HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, March 2: The 5th edition of the Adingiri Rashtriya Natya Utsav 2024 was officially inaugurated on Friday and saw the presence of a massive audience. The event has been organised in collaboration with the Ministry of culture, government of India till  March 3.
This year the event is being organised in two locations of the city, ie. March 1 and 2 at Abhigyanm Natyakhetro in Adingiri Hill, Sankardev Nagar, Maligaon and March 3 in Pragjyoti ITA Centre, Machkhowa. The first four editions of the event were organised only at the Abhigyanm Natyakhetro in Maligaon.
The second day’s event started with two workshops regarding theatre art and live performances as well as the media focus on art. The first season was taken by Nayan Prasad, Mahendra Das, Dhananjoy Dev Nath, Abhik Bhattacharya, and Dr Kar while Hansraj Borpatra Gohain, popularly known as RJ Hansraj and Bhaskar Baruah took the second session. This was followed by the presentation of ‘To Kill or Not to Kill’, a play based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Medea. Presented by Arnav Art, Delhi, was a solo act by Jilmil Hazarika and has been directed by Ovliyakuli Khodjakuli from Uzbekistan. The second play of the day was ‘Gandhi vs Godse’ presented by Abhigyanm. It has been written, designed and directed by Ranhang Choudhury.
The opening day of the event saw the presence of more than 300 enthusiastic viewers who enjoyed the first play named Menaka is based on Homen Borgohain’s Matsyagandha. Alongside the presence of several dignitaries including Pranjal Saikia, Jilmil Hazarika, Sarada Choudhary, Dhurga Khatiwodi, Anup Hazarika and Avik Bhattacharya, around 25 students from the field of performing art also took part in the event. Organisers Abhigyanm also presented the Late Debabrat Choudhary Memorial Theatre Personality Award 2024 to noted theatre critique Atul Mazumber and the Late Barnali Choudhary Memorial Loka Silpa Sadhana Sanman 2024 to Borbihua Rantu Saikia.
On the third day of the event, which is on Sunday, March 3, one play will be presented by the organizers at 6 PM at ITA Machkhowa. ‘Tritiyo’ by Abhigyanm, which has been written, designed and directed by Ranhang Choudhury.