It is that time of year again when the Vaanam Art Festival, curated by Pa Ranjith’s Neelam Cultural Centre, returns in full force, marking Dalit History Month alongside the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar. The festival transforms into a charged cultural space where art and resistance converge in bold, high-voltage expression.
Launched in 2018, the Dhamma Theatre Festival forms a key part of this cultural reclamation, honouring Ambedkar’s legacy while centering Dalit, tribal, and marginalised voices within a space historically shaped by caste hierarchies.
This year, four compelling productions featuring over 50 artistes—Nallathangaal, Mamannan Nandan, Thee, and Naayika—are set to captivate audiences. Nallathangaal, inspired by Mahasweta Devi’s Rudali, explores the lives of oppressed women, where grief becomes both ritual and resistance against caste, gender violence, and poverty. Mamannan Nandan reclaims the figure of Nandan as a sovereign Buddhist king, challenging Brahmanical and caste-based narratives. Thee, a physical theatre piece set within a women-only festival space, draws on the myth of Malai Arasi Amman,a woman punished for loving across caste and later deified, to explore embodied resistance. Naayika traces the erasure of PK Rosy, Malayalam cinema’s first heroine, through caste and gender oppression set against the backdrop of early film history.
“Every year we call for scripts, and this time we received entries in a range of languages including Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Bengali. We shortlisted plays by analysing their story arcs, prioritising narratives that have not yet been staged in open auditoriums, especially stories that are rooted and political,” says festival curator Damodaran.
Since its inception, the Dhamma Theatre Festival has grown into one of Tamil Nadu’s most sought-after cultural events. “At the time, the state had not hosted a theatre festival of this scale. We began with just two teams and a small audience, but the festival has expanded steadily each year. Our aim is to develop it into an international festival and eventually take it on tour. We have already received interest from countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Singapore, and Canada, and the National School of Drama has also expressed interest in collaboration. From next year, we plan to include international productions,” he adds.
Alongside theatre, the Vaanam Art Festival also featured the PK Rosy Film Festival, presenting a curated selection of global cinema across fiction, documentaries, and short films, The Whole Story exhibition, and the Verchol Dalit Literary Festival.
Rs 200 onwards.
April 26, 3.30 onwards.
At Don Bosco Auditorium, Egmore.
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