Sangeeta and Ranjan Ghosha in a scene from their first play. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Even over the phone, 67-year-old theater enthusiast Sangeeta Ghoshal’s energy impresses everyone with her zest for life, passion for theater and zeal to do more.

Sangeeta, who is originally from Kolkata, joined Forum Three when she moved to Bengaluru. The theater group was started by her husband Ranjan Ghoshal and their friend Utkal Mohanty in 1974. The group is celebrating its golden jubilee with the two-day theater festival Anwesha, which will be held in Bengaluru over the weekend at the Alliance. Francaise. In addition to a series of curated plays, memes and more, the festival will also feature Kohinoor Which is written by Sangeeta and directed by Shruti Rao.

Sangeeta says, theater is not an airtight box. “Dance, music, poetry, mime and visual arts flow into theatre. Same thing will happen with Anvesha. The festival will be a multidimensional event, where the audience will experience carefully curated performing arts.

Due to her interest in fabric designing, Sangeeta designed the costumes for all the Forum Three productions. “Ranjon directed all our plays until we lost him four years ago.” Sangeeta joined Forum Three in 1980 and worked with Ranjan and Utkal at their advertising agency Marich.

A scene from one of Forum Three’s plays, Sihi Kahi Chandru. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Bengaluru has formed a special bond with Sangeeta since her arrival. “I try to celebrate every part of Bengaluru in my own way.” This can be seen in their brochure design for Anwesha, which has an autorickshaw as its centrepiece.

“We have sent our brochures to autorickshaw associations,” says Sangeeta. Additionally, a series of impromptu games and activities are organized across the city on an autorickshaw. “Three people sit in the auto and act out the situation given to them. The crowd gathered around becomes the audience.”

Emphasizing her love for Bengaluru, Sangeeta says, “Bengaluru embraces people from all walks of life and every state. I came here to earn my living and learned to speak Kannada. Now, to show our gratitude, belatedly, we are staging our first Kannada play, Bangarda Thota, Kannada version of “Bancharam’s garden.”

Sangeetha says, Kannada culture is beautiful and living here is a blessing. “The people here are polite and really well-mannered. Bengaluru is the best place. Before anyone complains about the traffic or infrastructure, let me just say that if this city had not developed the way it did, many families would not have been able to have a decent life. This is the reality and I celebrate the city in every possible way.”

Sangeeta Ghoshal Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Taking inspiration from the Kolkata theater scene, Sangeeta says Forum Three incorporates social messages into its plays. “We started translating Bengali into English and staging them in Bengaluru. Seagull Books has published our translations.”

Creating works that audiences can connect with is one of the goals of Forum Three. “What is the point of actors and audiences coming together if they cannot relate to what is happening on stage? We stage plays in Indian English garden of bancharamThat was the first where a farmer spoke English.

Forum Three stars Prakash Raj, Sihikahi Chandru, Gulshan Devaiah, Srijit Mukherjee, Anupam Roy and Ajit Hande. “Most of them joined us when they were 18. Look at them today, everyone is strong in every character they play on screen.” The quest will be held on January 18 and 19 at the Alliance Française. Visit the Facebook page for details and tickets: facebook.com/Forum Three