Drama Society Aakriti
Drama Society Aakriti, popularly known as Aakriti, is a Bengali theatre group, established in 2002, with high hope and ambition. Its aim was to produce good, meaningful plays of social relevance and offer healthy entertainment to theatre lovers. Although it is a Delhi-based group, it has not remained confined to Delhi and NCR only. It has dished out its fare to other parts of India, especially northern part of the country viz. Lucknow, Allahabad, Kanpur, Chandigarh etc. During the last eighteen years of its existence, it has participated in numerous drama competitions/festivals. It has carved out a niche, made its presence felt in the theatre circuit and won plaudits and awards with quality acting, bold choice of theme and style of presentation. Aakriti’s performance in the past, its experiment in content and form has made the connoisseurs of performing art to sit up and applaud.
The group is now a major player in the field of Bengali theatre in Delhi. With twenty-eight productions to date and around sixty awards, it is serious in its pursuit of performing art. Not given to blowing its own trumpet, it is steadfastly devoted to good theatre. Out of the box thinking, unconventional theme, distinctive style of presentation, quality acting, with a bevy of committed, hardworking actors is the hallmark of the group. Over the years, the group has seen its ups and downs, fought against many hurdles, but did not waver from its primary objective of entertaining the audience by enacting good plays. It has endeared itself to the theatre lovers and won the heart of aficionado by staging some outstanding plays. If views of the audience are taken into account, Aakriti has already become one of the leading Bengali theatre groups in Delhi.
To continue the good work of the past and to explore new horizons in the art of theatrics is what AAKRITI yearns to achieve.
The Journey
Our journey commenced on April 02, 2002. A few drama enthusiasts assembled in Lodi Road and after much discussion, constituted a drama group called “Aakriti”. It was the brainchild of primarily Bhakti Das and Shyamal Talukdar, which saw fruition of the group. Souvik Sen Gupta joined the group at a later date. A few others also joined. At that time Aakriti was headquarted in Lodi Colony and the venue of rehearsal was the Recreation club of Meteorological Department, where it continued for quite a number of years. Later on it was shifted to Chittaranjan Park, where more drama enthusiasts became our members. When the group was registered with Delhi Govt. on May 14, 2014, it was rechristened as Drama Society Aakriti. Shyamal Talukdar became its President, Bhakti Das the Secretary and Debotosh Ghosh the Treasurer.
Souvik Sen Gupta is the present drama director of Aakriti. Besides, there are other members who actively take part in all the activities of the group and have been rendering yeoman’s service since long, in order to see that the group grow, prosper and flourish. To name a few, they are Arunava Sengupta, Sauvik Acharyya, Mohua Ghosh et al. besides the founder members Bhakti Das and Shyamal Talukdar.
Initially, after staging some productions, we faced a peculiar problem. We were not very satisfied with printed plays available in the market. No doubt these were good plays but these were enacted umpteenth times in Delhi and elsewhere. This repetition of repetition was pinching us. We felt the absence of new ideas and powerful themes in run-of-the-mill Bengali plays. This became the talking point amongst us. We searched for a way out desperately. So, one fine morning our think tank decided to go for in-house production. Fortunately, one of our members viz. Souvik Sen Gupta, who was a prolific playwright in his younger days, dusted his skill and started writing plays for Aakriti. It was a very good experiment because these plays were received well by other members of the group and when staged, won kudos from discerning audience. The advantage of writing such plays was that the dramatist can visualize the characters and the roles the individual members of the group would be assigned to, keeping in mind their appearance, age, mannerism, idiosyncrasy and ability to perform. It was an instant success and gave birth to several noteworthy plays. He wrote as many as six original prize-winning plays at different times. But everything was not hunky-dory all along. The group has had its teething trouble initially. Financial resources and logistics were the biggest stumbling block. Difference of opinion came into the fore. There was even desertion by some people of doubtful credibility. However, members of Aakriti, especially the founder members, fought tooth and nail against such odds that finally won the day for us. Their resolute commitment to the cause of theatre and unflinching love for the group have not only helped Aakriti survive, it is very much alive and kicking today, even after traversing through 18-long years with flying colour.