BHUBANESWAR: The seventh edition of Ekaa National Festival kick started at Bhanja Kala Mandap here Thursday. The event is a two-day affair.
Chief guest of the evening was former CJI Gopal Bhallav Patnaik. On the occasion, the fourth Asim Basu Sanman was conferred on dramatist Umakant Saha from Karanjia, Mayurbhanj. He has directed more than 27 dramas and enacted in more than 70 plays.
Ananta Mahapatra Sanman was conferred on actress Dharitri Khandual. She is a well-known theatre and TV personality. The first solo drama of the evening was ‘Football’ presented by Mirror Bhubaneswar and directed by Anant Mahapatra.
The story is written by Das Benhur and dramatised by Panchanan Das. It was enacted by Pradip Swain. The drama depicts the similarity of life and a football match. If one doesn’t play it right, he has to face the consequences. Theatre lovers sat in silence and relished each moment of the play which described life’s philosophy.
The second drama of the evening was ‘Gandhijinku Chitti’ meaning ‘A letter to Gandhiji’. It was enacted by Pirates Club of New Delhi. The play is written by M Syed Alam and was enacted by Hemang Soni. The story of the play was quite endearing where a small child writes a letter to Gandhiji unaware of his death. The letter is fraught with mistakes and the child fears he will not receive any answer due to this.
