after 34 years nagpur got the opportunity to host the 99th edition of akhil bhartiya marathi natya sammelan at reshimbagh and the prestigious event ended recently on a high note hundreds of participants of the sammelan got to enjoy some assal nagpuri cultural flavours on this occasion heres an updatethere was a grand dindi procession that heralded the beginning of the event it had a lot of local flavours including tantya badgya muharram cha wagh nihang martial art and tribal dancers of the region showcasing the united strength of city shares the vice president of akhil bhartiya natya parishad mumbai naresh gadekar he adds the usp of the event was sammelan vari 199 where 200 theatre artistes of nagpur from children to senior citizens came together to perform tiny roles in complete cohesion forgetting all the differences this is the first time an innovative experiment of nightlong plays was tried in nagpurs theatre arena and seeing the response to this it may soon become a regular part of marathi theatre in the city actorproducer bharat jadhav whose play punha sahi re sahi was staged late night at the fest shared this trend was tried in mumbai last year and it was so popular that all the shows were houseful so it was decided to try it in nagpur too i really feel allnight plays are vital for marathi theatre and the audience is mature enough to support this new experimentthe fourday event presided over by litterateur premanand gajvi and inaugurated by mahesh elkunchwar was a celebration of creativity and craft where the audience was spoilt for choice with several plays and interactions with eminent writers actors and directors kept everyone engaged it was like dining in a multi cuisine cultural restaurant where right from comic plays to musicals zadipatti plays to tamasha we got to enjoy everything since it was a day and night event we could watch plays of our own choice at leisure shares a marathi theatre enthusiast padma shendeanother highlight of the event was the presence of a lot of alisters of marathi entertainment industry right from tejashri pradhan to resham tipnis mohan joshi sushant shelar mohan agashe madhura velankar tushar dalvi vandana gupte jitendra joshi shilpa tulaskar and siddharth jadhav all these industry veterans spent time with common people quite happy to participate in the fest sushant says ive been attending the natya sammelans ever since i was 11 it is a wonderful opportunity to meet people from your fraternity and celebrate theatre to this madhura adds i just loved three days of nonstop theatrical delight in nagpur along with some amazing saoji cuisinethis carnival of theatre saw participants from across the country enjoying a lot of camaraderie and bonding over relaxed meals food and refreshments were served to the participants till 4 am and nagpur municipal corporation played the perfect host shares gadekar is there is any chance for nagpur to host the next edition of the sammelan too as suggested by chief minister devendra