Arunima Gupta’s Play on Yagnaseni wins hearts
Yagnaseni is off with great acting by the actors was on display at the MPC Pacific Christian School auditorium in Dural in nearly house full show, Sydney Indian community witnessed on April 13, 2024. It was the most memorable theatre performance ever brought to Sydney by SAI Creative Arts Network SCREAN Australia in collaboration with Aazad Parinde Productions.
The event started bang on time. Sydney’s four popular female singers Rachana Bhatnagar, Heena Sachdeva Bhagirathi Bhatt and Aparna Tijoriwala accompanied by two musicians Sid Bose and Masood kicked off the event with a very powerful rendition of Mahishasura Mardini Stuti.
It was an evening worth witnessing this theatre piece based on the famous Mahabharat story of India. Mahabharata’ is one of the most epic tales ever told. The characters, their journey, their redemptions are life lessons, the sets, costumes, background graphics and visuals by Jaideep Thyagaraj and Abhilash Vijayan, were mind blowing and the performance spell binding.
The musical play brought to life the epic story of Draupadi through poignant music, breathtaking dances, over 50 dazzling costumes and a cast of over 50 performers. Running the sound system Abdul Sajwani did an excellent job.
Special mention of praise for the brilliant choreography by Nachle Dance School Wollongong and Sydney’s Rhythm Dance Academy, their dedicated team of talented kathak dancers who brought to life numerous scenes, especially “Mahabharat title song and “Chap tilak”sequences were just magnificent.
Act 9, In the end, though, it was the performance delivered by Shilpa Sharma (Draupadi ) that truly moved the audiences to tears. It was conducted excellently and touched us all in its powerful yet profound message it forces one to delve into. Great performance by all of a tight script with good dialogues.
It was an evening worth witnessing of Wollongong theatre group from coming together on Screan platform in Sydney, to which the director, Dr. Arunima Gupta said humbly, after the show, “Its all their effort. I am only in the background.” Kudos to you Arunima Gupta and team.
The event was conducted gracefully by well known emcee Kartik Mohandas and very talented Wollongong’s charming Usha Fernandez.
The set up of the beautiful decor from Decor-A-Shaan’s Hiren & Nita Tanna was spectacular. Guest of honours were in the evening Niyati Mehta, Director, Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre, Consulate General of India, Councillor Barbara Ward and Padi Fazelzadeh.
Well, the food stall from The Grand Bhavani vegetarian restaurant serving delicious food and masala chai, Samosa, Dabeli at reasonable price was icing on the cake.
The team of Screan Australia Tushar Bose, Sandhya, Arunesh Seth, Yogendra Bhatnagar, Rachana, Parag Tijoriwala, Aparna, Mehak, Sankalp, Heena, Swapnil, Aman, Ruchi,Sanjeev Raja and Fame Events Manjit S Chopra worked hard to bring an epic production Yagnaseni to Sydney.
One can say that it was one of the best theatre performances ever witnessed in Sydney.
By Manju Mittal
