Indian theatre festival is revived

One of India's best-loved theatre festivals is set to return after a two-year hiatus, under the stewardship of Bollywood actor Kunal Kapoor.

This year's Prithvi Festival, the first since 2009, takes place in Mumbai between November 3-18 and will feature a grand total of 47 performances of 29 productions.

The festival has been run by the Prithvi Theatre for decades, but this will be the first since the departure of Sanjna Kapoor, who is credited with having turned it into the one of Mumbai's most respected theatres.

In 1995, the Indian government issued a commemorative stamp to mark 50 years of the Prithvi Theatre.

The festival will see performances of plays by the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Rajit Kapoor, Shernaz Patel and Makarand Deshpande, as well as a large roster of music.

Sitarist Niladri Kumar and tabla player Taufique Qureshi are scheduled to appear, and Kunal said the venue's excellent acoustics made the Prithvi Theatre an ideal venue for live music.

Kunal took over as director in November last year, but he was at pains to stress that his involvement in the festival had been a long one.

"It is not my first festival, though. I was deeply involved as trustee way back in 1985," he said.