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A week-long Kashmiri theatre festival was inaugurated by Vomedh on the eve of its 14th foundation day and will continue till May 23.
The festival is part of Vomedh's initiative for the preservation and promotion of the Kashmiri language under project Pagah. It was inaugurated by Rakesh Roshan Bhat, co-founder of Vomedh and convener of project Pagah, and various other dignitaries. The dignitaries included theatre director Manzoor Ahmad Mir, President of Private School Association G A Var, veteran theatre director Bansi Raina, Actress Jyoti Kaul, educationist Nirja Mattoo, and hotelier Nehru. Seven prominent theatre groups from Jammu and Kashmir have been participating in the festival. Rakesh Roshan Bhat, co-founder of Vomedh said, "We are committed to working towards the preservation of our mother tongue which is losing its ground very fast. Kashmiri is not used as the first language at home anymore and overall the future of the language looks very bleak." "We announced project Pagah this year on International mother tongue day to specifically work for the preservation of the Kashmiri language. We decided to hold a theatre festival of Kashmiri plays to invoke the love of language through theatre," Bhat said while explaining the thought behind the festival. The festival has been curated by the Bhat brothers Rakesh and Rohit as they are popularly called and are the founders of Vomedh. Vomedh felicitated 80 children from over 10 schools in the city who had participated in a painting competition in Navreh Milan, an event organized by Vomedh at Zabarwan park last month. Manzoor Mir while wishing Vomedh on its foundation day appreciated its efforts in the field of art, language, and culture. He urged the theatre lovers and audiences to watch the festival and nurture the theatre which is an important form of performing art. The parents who accompanied the children felt happy that such competitions and felicitations encourage the students to do better outside the academics also. "Vomedh has been pushing for adoption of language at the grassroots level by connecting with school children. Private schools association of Jammu and Kashmir is happy to associate with Vomedh in this noble cause," said G A Var, President of the association. Rohit Bhat, organizer of the festival and President Vomedh, "We feel very encouraged to see the love and support Vomedh is receiving for its cultural activities in Kashmir." "We saw a similar enthusiasm and support today that Vomedh received for its program Pagah in Tagore hall Srinagar earlier this year to celebrate the international mother tongue day which was very well received. We plan to do more diverse cultural activities in the future too," Rohit said. The program started with the felicitation of the guests followed by a welcome address by Rakesh Roshan Bhat and chief guest Manhas. A variety of musical programs and felicitation of children were scheduled after that. Rohit Bhat, President Vomedh expressed his gratitude to the people of the valley and especially the theatre fraternity for the support is getting for his events, especially this theatre festival. (ANI)
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