Muscat: The drama ‘Matsyagandhi’ received the first prize in the Online Stage play Contest organised in memory of late Girija Baqer by Bhavalaya Art & Culture Foundation, a prominent non-profit, global platform for the promotion of art and culture.

The prizes were announced in a meeting held at the Oman Women’s Association Hall in Qurum on Thursday, March 31st.

The dramas ‘Matsyagandhi’, ‘Chairs’ and ‘Pathimoonnam Manikoor’ received the first, second and third prizes respectively.

The Best Director Award went to Rajesh Kayamkulam (Matsyagandhi) while the Best Playwright Award went to Sreekumar Marath (Pathimoonnam Manikoor).

Ranjith Damodaran (Chairs) and Sajitha Vijayakumar (Matsyagandhi) bagged the Best Actor and Best Actress prizes respectively.

Five versatile artist awards and two Nataka Pratibha awards were also announced on the occassion. Eminent people from the cultural sphere such as Kabir Yousef, Anirban Ray, Azra Aleem, Sudha Raghunath were honored for their versatility in the various art forms and from Sultanate of Oman theatre artist Aliya al Balushi was awarded.

Padmanabhan Thalora and Keralan K.P.A.C were honoured as ‘Nataka Prathibha’ for their comprehensive contribution to The theatre field.

H.E. Amit Narang, Ambassador of India to the Sultanate of Oman was the chief guest of the function .

Dr. Humaid Bin Saeed Bin Rashid Al Ameri, a renowned writer, film director, and the President of Omani Society for Cinema and Theatre, and Maryam Al Zadjali Omani Women’s Association Vice-Chairwoman, were the guest of honours.

Lakshmi Kothaneth Journalist and daughter of late Girija Baker participated in the ceremony as the special guest.

The programme was presided by Dr J. Retnakumar, Bhavalaya Founder and Chairman.

“It was encouraging to see the high level of participation and standard in the dramas previewed. Bhavalaya will strive to bring more such contests to promote Art & Artists,” said Dr J. Retnakumar, Founder & Chairman of Bhavalaya.

Ms. Smruthi Sasidharan was the Anchor of the programme.

Vinod VN Head of School of Drama & Fine Arts Department, University of Calicut, and Asst. Professor and Sandeep Kumar faculty member were the judges of the contest and explained in depth how the plays were judged ranging from lighting to voice to other mechanisms.

The plays used different settings as their stage such as beach, room and cutouts.

The play had to be enacted as they would be on a stage with no breaks or edits. Including the background music had to be live recording.

The prize for the best popular Stage play will be announced after the online voting, the organizers added. Currently the online voting is going on in full swing.

Bhavalaya core committee members Prakash Vijayan and Mrs. Nisha Prabhakaran along with Team Bhavalaya coordinated the well conduct of the program.

Vinod Raghavan, Bhavalayacore committee member delivered the Vote of Thanks .