Ratan Thiyam enlisted for Bhupen Hazarika award
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, August 20 2013:
A Pune-based NGO 'Sarhad' has selec- ted eminent theatre exponent Ratan Thiyam of Manipur for conferring the 2nd Bhupen Hazarika National Award.
Ratan Thiyam has been selected for the prestigious award by a selection committee of Sarhad, said the NGO in a statement signed by its founder president Sanjay Nahar adding: "His (Thiyam) contribution in the field of performing arts is unmatched.
Through his plays he has always tried to underline the agony and fire rooted in the bellies of the deprived" .
The prestigious award carries Rs 51,000, a trophy and a citation, it said and conveyed that the award confer- ring ceremony will be held in Pune either in September or October this year.
the President of India had yesterday appointed the Mani-puri thespian as the chairperson of the reputed National School of Drama (NSD) society.
Writer, director, designer, musician, painter and actor, Ratan Thiyam is one of the most important and influential theatre makers at work in the international performance scene.
The multi-faceted personality published his first six novels in 1961 at the age of 22 and a decade later enrolled at the NSD, New Delhi, gaining a reputation as a powerful actor and director.
In 1976, he returned to Manipur and founded 'Chorus Repertory Theatre'.
He was also briefly the director of NSD in 1987-88 .
During his tenure, he developed the concept of a total Indian theatre to make acquaintance of the students with different traditional performing arts of the country.
A resident of Uripok, Ratan Thiyam was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987, Padma Shree in 1989 and Sangeet Natak Fellow in 2013 while his emphatic play 'Chakravyuh' got the prestigious "Fringe Firsts Award," from Edinburgh International Theatre Festival in 1987 .
He is the second Indian recipient of John D Rockefeller Award after Kapila Vatsayan and Assam University conferred D.Lit degree to Ratan Thiyam in May this year .
Sarhad, whose chief patron is the Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, was instrumental in pressing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to address the acute hardships faced by the people of Manipur during the over 100 days economic blockade on National Highways in the state in 2011 .