Artistes from across India in city to celebrate, perform at mime fest

Kolkata: Over 20 groups from across the country are in the city for the National Mime Festival, which will continue till March 30. Mime artists from Assam, Rajasthan, Manipur, Maharashtra, Asansol, Cooch Behar, Chinsurah and Jalpaiguri have been participating in workshops and seminars in the mornings, and staging plays dealing with social and contemporary issues, and adaptations of works like ‘Chandalika’ and ‘Charandas Chor’, in the evenings at the National Mime Institute in Salt Lake.The festival, organised by Indian Mime Theatre, was inaugurated by its founder-director Niranjan Goswami on March 24, and is being held in collaboration with Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre and the ministry of culture to celebrate mime and provide a platform for performers to showcase their talent and engage with the audience.Kalpataru Guha, who has come with his group Amiya Memorial Creative Art from Asansol, is known for his animal movements, particularly the tiger. The hearing-impaired two-time national awardee is concentrating on character building and facial expressions at the workshops. Manipur’s Yumnam Sadanand Singh with his group Kanglei Mime Theatre Repertory is working with Manipuri dance and martial movements to increase the body’s strength and flexibility for his production ‘Peace In Restless Mind’. The audience will also get to see solo acts by Asif Ali Khan from Jaipur, Rezwan Rajan from Bangladesh, and Mukunda Nath from Assam.Triguna Shankar’s documentary — ‘A Journey With Padma Shri Niranjan Goswami’ — was screened on March 26. Sanket Khedkar from Maharashtra, who will perform on ‘Phobia’, is using the festival to gather information for his PhD on Goswami. “We need to make people understand that mime is a serious art that needs training and discipline,” said Madhurima, Goswami’s daughter.The institute at Salt Lake has completed eight years, but it hasn’t been smooth sailing. Madhurima and her husband actor Anirban Bhattacharya have pitched in to help revamp the building.Surprisingly, the pandemic was one of the most productive periods for mime artists. “We never stopped working during the pandemic. Our passion for mime kept us going even in those tough times,” said Goswami, who also has a Sangeet Natak Akademi award among countless other felicitations over the years.“We went online with wo-rkshops and shows, and the response was tremendous.” said Kunal Motling, member of World Mime Organisation and Mumbai’s “silent story-teller” who is performing solo on ‘Inside the Mind’.