10th edition of META is back

10th edition of META is back

Bringing together the best of Indian theatre from the year gone by, the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards & Festival (META) announced the schedule of performances for nominated plays to be staged in New Delhi between March 21st and 26th, this year.

The 2015 META Jury comprises distinguished Theatre Personality Amal Allana; Theatre Writer, Editor and Critic Anjum Katyal; renowned Theatre Artist, Neelam Mansingh; Theatre, TV and Film Director& writer Ranjeet Kapoor; and Film, Theatre and Television Actor Saurabh Shukla.

L-R Jay Shah,Amal Allana,Ravi Dubey and Sanjay Roy at META press conference

“Our aim behind META is to describe our philosophy of rise and discovery and also to uplift the art form to a higher level. META is a stage, where the performers are recognised and rewarded and I believe that it is the sustainability that has enabled us to stay and continue this for so long. And to be frank, we are a little biased in this sector since, like every other corporate even we want to be the most admired brand and someone who cares for the customers and employee beyond business. We want to give back to these people what they have given to us,” says Jay Shah, Head Cultural Outreach of Mahindra and Mahindra.

Talking about META, Sanjoy Roy MD, teamwork said, “We have received 280 entries this year. Basically, we have a selection committee who gets together, views the production and then nominates best 10 plays for various categories. Since beginning of the META festival, 63 performances have been held and 1800 artists have participated, which clearly shows that the festival is for people and theatre oriented enthusiasts.”

L-R Jay Shah,Amal Allana,Ravi Dubey and Sanjay Roy at META press conference

The META festival is known for being entertaining, educative and interactive, as you get to know people’s opinion at one thing plus many artists coming from different states interact with one another and audiences to learn something new. Ravi Dubey (META creative director) says, “In the beginning we were struggling to get even 10 entries and now we have voluntary entries of around 300, which is quite over whelming. We would request other corporates to promote different art forms too.”

The event went on with disclosing the nominations of movies which would play in this season of META.

1. A Straight Proposal; Dir: Happy Ranajit; Produced by Unicorn Actors’ Studio (Delhi, Lang: Hindi )

2. Aaydaan; Dir: Sushma Deshpande; Produced by Awishkar Theatre (Mumbai, Lang: Marathi)

3. Chitrapata; Dir: Manjunath L Badiger; Produced by Samasthi (Bengaluru, Lang: Kannada)

4. Dhou… The Wave; Dir: Gunakar Dev Goswami; Produced by Purvarang (Guwahati, Lang: Assamese)

5. Dreams From My Room; Dir: Chingtham Banikanta Singh; Produced by Pan Manipuri Theatre (Manipur, Lang: Manipuri)

6. Fall of a King- Burha Manuhor Babe Desh Nai; Dir: Palash Protim Mech; Produced by Oftas (Assam, Lang: Assamese)

L-R Jay Shah,Amal Allana,Ravi Dubey and Sanjay Roy at META press conference

7. Kaumudi; Dir: Abhishek Majumdar; Produced by Riad Mahmood Education and Arts Foundation and Indian Ensemble (Bengaluru, Lang: Hindi)

8. Matthi; Dir: Jino Joseph; Produced by Kathuparamba Malayakalanilayam (Kerala, Lang: Malayalam)

9. Rage and Beyond: Irawati’s Gandhari; Dir: Sanjukta Wagh; Produced by Beej (Mumbai, Lang: English)

10. Still and Still Moving; Dir: Neel Chaudhuri; Produced by Tadpole Repertory (Delhi, Lang: English & Hindi)

META proudly has become the stage for only Indian theatre productions and they focus on bringing the unknown in focus. Commenting on the same Amal Allana, a prominent theatre artist and Director said, “There are many theatres and festivals but the fact that makes this festival unique is, that they thought how to encourage theatres from small cities. They are supporting future of theatres, giving stage to budding artists and to those who were never noticed. The struggle of an artist is not appreciated but such opportunities would encourage people and give them a sense of importance.”

While there was so much discussion about creativity and arts, Jay Shah also spoke about how much freedom the employees of Mahindra have in terms of art, “That’s really an important question. Employees at Mahindra are actually encouraged to participate in arts and cultural activities. As a Cultural Head, it is my aim to make the organisation creative. We are a manufacturing sector industry, however, in the last decade I have seen a lot of programmes we do to spur the right side of the brain to ensure creativity, so that the work that our employees do is much more qualitative.”

The only issue that has been there forever in theatre is of not having funds and place to practice. Addressing that how important it is for corporates to take part in uplifting theatre, Amal Allana pointed out, “When I entered the world of theatre there was not much demand for it but today people are pretty much interested in knowing about it. However, there is a shortage of supply. Hence, it is really important to get the corporate to sponsor and also, the government has to make some amendments for our sector so that we can flourish. Art is a door to the world and it is important for it to become a part of your life right from childhood.”

META recognizing and celebrates Indian theatre talent with awards for Best Play, Best Director, Best Stage Design, Best Light Design, Best Innovative Sound Design, Best Costume Design, Best Actor in a Lead Role (Male), Best Actor in a Lead Role (Female), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female), Best Original Script, Best Ensemble, and Best Choreographer making it the most comprehensive Theatre awards in the country.

In 2010, META also instituted a Lifetime Achievement Award, presented along with the 13 category wise awards. So far, this award has been conferred upon theatre greats like Late Zohra Sehgal, Late Badal Sarkar, Late Khaled Chowdhary, EbrahimAlkazi and Girish Karnard.