BY SHILPA AGRAWAL
Photos by Vinod Sharma
Atlanta, GA: There are two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children, one of these is roots and other being wings. Natkhat Rangshala, an acting School for South Asian kids in Atlanta is successfully doing so in connecting the kids of South-Asian diaspora in Atlanta area to their roots and cultural heritage along with giving them wings of confidence and expression.
It came back with its annual show, this time named as “Natkhat Rangeelay 2” and truckload of entertainment on Nov. 10, 2013 at Fusion Event Hall, Atlanta. The show was unanimously liked by adults and children and was a treat that tickled all the senses to bless the audience with an evening that took them down memory lane.
The untiring efforts of children aged 6-16 blossomed in fruity colors as they decorated the stage with their beautiful performances in Dance, music, and drama. Kids actively performed, managed and organized the event and got the extra perquisite of learning teamwork and team spirit as 12 year old Tanishq Jain managed the ticket counter, Saurabh Sharma aged 14 explored the budding photographer in himself and captured beautiful snap shots, the ever effervescent Eshaan Jain(9) and Hema Jain confidently mastered the ceremony and a wonderful team of enthusiastic children danced, sang and acted to change hours into minutes and minutes into seconds to make the time smoothly flow by.
The program began as the kids came up on the stage carrying their infectious smiles to confidently introduce them.
A small skit “Kanjooso ki Nagri” meaning “a town of misers” threw the audience into a fit of laughter as the miser family members brought to life on stage by Hana Dalwai and Manika Bhatia created silly situations in their efforts to save money.
Rachita Iyer sang “Bachhe man ke sachhe, saaree jag ki aankhon ke taare” beautifully which absolutely befitted the situation.
Malkin and Naukrani played by Hana Dalwai and Manika Bhatia, showed how the world of these comical mistress and servant topsy-turvied when the roles change.
Manasvi Ramanna Reddy forced the audience to tap their feet and hum the song as she danced gracefully on the tunes of “Barso re Megha-Megha”. Audience went back to their childhood days as the kids revived a popular parody from the Bollywood movie “Mr. India”.
Talents like Priyanka Menon, a budding Zakir Hussain in our very own Atlanta gave us a hope that Indian classical instruments will test the waters of time and distance and will be immortal.
Saumya Khanna and Sonal Sharma danced with agility and grace on “Jiya Re” which was choreographed by Tarana Malik.
“Sabse Taakatvar Kaun” a satire on the modern trend of Super-heroes re-instigated the thought that Lord Hanuman in his ever-innovative and modern Avataar Hanu-Man is the strongest. , Arjun Mongia played the role of Hanu-Manm Tarun RajpurohitManav Bhatia,Kabi Mongia and Amolika Rajpurohit acted as the popular super-heroes.
Hana Dalwai, Manika Bhatia and Manav Bhatia presented a mime bringing out petty things that bother teenagers.
Natkhat Rangshala is an applausible endeavor by Sandhya Bhagat and Anil Bhagat, the creators of the popular drama group “Dhoop Chaoon”. After Dhoop Chaoon became popular in the Atlanta South Asian Cultural activity scene, they started working on Natkhat Rangshala, which is already gaining traction with every succeeding annual presentation beautifully termed as Natkhat Rangeelay by them.
Natkhat Rangshala located in the Atlanta suburb Duluth is successfully working on an innovative concept of Hindi-Urdu language (only spoken), learning through playful activities like theatre, quiz, puzzles, dances, poetry, tongue twisters alongside casual conversation while learning various other crafts in a friendly atmosphere. It is supported by Dr. Nazneen and Shameem Dalwai. Other supporters include Dr. Jagdish Aggarwal, Shekhar Bishnoi, Venkat Gaddam, Chitwan Mongia, Paresh Jain, Edward, Smita Shrivastav, Anil Bhagat, Kartikay Bhagat, Neeraj Mongia, Sasi Vallolil, Shankar Mahadevan, Gandharv Bhagat, Neeraj mongia and many more.
Special thanks Anjali Chhabria and Anwar Ajmeri from TV Asia for covering this event.
Natkhat Rangshala will begin its new session in January, 2014 with new add-ons in their activity chart to give wings and roots simultaneously to kids of different orgin.
Please contact Sandhya Bhagat at 770-680-1770 or 404-585-7247 or email natkhat.rangshala@gmail.com. For more details visit: www.dhoopchaoon.org.
