Korean play to highlight ancient connection to India

Korean Cultural Centre India in association with ASSITEJ India organized an award ceremony for playwriting contest. The contest was based on a story of Princess Hur from ancient Ayodhya who is believed to have initiated the biggest family clan in Korea. The Playwriting Competition was initiated in August 2016 to develop princess Hur's tale as a theatrical art. The marriage of Ayodhaya princess with King Suro of Gaya Kingdom that existed in south eastern region of Korean peninsula in AC 42 was considered as representative connection between India and Korea.

Entries were made through a scene selection for which more than 100 entries were received; only 10 scripts among the entries were selected to be fully written after the preliminary round.

The Best script winner was Rajesh Nirmal, translated by Gandharv Dewan for the story with the title 'Tale of many kings and the queen' and was awarded with the cash prize of Rs one lakh.

Manjima Chatterjee for her story – 'The Legend of Queen Heo' and Ruma Ghosh for her story 'Legend of Queen Huh' were awarded with Samsung galaxy phones.

Judge Vibhawari Deshpande who is associated with children's theatre from last 20 years shared her experience of judging the scripts said, "Each script had its own uniqueness. The tale is very beautiful, complicated and is full of larger than life events. It must be very challenging for writers to dramatise but stick to the story. As this story was made for children, we kept our focus on the use language, engagement, the use of theatrical devises, what the writers have done to contemporise it."

Kim Kyung Han, Minister Counselor (political), Embassy of the Republic of Korea awarded the top 3 winners and said that India and Korea doesn't only have a technical and economical relation but have very historical deep roots. Both the countries share their Independence Day. India had supported Korean in times of war during the freedom fights. Now the time has come when Korea, the brother country will support India in all possible aspects."