Feb 12 2025 to Feb 12 2025 7 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

140 minutes | English | Ages 16+

Agni Mattu Male (1994) was written by Girish Karnad in Kannada and later translated to Hindi as Agni Aur Barkha (1996) by Ram Gopal Bajaj and to English as The Fire and The Rain (1997) by Karnad himself. Among the most complex works of Karnad, it is based on the myth of Yavakri from the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata, and is an innovative reimagining of the epic’s characters and events a retelling of a lesser-known episode from the epic in which the Khandava forest is burned down by Agni, the fire god, with the help of Arjuna and Krishna to provide a sacrificial alter.

Karnad combines multiple myths to explore contemporary social, cultural, political, and psychological issues. Symbolism and allegories add to the depth of its narrative, making it a thought-provoking yet visually stunning experience. Known for its play-within-the-play method to depict the deception of brothers against brothers and fratricide and its timeless themes, the play continues to remain a significant work in the field of Indian theater and has been performed in multiple languages and at numerous theatre festivals.

Director – Abhinav Grover
Lights – Trisha Shetty
Sound – Amrit
Costumes, Make up & Set Design -Shruti Bangera
Assistant Director – Trisha Shetty

Supported by:

Performers
Abhinav Grover
Director

Abhinav Grover is an actor and theatre maker and a graduate from Drama School Mumbai, and MIT Manipal. Focused on acquiring more skills and knowledge, after graduating from DSM, he went on to do his training in Yakshagana at the Yakshagana Kendra Udupi under Guruji Sanjeev Suvarna for two years. Abhinav has also worked with theatre directors like Sunil Shanbag, Vikram Kapadia and Mahesh Dattani from Mumbai, Paul Goodwin from the UK and Renato Rocha from Brazil. Awarded the Tendulkar-Dubey Theatre Fellowship in the year 2019, he is an alumnus of Manipal Institute of Technology, and is currently staying in Udupi and working on Yakshagana training at an advanced level and simultaneously working in a few web series in Mumbai. He is a part of Rocket Boys on Sony Liv and YRF’s upcoming web series and film The Railway Men and Supermen of Malegaon.
Abhijeet Singh
Actor

Abhijeet Singh is a trained actor and an alumnus of Drama School Mumbai (Batch 2018-2019) and also holds a Law degree from Delhi University. As an actor, Abhijeet has worked with prominent Theatre companies and Veteran directors like Sunil Shanbag, Manav Kaul, Yuki Ellias. He was part of the LTG repertory in Delhi (The year 2017-2018). He was seen performing in Betaal’s latest production ‘Tughlaq’ and Aranya’s production – ‘Chuhal’. He worked with Manav Kaul on his Theatre project ‘ Giving up on Godot’. He produced a play name Aazam Azeez in 2022 and The Caretaker in 2023. He is a part of web show Hush Hush on Amazon Prime and Blurr, a film on ZEE5.
Hrishabh Kanti
Actor

Hrishabh Kanti is a graduate from Manipal Institute of Communication. While still at college, he started working as an actor in various theatre groups. His professional journey in Mumbai started when he screened a play for Thespo 19 and later became a Thespo Fellow for a year at QTP Entertainment Pvt Ltd. He has worked in DforDrama’s ‘Transfer Kid’, BeTaal’s ‘Tughlaq’ (Fringe performance at Prithvi Theatre Festival ’19), Gerish Khemani’s play ‘Anandowari’, Vikram Kapadia’s ‘Greatest Show On Earth’ (opened at Prithvi Festival’22), Saurabh Nayyar’s ‘Golden Jubilee’ and Aranya Theatre Group’s ‘Rangaai’ and ‘Tumhaare Baare Mein’ directed by Manav Kaul. He was also part of Kathleen Duborg’s ‘For What Will Destroy You’ showcased at Thespo 21). He has trained/worked with theatre makers like Quasar Thakore Padamsee, Atul Kumar, Neeraj Kabi, Peter Gould, Kirtana Kumar, Suba Das and Peter Rinderknect among others. He completed his formal training in theatre from Drama School Mumbai where he was awarded the Inlaks merit-based scholarship.
Mithil Raj Goswami
Actor

Mithil Raj Goswami is an actor who has practiced theatre in Guwahati, Yakshagana in Udupi and currently performs in theatre productions of Mumbai. He was offered a scholarship from the Inlaks Shivdasani foundation to complete his training at Drama School Mumbai, batch 2020-21. Mithil has been a voice facilitator at Drama School Mumbai under the mentorship of his voice coach at his alma mater, Hetal Varia and has also been an assistant director to Sunil Shanbag in the production of “Classic Redux” for the DSM residency batch 2022-23. He has worked in corporate plays and productions of Bannanje Sanjeev Suvarna in Yakshagana, BeTaal, Sangeet Natak Akademi winner from BNA Vibhanshu Vaibhav, Thespo, Agora the Space in Guwahati, Dr. Peter Gould from Vermont, Sunil Shanbag, Sapan Saran, Rahul Rai and Mallika Shah (an alumni of DSM).
Nisha Dhar
Actor

Nisha Dhar is an actor and a theatre artist from Mumbai. Born and bought up in Jammu, she pursued her studies in Pune while doing theatre and being a part of stage since 2009. She has been doing professional theatre in Mumbai since 2013 and has worked with renowned theatre directors like Sunil Shanbagh, Purva Naresh, Imran Rashid along with working with various theatre groups. She has been a part of 10 plays and done around 150 stage shows across India. She has a deep inclination towards poetry, music, and literature and loves to work with text-based content. She has been part of various ads and two major webseries Criminal Justice and Asur 2 both available on Jiocinema and been part of a film – Minus 31 – The Nagpur Files available on Amazon prime.
Purva Pathak
Actor

Purva Pathak is a trained actor from National School of Drama, Bengaluru. Hailing from Uttrakhand, she started theatre in college in 2016 and there has been no looking back since then. Wanting to stay in touch with theatre during her corporate job years after graduation, she started a theatre NPO called Tabeer Theatre For All Foundation which gives theatre training to underprivileged individuals across India.
Rakshit Yaduvanshi
Actor

Rakshit Yaduvanshi is an actor who completed his B.Tech from MIT, Manipal. During his tenure at MIT, Rakshit honed his craft in theatre, dedicating four years to the art form. He was a part of MIT’s dramatics club, Aaina Dramatics, and lead the club to victory at numerous streetplays and theatre competitions. Eager to refine his skills further, he sought mentorship from acclaimed figures in the industry, attending workshops by luminaries such as Mr. Sunil Shanbag and Mr. Neeraj Kabi. He also went to train at the Adishakti Theatre. He has appeared in numerous TV commercials and short films.
Karanjot Singh
Actor

Karanjot Singh is a Mumbai-based actor and theatre practitioner from Gurdaspur, Punjab. He is a trained actor from Drama School Mumbai (2024 batch). His theatre journey began with Ramji Aayenge (directed by Abhinav Grover) and continued with Tughlaq at the Prithvi Theatre Festival in 2019. In 2023, he won Best Actor awards at IPTA and Mumbai University’s Youth Festival. Currently, Karanjot is working on projects for the stage and screen in Mumbai. He is also working on creating work of his own.