Record 50 entries for Bhilwara Natya Puraskar

The corporate initiative has been honouring fresh works over the past two years, has this year attracted a record 50 entries that will compete for the prestigious award.

Started in 2010, the award by the LNJ Bhilwara Group, has in a span of two years grown into a much looked up to annual competition.

This year, among the 50 plays that will compete for the top three positions, are 'Streer Patra' directed by Seema Biswas, 'Kanupriya' directed by Saurabh Anand, 'Arjun ka Beta' directed by Atul Satya Koushik and 'Raag Droh' directed by Bharti Sharma.

Two outstanding theatre productions of freshly written plays in Hindi either original or translated -- are awarded every year after their staging before the jury in the capital.

The jury members who pick up the winners for the Rs 2 lakh prize include reputed names like former National School of Drama director Mohan Maharishi; industrialist and philanthropist Rajendra Bagrodia; and eminent theatre theorist from Delhi University Bharat Gupt.

"We sincerely hope our small contribution will go a long way in encouraging the group to scale new heights," said Shri Jhunjhunwala, Chairman Emeritus of business conglomerate LNJ Bhilwara Group.

Last year, the competition received 30 nominations from over eight states from from reputed directors like Nadira Babbar, Vijay Tendulkar, Ila Arun, Vinay Verma and Pankaj Dubey.

While the first Bhilwara Natya Puraskar went to noted theatre and film personality Manoj Joshi's play 'Chanakya', K G Trivedi's 'Hastinapur' won the honours in the second edition.

The staging is held in September when the awards are announced.