Om Puri calls on Badal, assures revival of Punjabi theatre

Bollywood actor Om Puri called on Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal today to apprise him of his plans to promote Punjabi theatre at the newly constructed Harpal Tiwana Centre for Performing Arts (HTCPA), Patiala, as a tribute to the legendary personality whose name has become synonymous with Punjabi theatre.

Bollywood actor Om Puri called on Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday to apprise him of his plans to promote Punjabi theatre at the newly constructed Harpal Tiwana Centre for Performing Arts (HTCPA), Patiala, as a tribute to the legendary personality whose name has become synonymous with Punjabi theatre.

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Expressing gratitude to the chief minister, the veteran actor said he was indebted to Badal for the completion of the state-of-the-art HTCPA within record time. Puri said he would motivate leading theatre personalities like Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Raj Babbar and others to stage plays at the HTCPA. He said regular dramas would be organised there with the broad objective to revive the theatre movement in the state, which had gradually lost its pristine glory over the years.

Parvasi Media Group chairman Rajinder Saini, who also accompanied Om Puri, told the CM about the Punjabi International Film Academy Awards (PIFAA) function to be held in Toronto from August 3-6, where awards would be conferred on prominent Punjabi artistes. The PIFAA has offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Chandigarh.

The chief minister asked HTCPA convener Manpal Tiwana and resident director Nina Tiwana to make the institute self-sustaining by regularly staging plays there. He assured that the state government would extend fulsome support and cooperation to the HTCPA with an aim of reviving Punjabi theatre.