The Nehru Festival this year, starting 22 August 2005 will go on for 11 days. A few of the festival's highlights include Girish Karnad's TOOTE BIMBA, Mahesh Dattani's FINAL SOLUTIONS, Ramu Ramanathan's 3 SAKINA MANZIL, Makakavi Bhasa's KARNABHARAM and Manoj Shah's MAREEZ. But that is not all. There are plays in other languages such as Bengali, Konkani, Marwari & Dogri too. Clearly a smattering of languages as well as the selection of groups from across the country inform the festival. Entry passes can be procured from the Nehru Centre. Each person is entitled to two passes for a maximum number of six plays. Following are the details concerning the various plays that are part of the festival:

OPERATION CLOUDBURSTS (Hindi)
August 22, 2005.
Time: 7:30 pm.
Duration: 2 hrs with Interval.

Writer/Director: Nadira Zaheer Babbar.
Cast: Darpan Mishra (Major Mundra), Santosh Tiwari (Capt. Krishnan), Arya Babbar (Capt. Kang) & others.

OPERATION CLOUDBURSTS aims to understand the dilemmas, struggles and the valor of the Indian armed forces trying to counter terrorism. According to the writer-director, terrorism in the country almost immediately makes people think of the Kashmir problem. Not many people, she feels, think about terrorism in the Northeastern states of India such as Assam. The play therefore seeks to not only look at the struggle of the Indian army but also of the Assamese whose lives are enmeshed in conflict and disorder.


TOOTE BIMBA (Hindi)
August 23, 2005.
Time: 7:30 pm.
Duration: 90 mins. with Interval.

Writer/Director: Girish Karnad.
Cast: Arundhati Nag as Manjula Nayak. Guest Appearance by Darius Taraporewala.

TOOTE BIMBA is based on writer-director Karnad's original and celebrated Kannada play ODAKALLU BIMBA. Eager to reach a wider Hindi-speaking audience who would be able to engage with the subtle nuances in the script, Karnad felt the play must be presented in Hindi.

The protagonist Manjula Nayak is not a very successful Kannada short story writer. She struggles on the margins of the literary world. However she gains International fame as a Best selling author when she writes in English. The question that begins to haunt Manjula is whether she has betrayed her own language and identity by meetings the demands of a global audience. Soon without warning, Manjula's own 'image' decides to play confessor, psychologist and inquisitor in the play!