Amit Aggarwal
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Theatre, is a space where drama comes alive, stories unfold with actors performing right in front of you. Theatre, despite having a record of not being a platform to sustain actors financially, has stood the test of time across borders, ages, culture, languages and stories. To celebrate this creative space, theatre enthusiast Amit Aggarwal, is organising an evening for Hindi theatre practitioners on World Theatre Day.
“Theatre practitioners from across the city will meet, ideate and share their dreams for 2025,” says Amit, the founder of the Bangalore Hindi Theatre Community. The 45-year old theatre enthusiast from Sarjapur plunged into theatre in 2005 in Bengaluru. “I have primarily been active in Hindi theatre. When I ventured into this space there were hardly two or three groups that were into Hindi theatre and about 10 to 15 practitioners. At that point of time, I felt a need to expand the horizon for Hindi theatre, have more people join theatre and be aware of what is happening in this space.”
The Bangalore Hindi Theatre Community was founded in 2012 with three theatre groups, says Amit. “Over the years we have 50 active groups and over 1,000 theatre practitioners in the community.” The community grew, Amit says and so did its objectives.
“Now it is no longer about networking between artists and groups but a space to help people who come to the city or those who dream of starting a theatre group or actors who need to find a group to act in.”
Besides this, the community also helps with stage props and costumes. “With lack of large, storage spaces, we help groups share props and costumes. This not only helps in cutting costs and time for productions, but also opens doors for collaborative interactions.” Amit runs the community on his own, and provides these connections free of cost. He welcomes help on a voluntary basis.
Being a theatre practitioner himself for the past two decades, Amit says he decided to start a community and not a theatre group. “A lot of theatre happens in Bengaluru, but in pockets spread across the city. It was important to do cross-collaborative work, by creating a theatre community, where an actor is not restricted to just one group but can work across groups.”
The choice of celebrating World Theatre Day (March 27) on March 29 was a deliberate one, says Amit. “In Bengaluru with the traffic and distance, we realised that the footfalls are low when events happen on weekdays.”
This is the fourth edition of Bangalore Hindi Theatre Community’s World Theatre Day celebrations. The first edition was co-hosted by Kalagruha, while the 2023 and 2024 editions by Lahe Lahe. “I am grateful for all these people and now to Vyoma for offering us the space and co-hosting it as this is a non-commercial event. We have 150 seats for this event. In case we cannot accommodate anyone for this particular event, they can reach out to our community on our facebook page and I will make sure to make time for them.”
Jamming with music and artists
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Amit took to theatre during his college days in Pune. Coming from an Armed Forces background, Amit says he travelled across the country with his parents during school and college days. “I hardly stayed in a place for more than a couple of years. It was only when I moved to Benglauru 20 years ago that I decided to stay on.”
Besides ideation and brainstorming and sharing works, the community also helps bring outside theatre groups to the city and vice versa. “We help groups by spreading the word, marketing for them.”
Amit is the founding and casting director of Webshorts Casting, a platform, where he helps actors get roles in advertisements, films and web series.”
The World Theatre Day-2025 celebrations commences at 3pm with an update on the Hindi theatre scene in the year gone by and the dreams for 2025. “Group heads and directors will share their works, discuss new projects, resolve issues if there are any and the day concludes with a music jam, refreshments and collaborative works. On this day, we are not divided by our groups but united by our love for theatre.”
The Bangalore Hindi Theatre community’s World Theatre Day celebrations will be held on March 29, 3pm onwards, at Vyoma Artspace & Studio, JP Nagar.
Published – March 26, 2025 09:35 am IST
Source:https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/amit-aggarwal-founder-of-bangalore-hindi-theatre-community-invites-theatre-groups-to-world-theatre-day-celebrations/article69365167.ece