BEGAM: Play, Writer, Director, and Group Details

Play

Our social system is quite strange, where society sometimes criticizes and sometimes rewards someone. Due to greed and profit, people can blow up the very symbol of social order. Today's man is forced to believe that a large amount of money can cause a person to change their colour like a snake. Because of this, places of worship, schools, law enforcement officials, village elders, and village headmen become intoxicated with such thinking. Only they know what they will gain by exploitation and greed, which is why the word "Begam" is used.

Writer

Pramod Kumar Tripathy (1956-2012) was a successful Odia playwright of the postmodern era. His Odia play Jeun Banastare Manisha Nahin, translated as 'An Unlimited Forest,' received the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1994. His other notable plays include Chau Natak, Dwitiya Mrutyu, Rajakiya, Kalapurusha, Hanu Lipadraba Sanbulua, Ramachandra Pheriasa, Cancer, Nishanta, Partha, Ankurodgama, Shuna Pariksha Dandadhari, and Gote Bula Kukurara Janma Brutanta.

Director

Sanjay Kumar Saha is a young versatile artiste whose range includes art education, direction, stage design, lighting, and television production. He received awards such as the Best Director's Award (2014) and the Theatre Director Award (2022) for his productions Auntarale, Rose, and Uttarana. He is registered as a Casual Artist with the Song and Drama Division, serves as a Guest Lecturer in Drama at Utkal University of Culture, a Stage Craft Lecturer at Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Bhubaneswar, and works as a Performing Arts Teacher in government schools. He also received a Government of India Scholarship (2005–2007) and multiple state-level awards.

Director's Note

The director focuses on staging a play that emanates a realistic thought process, starting with extensive reading, rehearsals, composition, movement, modulation, and music. Stage rehearsals continue with costumes, lights, and stage properties until the day before the performance, avoiding rehearsals on the day of the show. The major aim is to attract youth, both urban and rural.

Group

Established in 1964, Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya (USM) in Bhubaneswar is a premier institution for performing arts education. Initially managed by the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, it has functioned under the state Department of Culture since 1982. USM offers training in Music, Dance, and Drama from intermediate to Master's degree levels across ten branches, including Odissi Dance, Hindustani Vocal, Tabla, and Drama. The institution's legacy has been shaped by gurus like Padmasree Guru Pankaj Charan Das and Padmasree Sanjukta Panigrahi, producing alumni such as Guru Gangadhar Pradhan and Prof. Ramahari Das.