Artists such as Kiran Manandhar, the chancellor of Nepal Academy of Fine Arts, cartoonist Durga Baral “Batsayan”, Sujan Chitrakar, Erina Tamrakar and Bidhata KC painted their perspective on canvas in a short span of five hours. [break]
“We came together to raise awareness and diminish gender based violence through colors, lines, canvas and poster,” shared Manandhar.
Celebrating the 16 dramas of the radio play series Katha Meetho Sarangiko, on the theme of gender based violence, the evening saw the voices, actors, and brains behind the socio-drama series take the center stage and share their experience with the audience.
Actors Ranju Giri, Looniva Tuladhar and Suresh Chand shared experience of working for the show.
The candid chitchat between the actors and emcee Shivani Singh Tharu who is also one of the directors of the series, shed light on the process of creating the realistic plays which till date has an audience of 3.5 million around the country.
Though the series was initiated in February 2008, the series took up the theme of gender based violence in March 2010 and aired plays on various themes such as HIV/AIDS, prostitution, rape, divorce, violence against women and men, among many others.
An initiative of BBC World Trust, the event was organized to celebrate the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence Campaign that took place from Nov 25 to Dec 10.
The evening also staged a puppet drama sketch directed by Anup Baral. The play is said to have been rehearsed only for four days, according to Looniva Tuladhar, innovatively showed few of the current scenarios that lead to abuse in our society.
Minimal props and realistic acting kept the audience entertained in the cold December evening.
The play reflected the irony in our society which on one hand, worships goddess and on the other dominates and suppresses women in a humorous yet pinching way.
In one of the scenes, the actors chant a Vedic mantra as they took the form of a god with multiple hands, as do gods in Hinduism, but instead of auspicious symbols such as flowers and money, this male god held a leather belt, alcohol, knife, shoes and sticks.
The chants ended with the actor garlanding the idol with a garland made out of female skulls.
Though the scene invoked laughter among the audience, the sarcastic humor left a bitter aftertaste as it blatantly showed the hypocrisies of our society.
The event ended with Chari Maya Tamang, the winner of Hero Acting to End Modern Day Slavery Award 2011, and also the chief guest for the program sharing the experiences she had as a trafficked victim who is now fighting against human trafficking.
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