(Note: Video recording-> to be uploaded very soon; meanwhile you can see our MBC coverage )

(More Pictures of my Facebook set)

It was a fine Thursday 2 May 2013 Morning. The D-Day! We had been preparing for more than 2 months in order to be able to perform in the Finals of the National Drama Festival (Hindi Language) 2013! We set out for our destination in the early morning. With all artists and Mr. Tommy having found a perfect place in the Van, we set out for Serge Constantin Theatre, Vacoas at around 9.30am.

At around 11.am the audience was seated, as well as the MBC crew ready for the live recording of the 3 best plays:

The Jury ready to perform their job….The Adjudicators were: Mr. Dhaniprasad Dhunnpat, Dr. Alka Dunputh, Mrs. Anju Ghurburrun

MBC Cameramen! The MBC team were present in the stage rehearsals in order to understand the entry/exit of artists in the play. (We are still waiting for recording to be broadcasted on MBC)..

A wonderful audience from: Triolet, Plaine des Roches and MGSS Flacq, as well other participants/award winners in this edition of the festival

At around 11.00am the makeup of all the artists was done; We were polishing the last details of our stage setting. The stage managers and the technical team was busy at work! The carpentry/decors technical staff of Serge Constantin Theatre were also giving a helping hand in the backstage, up to their capacity.

Around 11:10, after the official welcome and announcement by the Arts officer in charge of the Ministry, Time for a pooja in order to wish good luck to all the members of the team and then we gained full concentration for the play which will be starting in a few minutes…

Personally, I was stressed at that time! Because of the technical implications of Sound and Lighting which needs to be synchronised perfectly with the on-stage actor. Following my instinct, I went into the technical room to give a helping hand, but bref, I turned out to be panicking my technician. Anyways…. :S

Fortunately, everything went well after the opening scene! And we were happy to be playing with such a receptive audience, who were being entertained throughout all the scenes!

Then came the famous part on – ‘Ek Chutki Sindoor’ scene, which I had directed at the last minute! And it was a SUCCESS!

It was a great pleasure on stage to hear the loud appreciation from the audience with this scene..HIT, it was a great HIT from our Best Actor – Rajiv R.

Then came the different scenes, which followed smoothly. There was a great synergy amongst the actors; there was a perfect timing of entry and exit. All the cues were being followed as instructed in rehearsals…We were all focused, the actors changing their costume/makeup in order to be able to play the next role. The makeup in charge of the Ministry of Arts and Culture in stand by mode in order to assist the artists. The technical team , each doing their best to put the proper light and sound in the required scene. All running smoothly to have a great play…..also the scenes were perfectly played by the actors, for eg. the Famous Politician scene:

and then the Death Scene, where according to the remarks/suggestions of the Adjucating Panel in a Director’s meeting, we did not put the corpse right in front of the Bus Stop, but besides…This improvement was taken note by the jury members..

Concerning the Abortion Scene, personally I appreciated the last-minute direction which we did on the eve of the Finals! It was nicely done, hats off to the artists….As a director, I had high expectations from this scene particularly..

The lighting and sound were great. just a small glitch on the Thunder.mp3 sound, which was played softly..

And then my last scene with the Dhollpuri wala, I am happy it went fine. Normally he used to run away quickly, but this time, Akash managed to improvise and ‘play’ creatively on stage! highly appreciated it.

And after 45 minutes on stage, finally we did it! The Bus Stop voice over was a sucess together with the ‘glow effect’ in the bus! The dim lights (on and off) was greatly controlled by our light technician.

And finally, came the presentation of the artists/technical team in the end:

There was a great feeling of Joy melted with Satisfaction and Pride. We did it! The results of 2+ months of hard work was present and had mesmerisez the audience and the Jury members.

After the play, we hurried to dismantle our setting, in order to give place to the next performing group.

We were being congratulated for this laudable performance and then we got ready to watch the other plays and await the results at the Award Ceremony.

In the mean time, there was a nice performance by the Kathak girs of RTSS: