Society & Culture
Presenting songs from Naatak's 50th production, VRINDAVAN. Staged in 2015, Vrindavan, a Knight Foundation Grant Winner is THE most popular musical in Naatak's 25 year history.
Credits:
Vocalists: Nachiketa Yakkundi, Vidya Murthy, Lakshmi Shankar Rao, Poonam Yakkundi
Organ: Anand Karve
Tabla: Ashish Tare
Manjira: Gandhar Tare
Triangle: Poonam Yakkundi
Written by Sujit Saraf
About the Play
In 2014, Bollywood’s dream girl Hema Malini became Member of Parliament from Mathura. When visiting a widow-home in Vrindavan, she suggested that Vrindavan widows should remain in Bengal instead of coming to over-crowded Vrindavan. The uproar that followed involved many actors – NGOs, the BJP, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Hema Malini.
This incident provides the inspiration for Vrindavan, City of Widows, in which 12 feisty widows live in raucous celebration until a Bollywood actress arrives to disrupt their lives. Vrindavan is a grand musical, juxtaposing the colorful love of Radha and Krishna with the stark existence of Vrindavan widows, and told through humor and wit, the songs of Meera Bai and the gyrations of Bollywood songs. The play features spectacular sets, costumes and lights, along with live music by Nachiketa Yakkundi and his team, choreography by Guru Bandana Sen, and dance by Dipanwita Sengupta and her students at California Nupur Dance Academy.
A news item on the incident that became the genesis of this play: http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/widows-from-bengal-bihar-stay-there-why-crowd-vrindavan-hema-malini-667204