‘Jashn-e-Bachpan’ celebrates innocence
Spicezee Bureau

New Delhi: The National School of Drama has organized a children’s theatre festival ‘Jashna-e-bachpan’. Kids have been enthralling people with their talented and lively performances this past week. The young participants have converged at the national capital from all over India.
Directors of the plays by the little ones are upbeat about the event and stress on the importance of such festivals. Soumen Roy, director of ‘Janmantar’, said, “It`s an opportunity to see how others are doing in the rest of the country. The festival showcases the best from all over India, and also gives our actors a chance to perform on a national platform.”

Besides the contagious enthusiasm exuding from the kids, the directors are having a blast of time, too. Harsh Daund, the Bhopali director of ‘Raag-e-Watan’, is reported to have said, “Directing children is actually fun. They catch on easily.”

The rising interest in children`s theatre is apparent this year in the number of entries for the festival, NSD officials said.

Anup Baruah, spokesperson of NSD, revealed, “We had over a 100 entries for the festival, and had a very hard time selecting only 22 plays. Next year, we plan to increase the number.” Baruah adds that this year has also seen brisk sale of tickets. NSD sources said the first day of the festival saw the featured play being staged twice on popular demand.