The prestigious annual Tanveer Sanman will be given to renowned theatre personality from Manipur, Heisnam Kanhailal; while the Natyadharmee Puraskar will be given to noted Marathi theatre director, Girish Joshi, on December 9. Both the awards are instituted by Roopwedh Pratishthan.
Tanveer Sanman is given since 2004 in memory of Tanveer, the son of Dr Shreeram and Deepa Lagoo who expired in an accident. Natyadharmee Puraskar was constituted in 2005. While Tanveer Sanman comprises Rs1 lakh and memento, Natyadharmee Puraskar includes Rs30,000 and memento.
Kanhailal, the founder-director of theatre group Kalashetra Manipur, is in the forefront of experimental theatre movement for the past three decades. He is one of the few theatre artistes from north-eastern states who has received the Padma Shri, Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Natya Ratna award.
Roopwedh Prathisthan working president, Vijay Lagoo, said, “Since Tanveer in Persian means ‘the divine light in the sky’, the award is presented to those whose huge body of work is similar to the meaning of the name. Natyadharmee is given to those who have made important contribution to theatre. During the British Raj, the local folk art of Manipur was on the verge of extinction.
Kanhailal has taken great efforts to involve the Manipuri culture in his plays, besides starting a parallel theatre at grass-roots level.”
“Instead of going for verbose and box theatre, he has tried to find a new idiom for theatre,” he said.
“Joshi has been active in professional and experimental theatre since 1988 and has written and directed plays like End Game,
Babulwan, Makadachya Hathi Champagne, Final Draft and Katkone Trikone,” Vijay said.
The award function will be held at the Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruha, Kothrud, at 6.15 pm.
