreach programmes, the week-long extravaganza came to an end as the past year's best plays from across the country were awarded the coveted META at Kamani Auditorium.
The META is India's most comprehensive theatre awards and much revered in the theatre fraternity, recognising both on-stage and off-stage talent across 14 award categories, including the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
The jury for the 14th edition of META comprised of actor and screenwriter Akash Khurana, founder and former Executive Director of India Foundation for the Arts Anmol Vellani, Ila Arun, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Managing trustee of Nrityagram Lynne Fernandez, Former editor of The Hindu Mukund Padmanabhan, internationally-renowned dance historian, scholar, author and critic Sunil Kothari, and present Director of the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi Sunit Tandon.
TAAM, Manipur's Hindi Adaptation Andha Yug won the 2019 META for Best Play along with Prakash Mangaldin Singh winning for Best Stage Design and Sajida Saji for Best Costume.
Rukmini Sircar shared the Best Actor in a Lead Role (Female) award with Anjana Balaji. Her Co-actor Dharanidharan U won the META for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) for his role as 'Aaya', Janani's maid, the one who helped her elope, bringing Chandâla, Impure a total of two wins at META 2019.
Malayalam production Chillara Samaram from Little Earth School Of Theatre Kerala also won two awards including Best Ensemble and Best Choreography.
The META for Best Actor in a Lead Role (Male) was awarded to Shrungha BV for his portrayal of 'Abhay', in the drama Kola. Whereas Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) was bagged by Mallika Lokhande.
One of India's most progressive playwrights, Mahesh Elkunchwar has conferred the META Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Indian theatre. In a message to META, he said, "I am very happy to receive this prestigious award. META has been consistently honouring good theatre. It is a nice feeling to receive an award from people who genuinely love theatre."
This year's edition of the festival saw a record-breaking 414 entries sent in for various categories. These were viewed by an eminent selection committee, comprising well-known theatre practitioners.
Hosted by renowned award-winning actor, director, and producer and one of the pioneer RJs of India, Mantra, the META Awards Night saw the presence of several stalwarts and influencers. Performances by The Revisit Project with their groovy music and exciting fusion in raag jog taal and teen-tal by The Project Ganganis, further enlivened proceedings.
After the successful debut of Learning@META last year, the Festival also featured a series of Workshops and Panel Discussions during the non-performing hours of the festival.
These panel discussions, curated in partnership with the Drama School Mumbai (DSM), were extremely well received and featured META-nominated stalwarts in conversation with theatre students, practitioners, and enthusiasts.
