N arakasura , a mythological play by Mayuri Natanalayam of Hyderabad bagged the Golden Garuda Award at the 56th All India Theatre Festival 2011 that concluded at Mahati auditorium in Tirupati last week. Similarly, Numberleni Khaidi by Sri Sai Arts, Kolakalur (Guntur district) bagged the Garuda in the social play category, at the fest, conducted jointly by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and Sri Venkateswara Natyakala Parishat.
The second prizes in the form of Silver Garuda went to Gayopakhyanam (mythological) by Telangana Dramatics Association of Warangal and Hananam (social) by Sirimuvva Culturals of Hyderabad. The third prize went to Usha Parinayam (mythological) by Miryalaguda Samskrutika Kala Kendram and Brahma Kadigina Padamu (social) by Kala Sravanthi of Rajahmundry.
The individual winners were as follows: Mythological: Best Actor: Ravindra Rao; Best Actress: Surabhi Prabhavati, Best Direction YSN Murthy and Best Story T.Venkateswara Rao and Best Music: Muralidhar. Social: Best Actor Sangameswara Rao; Best Actress: Vijayalakshmi, Best Direction: Goparaju Vijay; Best Story: R.Prema Kishore and Best Music: Leela Mohan. Member of Parliament (Tirupati) Chinta Mohan, Superintendent of Police (Tirupati Urban) J. Prabhakara Rao and former MLA M.Venkatramana gave away the prizes to the winning troupes. The performances this year were quite eye-catching, both in terms of action as well as stage aesthetics. Especially, the mythological plays impressed the audience with the mammoth settings and the background score.
The social plays came in for accolades for being close to the common man's thoughts, as they dealt with subjects as contemporary as acid attack on girls, domestic violence on women, doubting husbands, addiction to vice, need to exercise franchise, couples resorting to divorce as the first option and ugly brawls over payment of maintenance and so on. Vadrevu Sundara Rao of Palangi walked away with the first prize in mono-action for his breathtaking performance as Sikhandi , followed by K.Ramu (Hyderabad) as Chanakya and M.Jyothi (Ponduru) as Chandramathi.
In the light music category, K.Gayatri (Hyderabad), P.Tejolakshmi (Amudalavalasa) and K.Vishnupriya (Tirupati) won the first, second and third prizes respectively.
