Nandikar"s National Theatre Festival is an Indian Theatre Festival which is held at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata. The group is a premier Indian theatre group with its headquarters in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is arranged annually in Kolkata, in the Indian state of West Bengal, between 16th and 25th December. Initiated and organized, as the name suggest, by the theatre group Nandikar.
History of Nandikar"s National Theatre Festival
Nandikar`s National Theatre Festival was started in 1984. The group is 57-years-old theatre institution from Kolkata. The logo of Nandikar"s National Theatre Festival was designed by Satyajit Ray. Over the last 50 years, it has played a proactive role in spreading theatrical activities in India through the performances primarily under the guidance of Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay and then Rudraprasad Sengupta.
Activities of Nandikar"s National Theatre Festival
Nandikar"s National Theatre Festival regularly works with different schools, colleges, street children, marginalised children and corporate houses. The annual Nandikar National Theatre Festival is the biggest theatre carnival of Kolkata and one of the largest in the country as well. The festival provides a platform for the stalwarts and amateurs alike for not just participants from all over India, but also from the international arena. The group regularly perform on invitation by international theatre organizations of UK, Canada, USA, Sweden, Germany, Bangladesh and many other countries. Most of the contents are Bengali plays.
Over the years, Nandikar has become a symbol of an institution that works relentlessly for honest, thought-provoking, meaningful theatre. Most of its plays have achieved critical and mass acclaim in India and abroad. Among the current members Rudraprasad Sengupta and Swatilekha Sengupta are winners of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. With this rich cultural heritage it"s always eager to find newer space for theatre in the community life.
The twin objective for the festival is to facilitate cultural integration in India and providing a forum for exchange of notes among theatre workers from different parts of the country. The festival displays productions by leading and "avant-garde" theatre troupes from all over India. Nandikar has produced about 80 Plays till now and performed these nearly 8500 times across the nation, featuring in all major National and State Festivals, as well as abroad.
