Forum Three celebrates golden jubilee with two-day theatre festival

Sangeeta and Ranjon Ghosha in a still from one of their earlier plays
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Even over phone, 67-year-old theatre enthusiast, Sangeeta Ghoshal’s energy sweeps one along, with her enthusiasm for life, passion for theatre and the zeal to do more.

Sangeeta, who originally hails from Kolkata, joined Forum Three, when she moved to Bengaluru. The theatre group was started by her husband, Ranjon Ghoshal, and his friend, Utkal Mohanty, in 1974. The group is celebrating its golden jubilee with a two-day theatre festival, Anweshana, which will be held in Bengaluru over the weekend at Alliance Francaise. Apart from a series of curated plays, mimes and more, the festival will also feature Kohinoor that Sangeeta wrote and is directed by Shruti Rao.

Theatre is not an airtight compartment, Sangeeta says. “Dance, music, poetry, mime, and visual arts flow into theatre. So it will be with Anweshana. The festival will be a multi-pronged event, where the audience will experience a gamut of carefully curated performing arts.”

An interest in fabric designing saw Sangeeta designing costumes for all Forum Three productions. “Ranjon directed all our plays till we lost him four years ago.” Sangeeta joined Forum Three in 1980 and worked with Ranjon and Utkal in their advertising agency, Mareech.

Sihi Kahi Chandru in a still from one of the plays by Forum Three
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Bengaluru struck a special chord with Sangeeta since her arrival. “I try to celebrate every bit of Bengaluru in my own way.” This can be seen in her brochure design for Anweshana with an autorickshaw as the centerpiece.

“We have sent out our brochures to autorickshaw associations,” says Sangeeta. Apart from this, there are a series of impromptu games and activities staged across the city on an autorickshaw. “Three people sit in the auto and enact a situation given to them. The crowd that gathers around becomes the audience.”

Insisting her love for Bengaluru will never die, Sangeeta says, “Bengaluru embraces people from all walks of life and from every State. I came here to earn my bread and butter and learnt to speak Kannada. Now to show my gratitude, and though late, we are staging our maiden Kannada play, Bangaarada Thota, the Kannada version of Banchharam’s Orchard.”

Kannada culture is beautiful and living here has been a blessing, Sangeeta says. “People here are modest and genuinely well-behaved. Bengaluru is the best place to be. Before anyone cribs about the traffic or infrastructure, I would just say, had this city not grown the way it has, many families would not have had a decent life. This is the reality and I celebrate the city in every possible way.”

Sangeeta Ghoshal
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Taking a leaf out of the Kolkata theatre scene, Sangeeta says Forum Three incorporates social messages in the plays. “We started translating Bengali into English and staging them in Bengaluru. Seagull Books has published our translations.”

Creating works that the audience could relate to is one of Forum Three’s goals. “What is the point of actors and the audience coming together if they cannot relate to the events on stage? We stage plays in Indian English and Banchharam’s Orchard, was the first where a farmer spoke English.”

Forum Three has had actors such as Prakash Raj, Sihikahi Chandru, Gulshan Devaiah, Srijit Mukherjee, Anupam Roy and Ajith Hande. “Most of them joined us when they were 18. Look at them today, each one is powerful in every role portrayed on screen.” Anweshana will be held on January 18 and 19 at Alliance Francaise. For details and tickets visit the facebook page: facebook.com/Forumthree