The Indian Weekender, 13 November 2020

14 NEW ZEALAND
Urdu Hindi Cultural
Association is back
with Kavi Sammelan
RIZWAN MOHAMMAD
A still from the event in 2019
The Urdu Hindi Cultural Association
of New Zealand is bringing back the
much-awaited and perhaps the only
Kavi Sammelan and Mushaira event of the year
next weekend.
The Association was established in 2011 with
the aim to promote Urdu and Hindi language
in New Zealand and in the last decade of its
formation has held several forums, workshops
and poetry nights.
The concept behind conducting the muchawaited
Mushaira, Kavi Sammelan And Shame-Ghazal
event are to give poetry lovers in
Hindi, and Urdu language a platform to perform
their art of reciting different forms poems to an
audience.
This year, the Kavi Sammelan event is being
held at Fickling Community Centre in Three
Kings on Saturday, November 21 from 6 p.m.
The event is expected to be attended by
High Commissioner of India in New Zealand,
Muktesh Pardeshi, Hon Consul of India, Bhav
Dhillon, MP for Mt Roskill and Minister
of Transport Michael Wood, newly minted
Minister of Ethnic Communities and second
elected Kiwi Indian MP in New Zealand
Priyanca Radhakrishnan, the first Kiwi Indian
elected MP in NZ Dr Gaurav Sharma, MP for
New Lynn, Dr Deborah Russell, former MP
Kanwaljit Bakshi, and chairperson of Bhartiya
Samaj, Jeet Suchdev among others.
“We are expecting around 250 people at for
the event which has gained immense popularity
in the community and amongst Shayari
enthusiasts in Auckland and we will have some
performances in the Punjabi language as well,”
chairperson of Urdu Hindi Cultural Association
of New Zealand, Roopa Suchdev said.
The UHCANZ will also be releasing its
annual literary magazine ‘Dhanak’ at the event
through High Commission of India.
UHCANZ on this occasion of its ten years
of Mushaira event will also be felicitating
Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley
Bloomfield for his contribution and leadership
along with the government towards the control
of Covid-19 pandemic in New Zealand.
“It is our honour to present and felicitate
Dr Bloomfield with their special award for his
contributions made towards New Zealand in
the last nine months since Covid-19 hit New
Zealand,” General Secretary for Urdu Hindi
cultural Association of New Zealand, Mujeeb
Syed told The Indian Weekender.
Friday, November 13, 2020
The Indian Weekender
Euphoria Entertainment concludes the
year with Hindi and Marathi theatre play
RIZWAN MOHAMMAD
The Playhouse Theatre in Glen Eden
on Saturday, November 7, once again
witnessed a swarm of theatre lovers
flocked its hall to see the last set of plays by
Euphoria Entertainment themed Utopia 2020.
Euphoria Entertainment is a group of
thespians passionate about acting, and live
performances concluded it multilingual and
multicultural poly fest Utopia 2020 with a feast
of dramas presenting a Marathi and a Hindi
play, back to back last weekend in an almost
packed theatre house.
The event was attended by former
National MP Kanwaljit Bakshi
as the chief guest to the event.
The first show of the evening
was a Hindi play, Digdarshak
(Director), a story of a theatre
director who is dedicated to
teach and groom his student
that he often ignores the pleas of
his family.
The prime roles were taken up by Vijesh
Nangia (director) and Saurabh Singh Thakur
(his student), the play is directed by Devdatt
Paranjpe and written by Priyam Jani.
“The audience was completely engrossed
in this intense drama, a war of words, which
was meticulously presented by the lead actors
and the supporting cast,” Preeta Vyas, the
spokesperson from Euphoria said.
The second performance presented in the
evening was a Marathi play Tumchasathi
Kaypan translating to ‘Anything for You’. This
play had the elements of comedy, romance and
kept the audience entertained till the curtains
rolled down.
The story revolves around a newly married
"The
audience
was completely
engrossed in this
intense drama, a war
of words, which was
meticulously presented
by the lead actors and
the supporting
cast."
couple where the man gets
caught between his wife and
grandmother’s expensive wishes
that leads to a hilarious turn of
events and comedic mishaps within
the family.
The Marathi play was written and directed by
Gaurav Sawant and presented by Ambaree Rege
and Vaibhav Naik in the lead roles, supported
by Amit Rathod, Devendra Oak, Anuj Gavkar,
Neha Revankar, Ankita Walunjkar, Sham
Revankar, Varun Dhond, Akshay Nehete.
Both the plays were initially planned to be
staged in August this year along with a Gujarati
Play, Lockdown Love by Jayesh Bateriwala
and English play, Bridge- The Game of Death
based on Agatha Christie’s novel, scripted
by Swastika Ganguly, but were pushed to
November due to production delays.
Euphoria Entertainment will be bringing a
range of new theatre plays and musicals that
will be finalised in January 2021.
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