Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
CRICKET LEAGUE
Cricketing extravaganza Sindhi Premier League is underway in the state capital. Organised by Sindhi Council of India (Youth Wing), 24 teams from different cities are states are participating in the event. The event was inaugurated by minister Brijesh Pathak. Also present on the occasion were minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi and legislator Suresh Tiwari. Lot of members and officials from the councils were present which included Vivek Ladhani, Mohan Das Ladhani, NC Lakmani, Sanjay Gurnani, Raju Punjabi, Sanjay Ahuja and Ashok Motiyani.
The five-day music, theatre and comic festival Repertwahr concluded with the play ‘Bali’ and musical performance by the contemporary rock band, Parvaaz. This year’s theme, ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ didn’t go unnoticed by the crowds who turned up in huge numbers for the city’s biggest cultural festival.
Famous for their compositions are written in Hindi, Urdu and Kashmiri and elegant pieces of poetry, Parvaaz made sure that that they let the city know that they had ‘arrived’. The band members comprising Khalid Ahamed on lead vocals, Mir Kashif Iqbal on lead guitar, Sachin Banadur on drums and Fidel D’Sourza on bass, mesmerized the audience with their soulful music.
Directed by Nimmy Raphel, play titled ‘Bali’ weaves various stories from Ramayana through the point of views of Bali, Tara, Sugreeva, Angadha, Ram and Ravan based on the ethics that define their lives. The cast included Vinay Kumar, Arvind Rane, Ashiqa Salvan, Rijul Ray and Kiyomi Mehta. The play was a combination of a beautiful script and powerful acting and left the audience with various questions for introspection.
On Sunday, stand-up comedian Aditi Mittal left the audience in splits with her act. From the word go, she struck a chord with the audience and overwhelmed them with her witty gags.
During the day, the play ‘Agra Bazaar’ originally written and directed by Habib Tanvir was staged. Originally staged in 1954 at Jamia Milia Islamia, the play was woven around Nazir Akbarabadi’s poetries and had 40 actors playing different characters.
Saturday was dedicated to music band ‘The Local Train’ which saw a packed house. The long line outside the SNA said everything about the popularity of the band amongst the youth. Raman Negi, Ramit Mehra, Sahil Sarin and Paras Thakur enthralled the audience with their hit numbers ‘Choo lo’ ‘Dilnawaz’, ‘Aoge tum kabhi’ and ‘Dil mere’. The day also witnessed two shows of Faezeh Jalali’s play ‘Bone of Contention’ which was based on a tiny event that blows out of proportion in a housing society.