Hyderabad to Host 21st Edition of Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival Starting November 12

The twenty-first edition of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival starts in Hyderabad on November 12 and runs until November 20. This annual event brings together well-known figures from both theatre and cinema for a series of stage performances, film screenings, masterclasses, and workshops.

Festival Lineup And Highlights

Curated by Mohammad Ali Baig, the festival features notable artistes such as Rakesh Bedi, Raghubir Yadav, Shrivardhan Trivedi, Jabbar Patel, Mohan Agashe, Deepti Naval, Goutam Ghose, Masood Akhtar, Roshini Achreja, and Kotla Hanumatha Rao. Key highlights include Rakesh Bedi performing in Vijay Tendulkar's play Massage and Raghubir Yadav starring in Piano, which adapts Hungarian playwright Ferenc Karinthy's Steinway Grand. Kotla Hanumatha Rao will present Eruka. Screenings feature Goutam Ghose's Yatra with Rekha, Nana Patekar, and Deepti Naval, alongside Jabbar Patel's award-winning Marathi film Jait Re Jait, which stars Smita Patil and Mohan Agashe. Masterclasses led by Jabbar Patel and Raghubir Yadav are also on the schedule, together with workshops on the Language of Light by Daulat Vaid, Raghav Prakash Mishra, and Divyang Shrivastava, and Theatre for Children led by Ranjana Srivastava.

Context

This festival takes place in memory of theatre veteran Qadir Ali Baig and typically highlights the cultural heritage of Hyderabad by pairing artistic events with traditional food at the Baig family's ancestral haveli. Cultural festivals of this scale provide a key platform for veteran artists and regional cinema to reach live audiences.