Young stage artiste Kismat Bano has been selected for the Young Talents Artistes Award, 2016-2017 by the selection committee of the North East Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC) under the Union culture ministry.
The Guwahati artiste will be felicitated at a function at the Raj Bhavan, Itanagar on August 25.
Kismat Bano, who earlier received a scholarship from the ministry of culture, has in recent years performed at major drama festivals across the country as well as abroad. Two of her most recent plays staged in Guwahati, ‘Helen’ and ‘Bano’, were appreciated by the theatre-loving crowd along with critical approval from the media.
Kismat Bano, at a very young age, has already acted in over 20 plays in different languages – including Assamese and Hindi. She acted in the plays: Aakaas, Madyhyabartini, Jatra, The lesson, Komala kuwaori, Helen, and Puhor; to name a few. Bano has also participated in different top drama events and festivals such as Bharat Rang Mahotsav, Nandikar, EZCC, Sangeet Natak Academy, Prithvi, Nehru Centre, PDA festivals, Kalakshetra Chennai, Octave festival (Goa and Rajasthan) and at Qadir Ali Baig theatre festival etc.
Although she is a graduate, soon after completing her higher secondary education she had joined Seagull Theatre in Guwahati under the patronage of Bhagirathi and Baharul Islam. After undergoing many workshops and trainings in creative arts, Kismat participated in the 2nd National Children’s Theatre Festival in 2013 organised by Guwahati Sishu Natya Vidyalaya.
Thereafter, Kismat Bano established her own theatre troupe Wings Theatre (cultural group) in Guwahati. The main activities of Wings are using theatre in education to children, working for spastic girls in association with Sishu Sarothi, India, conducting theatre performance oriented workshops for orphan and indigenous girls in rural areas, and working with the blind children of Guwahati in promoting theatre among them.
Bano did her graduation from Handique Girls College Guwahati. Srutimala Duarah, who taught her English there says, “Besides being a good theatre artiste, what endears Kismat to all is her zest for life and her keen desire to spend time with the differently-abled children, training them in the art of theatre.”
