'Involving prison inmates in play is culture therapy'

In the first ever English play staged by the inmates of Bengal's Alipore Correctional Home, the authorities now aim to stage the play in other cities.
"Does it look like these people have any troubled past? Does it look like most of them are facing the audience for the first time in their lives?," IG, Correctional Homes, Ranvir Kumar told PTI here.
"It is called culture therapy. Our aim is to help them through works of art, in an interactive manner. Do you banish your child if he commits an offence? No. Same here for these inmates, they are our children," Kumar said.

He said if logistical and security issues can be taken care of, there can be no reason the period drama 'Begum Samru' can't be staged abroad in not so distant future.
"As Balmiki Pratibha is being staged all across the country, we hope the same thing happens to Begum Samru. We can show people elsewhere what we are up to. What Bengal is upto," one of the cast member Bobby said.
"We will be found never wanting to help stage the show elsewhere. We chose the play by late Pratap Sharma to bring to the fore the life of Begum Samroo, one of Hindustan's little known personalities," a Siddha group spokesman, the organizers of the renowned Engish theatre group Stagecraft production, said.