The Indian National Theatre Festival “Bharat Rang Mahotsav” (BRM) is taking place in Delhi and Ramnagar. Founded in 1999 by the National School of Drama of India to contribute to the development of theatre in the country, it has grown from an annual national festival to an international forum that attracts troupes from all over the world.

Today the festival is recognised as one of the largest in Asia. GITIS is taking part in it for the first time: under the guidance of stage director Lika Rulla, students of the university performed the musical “Casting” – a medley of songs from famous musicals.

“It was exciting. We were very worried about how our performance would be received and understood. But from the first sound on the reaction of the hall we realised how we were expected and how welcome we were”, shared the impressions of the students of GITIS.

After the show, the young artists received a statuette from the hands of the celebrated Indian ballerina Rita Ganguly, and there was a discussion of the performance with the audience.

“It is a valuable experience for us to visit a completely different world, to see how people live, and yet remain true to our profession, without in any way discounting the differences between the cultures of Russia and India. And despite the language barrier, the audience in Delhi and Ramnagar commented that everything was understandable,” said GITIS master Lika Rulla.

Photo: GITIS press service