Global Theatre Festival at Gandhi Smriti

Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta opened Malangiya Mahotsav at Gandhi Darshan, Rajghat on April 24, launching a five-day theatre and literature festival centered on Mahendra Malangia’s plays. (tribuneindia.com) The Tribune reported the festival runs from April 24 to April 28 in New Delhi and features 35 plays written by Malangia. Gupta called it a platform for regional languages, including Maithili, during the inaugural event. (tribuneindia.com) Organisers framed it as more than a run of stage performances. The programme includes around 30 seminars, conferences, poetry sessions and panel discussions, with participation from more than 65 institutions. (tribuneindia.com) Gupta said more than 5,000 writers and theatre practitioners working across 22 languages are part of the gathering. He also said the scale of the event could merit consideration for a Guinness World Record, though no record confirmation was announced. (tribuneindia.com) The venue matters here. Gandhi Darshan at Rajghat is part of the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, a Ministry of Culture-supported institution that runs exhibitions, seminars and cultural programming in New Delhi. (gandhismriti.gov.in 1) (gandhismriti.gov.in 2) Coverage from Bokaro showed how the festival is pulling in troupes from outside Delhi as well. Mithila Sanskritik Parishad staged the Maithili play “Ek Kamal Nor Me,” directed by Shambhu Jha, and local coverage described it as one of the most discussed performances on April 25. (theresearchers.us) That report said the production used the character Mala to depict the social pressure faced by a childless woman after her husband’s second marriage. The cast included Preeti Priya, Sunil Mohan Thakur, Ashutosh Jha, Rohit Chanchal and Chandrakant Mishra. (theresearchers.us) The festival’s organiser, the Malangia Foundation, presents itself as a platform built around the literary and theatrical legacy of Mahendra Malangia. Its website also promotes a separate Guinness World Record attempt tied to a “Thank You” video album. (malangiafoundation.com) For now, the clearest verified picture is a five-day Rajghat festival using Malangia’s body of work to convene theatre groups, writers and institutions from multiple languages and states through April 28. (tribuneindia.com)