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Let the show begin: Open-air theatre inaugurated at Pune’s Bhandarkar Institute
PUNE An open-air theatre was inaugurated at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) on Thursday by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, three years after its work started
PUNE An open-air theatre was inaugurated at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) on Thursday by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, three years after its work started.
The speciality of this open-air theatre is that an 83-year-old banyan tree will be at its centre.
In 1937, the tree was planted by Vaijnath Kashinath Rajwade, the then executive chairman of the institute. Just like the work of the institute, the tree has grown and expanded over the years.
“I can imagine how satisfied and joyous those behind this open-air theatre are now that it is ready,” said Gadkari during the function. The minister said the theatre will be useful for many artists in Pune.
Industrialist Abhay Firodia, who is also the chairman of the BORI regulating council and his trust funded the theatre, while Nachiket Patwardhan, a senior architect, has designed it.
The open theatre has total seating capacity of 1,500 people and has been built at the cost of ₹7 crore, entirely funded by Firodia Trust.
It has been built in such a way that theatre can host three different programs at a time.
Firodia said, “This open theatre is one of the largest stage for artists in Pune. I appeal everyone to benefit of it.”
The idea behind it was inspired by the open-air theatres at Shantiniketan. The institute hopes it would be a revenue source for research projects.
The design consists of two overlapping circles, 70M and 52M in diameter; the common area of both circles is the stage (around the banyan tree). The 50M wide stage is large enough to provide four different performance spaces for 35, 250, 400 and 800 people.
