Vinod Doshi Memorial Theatre Festival

Fellowship Awards

The recipients of the Vinod Doshi Fellowship Awards accompanied by Dr. Sarayu Doshi, Ms. Shanta Gokhale, Mr. Sunil Shanbag and Mr Ashok Kulkarni on the 13^th of February, 2011 at the Gharkul Lawns, Erandawane, Pune
Ms Choiti Ghosh receiving the Vinod Doshi Fellowship Award in Performing Arts from Ms. Shanta Gokhale, a renowned playwright & senior theatre critic
Ashih Mehta, talented actor, one of the recipients for the Vinod Doshi Fellowship Awards in Performing Arts 2011
A glimpse of the audience at the 3^rd Vinod Doshi Fellowship Awards on February 13^th, 2011. Dr. Shreeram Lagoo, Ms. Shanta Gokhale and Ms. Deepa Shreeram in the foreground
Mr. Bijon Mondal, recipient of the Vinod Doshi Fellowship Awards 2011, performing at the award ceremony
Mr Alok Rajwade receiving the Vinod Doshi Fellowship Award in Performing Arts from Ms. Shanta Gokhale, a renowned playwright & senior theatre critic

Play time in Pune

4th Annual Vinod Doshi Memorial Theatre Festival 2012

To commemorate Founding Chairman Mr. Vinod Doshi’s passion for theatre, Premier Ltd. has been organising the 5-day criticallyacclaimed Annual Vinod Doshi Memorial Theatre Festival for the last three years.

The Sound of Music

Special screening of Stories in a Song

culturesoundofmusic

The 4th Annual Vinod Doshi Memorial Theatre Festival had its grand finale on March 20 with a special performance of Sunil Shanbag's Stories in a Song, held at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai. Renowned director and screenwriter Dr. Shyam Benegal graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. The show was well received by all the guests.

“...a great experience [combining] nautanki and street theatre.”
– Sen Kapadia,architect.

Setting the Stage

Ms. Suruchi Aulakh, actor and trainer, was one of those who received the Vinod Doshi Fellowship in Performing Arts, given out by the Sahitya Rangbhoomi Pratishthan to five promising theatre professionals each year.

“It isn’t every day that one receives such good news. This is acknowledgement and recognition from people one looks up to, and a sign that one should carry on doing what one loves. I thank the members and the board for this wonderful and inspiring gift.”
– Ms. Suruchi Aulakh,actor and trainer.

March 2012

SECOND CHANCES - A prison art project with a difference

Hirachand Premier Trust (a public charity managed by the Doshi family of Premier Ltd) recently pledged to financially sponsor Blue Shores — a unique prison art project conducted at the Aguada Central Jail in Goa. Trustee Padmashree Dr. Saryu Doshi (PhD), one of India’s leading art authorities and the former Honorary Director of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai, has been a champion of and adviser for this project since its inception in 2009.

Blue Shores is the brainchild of Margaret Mascarenhas (novelist and independent curator) (inset, right) and Swatee Nair (abstract artist and theorist) (inset, left). Unlike other prison art projects in the country, the primary objective of Blue Shores is to teach a college-level art syllabus to specially-selected inmates who face long periods of incarceration while simultaneously documenting the effect that the serious practice of pure arts has on the psyche and world view of the participants.

Celebrating Theatre

A two-year long research project, partly sponsored by the Shri Lalchand Hirachand Premier Trust, aims to document the trajectory of experimental theatre in Mumbai. The project encapsulates the origin of experimental theatre from private spaces such as the Bhulabhai Desai Institute and Walchand Terraces. Its outcome — a book scheduled to be launched by October 2013 — will be a tribute to Premier’s former chairman Late Mr. Vinod Doshi, who played a significant part in the development of experimental theatre in the city.

Other initiatives by Premier that celebrate the art of theatre include the annual Vinod Doshi Memorial Theatre Festival.

Encouraging Talent in Theatre

through The Vinod Doshi Fellowship in Performing Arts

The Vinod Doshi Fellowship in Performing Arts commemorates the boundless passion and support of the legendary experimental theatre aficionado, Shri Vinod Doshi, our former Chairman.

Every year, on the occasion of his birth anniversary, the Sahitya Rangabhoomi Pratishtan bestows 5 talented up-coming theatre persons with the ‘Vinod Doshi Fellowship in Performing Arts’ in the domain of Marathi and Hindi theatre.

On February 13th, ’11, for the third consecutive year, these fellowships were conferred to 5 deserving artists. Each award of Rs 1 lakh donated by the Lalchand Hirachand Premier Trust is intended to support the artists for a year while they focus on their creative theatrical aspirations.

Furthermore, the annual Vinod Doshi Theatre Festival (February 22-26, ‘11) was sponsored by Premier Ltd. This year, two of the five directors, Ms. Irawati Karnik and Mr. Hidayat Sami, were former awarded recipients of the Vinod Doshi Fellowship in Performing Arts (2009).

Conservation Act Trust

Tells the untold story of India’s forests

Gurmeet Sapal - Director

The main objective of the Conservation Act Trust is to educate and enlighten decision makers and the public about the importance of forests for our survival. Following an original film ‘Inside India’s Forests – Seeing the Wood for its Trees’, which tells a story of protecting our environment, this subsequent film, funded by the Shri Lalchand Hirachand Premier Trust, shares the inconvenient truths about India’s forests.
The film is directed by Gurmeet Sapal, a New Delhi- based filmmaker, whose wildlife and environmental films have been sensitising viewers (especially children) since 1998 when he graduated from IIMC.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Write To Us

Spenta Shroff
Manager - CSR

58, Nariman Bhavan, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021, India.

Tel: +91-22-6117 9000,
Fax: +91-22-6117 9003

Email: spentashroff@premier.co.in

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