Cultural Desk : dhakamirror.com
A seven-day Jatra Utsab, organised by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, began on Friday on the the Mukta Mancha stage of the Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka.
The academy aimed to revive cultural practices at all social layers after the student-led July mass-uprising.
The festival features seven historical and social story-based Jatra, the popular folk-theatre of Bangladesh.
On the opening day, Surubhi Opera staged their popular production titled Nihata Golap written by Agontuk and directed by Kabir Khan.
The play revolves around a tragic story of a brilliant student Gokul who came from a low-caste background. The landlord of Madhavpur made a conspiracy against him as the student was teaching the poor and low-caste people. Finally, Gokul was expelled from the college and involved in crimes against the landlord.
The festival was inaugurated by Israfill Mazumdar, a participant in the student-led mass uprising, while Jatra artiste Anima Dey and general secretary of Jatrashilpa Malik Samiti MA Mannan spoke at the event.
The director of the BSA theatre and film department Faiz Zahir delivered the welcome speech and the event was chaired by the academy’s DG, Syed Jamil Ahmed.
Describing the traumatic experience of July revolution, Israfill Mazumdar said that cultural activities must be spread to each and every corner of the country.
Demanding an increase in the allocation in the cultural sector from the budget, Jamil Ahmed said that all of us should stand by the Jatra artistes.
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy has been organising the festival since 2012. The New Shamim Natya Sangstha will stage Anarkali today at 6:00pm.
