XPRESSION 2023 GALLERY
Day 1: Opening Ceremony
24th March was the 1st day of Xpression 2023… Shudrka Hyderabad’s 1st initiative of having a unique flavoured Multilingual Theatre Festival.
Department of Language & Culture Telangana Govt. along with Hyderabad Bangalee Samity joined hands to make this festival happen.
Festival started with a collage of music & poetry in Bengali, Telugu, Hindi & English. Followed by a discussion where Smt Chandana Khan, Ex Chief Secretory of Tourism, who herself is an eminent painter & poet, spoke on Theatre & Theatre personality Shaoli Mitra.
Founder of Green Gables International School Smt Malathi Bhaskar spoke on how Theatre is used as medium of teaching & personality development of children.
Vice President & General Secretory of Hyderabad Bangalee Samity Sri Sumit Sen & Sri Joy Kumar Dutta also spoke about their experience with Theatre and Shudrka.
Senior Advocate and President of Bangiya Sanskritk Sangha, Sri Dipak Bhattacharya was also among the distinguished speakers.
Thank you!
Day 1: Play: Ek Durachari Raja by Shudrka Hyderabad
1st Day’s play was Shudrka Hyderabad’s Hindi production, Ek Durachari Raja. Adapted from Albert Camus’s Caligula, the play told the story of a despot and for whom nothing matters and how people around him react to despotism. It spoke about the eternal journey of humanity from darkness towards light. Sri Swapan Mondal Adapted and Directed the play. Key attraction of the play was the use of live violin. Lamakaan was packed and Shudrka Hyderbad left the audience enthralled and wide-eyed for the entire duration.
Day 2: Makeup Workshop by Debasish Chatterjee
Debasish Chatterjee is a renowned Make-up artist from Kolkata, India.
Throughout his more than 15 years of professional experience he has never stopped honing his craft.
Specialized in theatrical and show makeup in Blind Opera and Bratyojon, today he works on national and regional live productions, photo shoots and film set of Tara TV, Alpha TV and Aakash Bangla, Web-series like Pinki Rani, and can easily adapt to a variety of working situations. He was the make-up artist for the award-winning film titled “TRE VILLAGE BOY".
He is coming to Hyderabad to conduct a workshop on Make-up Artistry for Cinema, Theatre, Web Series, TV Serials and Weekend Parties, and to make some magic with you!
Day 2: Opening Ceremony
25th March, the 2nd day of the festival saw a plethora of distinguished guests. We are so deeply indebted and enthralled by your presence. Dr. Samuel Berthet, Director of Alliance Française of Hyderabad, is a historian, researcher and associated with various cultural activities was present and spoke about his experience with theatre and in particular theatre in Hyderabad.
Dr. Mohammed Abdul Nayeem, Assistant Professor at ICFAI Business School, IFHE Hyderabad works with and for children’s theatre. He spoke about Hyderabad’s theatre journey as part of his personal experience and put forward pertinent questions to ponder on. Dr. Jolly Puthussery, Associate Professor at University of Hyderabad in the Department of Theatre Arts, passionately spoke about how the state of theatre in Hyderabad can be improved upon.
This was followed by speakers like Arani Sen, who is the key person in bringing various Kolkata based eminent Theatre groups to Hyderabad and conducting shows for the last 30 years. Mr. Sen shared his valuable experience and takeaway of the activity he is so passionately involved in.
Mr. Sen was followed by Mr. Dhruba Jyoti Chatterjee. Mr. Chatterjee or DJ Da, as he is more famously known, is an engineer and a theatre enthusiast. In spite of his busy work schedule, he never faltered in promoting and taking part in the craft. He acted and directed plays and has been part of organizing theatre shows. He shared his experience on the theatrescape of Hyderabad as he saw it evolve for over 30 plus years.
Day 2: Play: Hanskhalir Hans by Shantipur Rangapeeth
2nd Day’s play was Shantipur Rangapeeth's, 'Hanskhalir Hans'. Eminent playwright Bijon Bhattacharya’s play and directed by Biswajit Biswas, the play was a beautiful intellectual rendition of people and their condition uprooted from their homeland in the name of partition and development.
Day 3: Opening Ceremony
26th march, the 3rd day and finale, started with Shudrka Hyderabad’s theme collage of music and poetry in different languages keeping in sync with the theme of the festival. It was followed by an ensemble of dignitaries. We were deeply honoured to have them all.
Discussion started with B.V. Papa Rao, an Indian film maker, a sports administrator and a former member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). He is also one of the founders of a Trust called Art@Telangana that supports the art and artists of Telangana. He praised Shudrka’s effort expressed his views about how theatre can help build a healthy society.
He was followed by Dr. Subir Chowdhury, a scientist by profession, has served DRDO in the capacity of Director, RCI laboratory, and passionate theatre enthusiast. He had been associated with Bengali Theatre in Hyderabad since 1970 and was the founding member of the group “Achal Adhuli”. Dr. Chowdhury spoke about his association with Theatre, Shudrka and his pointers on how to make theatre more vibrant.
Our final speaker of the day was Kollol Dasgupta, a techie by profession, but more of a singer, lyricist, author and an activist. He spoke about his experience when he saw Bijon Bhattacharya create brilliant productions out of nothing and how theatre nurtures friendships in its truest form. He ended his speech with a beautiful rendition of a poetry on theatre.
Day 3: Play: Tota Kahini by Chuanpore Suhrid
The finale play was Tota Kahini by Chuanpore Suhrid, from Berhampur, West Bengal. Story by Rabindranath Tagore, the play has been adapted and directed by Haraprasad Das.
It speaks about a Tota, a parrot who simply flies, sings and fools around, eating fruits from King’s Garden. The irritated Kings therefore decide to teach the parrot and make it knowledgeable in subjects like logic, maths, science etc. and kill it in the process. It is an allegorical play, beautifully rendered with use of large masks and songs and poetry.
Day 3_ Closing Ceremony
How can a festival end without noise…. After the play Shudrka Hyderabad took stage with a collage of songs and was ably joined by Suhrid’s singers too. Finally, each one in the audience sang and danced to the tune of the folk music that is close to everyone’s heart.
We would also like to Thank our Patrons for their support! Thank you!
Thank you Hyderabad… We would come back again… in the meantime we would meet you for our shows… Stay tuned and keep supporting us…!