Coffee table book commemorating 10 glorious years of META
released at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival
- Shabana Azmi, Girish Karnad, Ravi
Dubey & Sanjoy Roy discuss META’s influence on Indian Theatre
- META 2015 calls for entries to be
submitted in prescribed format by 31st January, 2015
Coffee
table book ‘Curtain Call: Celebrating
Indian Theatre’ encapsulating ten glorious years of Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) was released at the British
Airways Baithak, Hotel Diggi Palace, Jaipur on the second day of the ongoing ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival. The commemorative
book on Indian Theatre, with contributions from eminent theatre personalities, was released by Shabana Azmi,
Girish Karnad and Ravi Dubey, Creative Director, META along with ZEE Jaipur
Literature Festival Producer & Teamwork Arts MD, Sanjoy Roy.
Celebrated theatre
personalities like M K Raina, Sushma
Seth, Rajat Kapoor, Amal Allana, Manan Kaur, Neelam Mansingh, Ananda Lal have
contributed to the book. Curtain Call:
Celebrating Indian Theatre features their testimonials and chronicles on META
and its instrumental role in encouraging and rewarding the theatre industry,
bringing increased participation and showcasing exemplary work within this
field.
The book release attracted
many literature, theatre and culture aficionados to British Airways Baithak
for discussion on META’s success in making
Indian theatre popular and how engagement with theatre has evolved.
At the launch Shabana Azmi expressed that it was a
process of osmosis that is responsible for her love for theatre, having carried
over the passion and commitment towards theatre from her mother. As an
instance, she detailed how even as a four month old child her mother would carry
her to theatre rehearsals, tying Shabana
at her back. About theatre being very different from films, Shabana Azmi shared her experience on
how all the twenty performances of Tumhari
Amrita were completely different from each other. The actress believed truth
to be an essential part of theatre.
While releasing the book, Girish Karnad also stated how in
theatre, ‘anything can happen!’ Karnad
also confessed that he has always thought of himself as a playwright rather
than an actor. He talked a great
deal about his experience in theatre, also, about how different and difficult
theatre has become now as compared to the good old days. Girish Karnad said,
“Theatre is a journey that is completely driven by passion and innumerable
sacrifices. Festivals like META are a bench mark every theatre group, actors,
directors and theatre troupes always aspire to reach. Reaching the stage of
META in itself is a reward and it personifies dedicated passion and undying
patience.”
The speakers agreed that
youngsters do not see theatre as a profession. They’d rather prefer becoming
‘film stars’, says Shabana, also
saying that ‘do not enter into acting if you will not die doing it.’ In
affirmation, Karnad expressed how
theatre is pursued only if it is in one’s blood and if it is, then when cannot
and should not escape.
The Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) is a weeklong theatre festival and award that stages the best
of theatre of the year. Every year META confers awards across 13 categories
celebrating various aspects of theatre including Stage Design, Lighting and
Costumes apart from Best Play, Best Director, etc. Theatre groups from all over
the nation participate in this festival to receive the prestigious and most
comprehensive awards recognizing Indian Theatre. Winners are also awarded
handsome prize money across the various categories.
The 10th
META Festival is scheduled from 21st to 26th March,
2015 at New Delhi’s LTG and Kamani Auditoriums along with a Gala Awards Night
on March 27th, 2015 at Taj Mahal Hotel, Mansingh Road, New Delhi.
Creative Director, META, Ravi Dubey says, “It’s fascinating how we started with 10 entries in
our first year and now after a decade META has achieved a stature of being one
of the most glamorous events of the fraternity with over 13 awards from the
various corners of the country. META has been a wonderful journey for us as we engage
with various groups as well as dynamic and colorful artists on and off the stage.”
Ravi Dubey also shared that META
has really contributed to theatre as envisaged and suggested to other corporate
entities that they should also be supporting theatre since it still requires
more support and motivation.
Instituted by the Mahindra
Group, in continuation of its commitment to promoting the arts, META 2015 aims
at bringing together the best of Indian theatre from the year gone by. The
awards consist of a specially designed
trophy and a cheque for Rs.1 Lakh for the Best Production, Rs.75,000 for Best
Original Playwright and Rs.45,000 for all other award categories.
Jay Shah, Head, Cultural Outreach, Mahindra & Mahindra
Ltd said “We at Mahindra Group want to
provide a platform in the form of META for encouraging all forms of theatre
across its full spectrum in India. Through META, our aim is to increase
awareness and appreciation of Indian theatre, making it one of the most
important national platforms for recognizing and rewarding theatre. Apart from
the glamorous and obvious awards for direction and acting we also celebrate and
promote other elements of theatre like playwriting, set designing, costume and
light designing.”
META is calling for
entries for this year’s edition. The submissions must be sent in the form of
recorded DVDs on or before 31st January, 2015. The entries can also
be shared online followed by sending in recorded DVDs of the play as hard
copies via post on or by logging in to http://metawards.com/v1/entry-form/
All productions that meet
the eligibility criteria will be viewed by an esteemed selection committee
comprising of five eminent theatre personalities. The selection committee will
then pick the 10 best productions after viewing the DVDs of all the plays. The
ten chosen ones are then invited to perform live in front of the esteemed jury
and general audience. Every entry for META should meet certain criteria
(detailed eligibility criteria are available on http://metawards.com/v1/selection-criteria/
About Mahindra Group
The
Mahindra Group focuses on enabling people to rise through solutions that power
mobility, drive rural prosperity, enhance urban lifestyles and increase
business efficiency.
A
USD 16.5 billion multinational group based in Mumbai, India, Mahindra employs
more than 220,000 people in over 100 countries. Mahindra operates in the key
industries that drive economic growth, enjoying a leadership position in tractors, utility
vehicles, information
technology,financial
services and vacation ownership. In addition, Mahindra enjoys a
strong presence in the agribusiness, aerospace, components, consulting
services, defence,
energy, industrial equipment, logistics, real estate,
retail, steel, commercial vehicles and two wheeler industries.
In
2014, Mahindra featured on the Forbes Global 2000, a comprehensive listing of
the world’s largest, most powerful public companies, as measured by revenue,
profit, assets and market value. The Mahindra Group also received the Financial
Times ‘Boldness in Business’ Award in the ‘Emerging Markets’ category in 2013. Visit us at www.mahindra.com
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