Four icons share stage

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A scene from 45-35-55 featuring Aparajita Basu (from left), Smita Bharti and Sohaila Kapur.

Though the Delhi Police denied permission to carnivals and marches in the city over the CWG security concern, the Ramlila shows kickstarted on October 8. The Games mascot Shera walked along mythological characters in Shobha Yatra and added the sporty flavour to the traditional-style enactment. Lav Kush Ramlila Committee, one of the prominent organisers of Delhi, has put up 90-feet-high wooden gate designed in the shape of Shera at the Red Fort lawns. This year, all organisers are focussing on foreign guests and tourists. Organisers have confirmed sending invites to embassies and high commissions of various nations. However, the main attraction are the big screens with English subtitles and CDs of 2009 Ramlila shows.
But if you want to catch the magical glimpses of the epic battle, do not miss the Navshree Dharmik Leela Committee’s show where Ravan and Jatayu clash mid-air with special effects.
Meanwhile, the Ramnagar Ramlila in the city of Varanasi is in full bloom, showcasing the most traditional style of the folk form. Ram Leela of Ramnagar was started in 19th Century by the then Maharaja of Benaras Udit Narayan Singh. The unique feature of Varanasi’s Ramlila is that almost the entire city transforms into a vast Ramlila ground. There are permanent structures and designated spaces for different chapters. The audience moves along with the performers with every episode. So, if you have already had the Delhi fun, catch a train this weekend to witness the miracle at Kashi, the city of legends.

Post-festival silence is always annoying, but Delhi will have something more to celebrate post- Ramlila. A theatre festival, celebrating the complexities of human relationships, brings together four theatre icons sharing the stage for a cause. Arvind Gaur, Lushin Dubey, Smita Bharti and Sohaila Kapur are all set to open Whose Life is it Anyaway from October 21 at Kamani Auditorium. The Helpage India initiative, in association with Sakshi, Cathaayatra and Lakshya Foundation, aims at raising funds for the Leh victims.
45-35-55, a comic story of three women, written and directed by Bharti, will raise the curtains on the festival. The Bollywood retro musical, Mahim Junction, directed by Kapur is scheduled for Day Two. The English musical, set in ’70s, showcases a time when heroes wore their hearts on their sleeves and rich villains puffed cigars in mean streets of Mumbai.
To watch Dubey in Untitled, critically-acclaimed monologue directed by Gaur, will surely be a feast for any regular theatre buff. Based on Vijayadan Detha’s story Nyari Nyari Maryada and Dario Fo’s short play Medea, Untitled revolves around women who lack a sense of identity.
Gaur’s popular productions, Ek Mamooli Aadmi and Court Martial, are scheduled for October 24 and 24. Ek Mamooli Aadmi highlights the contours of a system in which even biological relations are bound to breed loneliness and family becomes fatal to an individual. Court Martial, set in the Army backdrop, presents the inhuman face of systems and authorities.