Andhra Pradesh Film, TV and Theatre Development Corporation celebrated ‘Telugu Theatre Day' at Ravindra Bharathi recently and presented cash awards of Rs. 25,000, a shawl, memento and garland to each of the six veterans in theatre field, besides celebrating Kandukuri Veeresalingam's jayanti and Bellari Raghava's vardhanti, with Corporation's head Parthasarathi chairing the function. Chairman, State Cultural Council, R.V.Ramanmurthy and vice-chancellor, Telugu University, Anumandla Bhumiah were also present.
On the occasion, thespian Rotte Viswanatha Sastry, who is running the first theatre in Telangana, Lakshminarasimha Nataka Mandali, with Dharmapuri in Karimnagar district as its base; artiste of social theatre Vijayalakshmi; stage and film actor J.V. Ramanamurthy who popularised Gurajada's play Kanyasulkam along with his elder brother, the late J.V. Somayajulu; harmonium player Y. Krishnamurthy and P. Lakshmana Rao, known for his role of Anjaneya in the play Sriramanjaneya Yuddham were felicitated. The award announced for S. A. Baba Rao of Surabhi theatre was received by his son, as Baba Rao could not attend the function due to ill health. Parthasarathi said that all the districts in the state have organised similar functions. Anumandla Bhoomiah and Ramanamurthy also spoke.
This was followed by staging of the play Maya Bazar by Surabhi. It was filled with a large number of female artistes along with a couple of children. And the scenes were marked by excellent technical support, which Surabhi is known for, like Sasirekha being carried away while she was sleeping or the way Ghatotkacha swallows the food prepared for the wedding and a pitch of water moving to him and after consumption moving back to its original place. There were songs and verses for them to render but could not be heard clearly because of bad mike system. In the Ghatotkacha camp in forest, Sasirekha, Abhimanyu, Subhadra and others are there. Balarama, father of Sasirekha, also arrives there to bless the newly weds, with a promise to perform their marriage at Dwaraka. R.Venugopala Rao as Ghatotkacha, R. Dinakar as Krishna, Santi as Sasirekha, Chandrasekhar as Abhimanyu, Kumarbabu as Balarama and Vasu as Narada presented main roles.
