A multimedia play marking the 150th anniversary of India’s national song, Vande Mataram, will be staged on July 15 at 6 pm at the Chandni Mehta Auditorium in Vadodara. The production is being presented by the Drama Department of the Faculty of Performing Arts, M.S. University, in association with the Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Dr. Darshan Purohit, Head of the Drama Department, said the production has involved nearly 75 hours of preparation, with the cast rehearsing for 12 hours every day.
The play highlights key moments and personalities from India’s freedom struggle through an imagined dialogue between today’s youth and freedom fighters such as Shaheed Bhagat Singh. It also showcases the secret Congress Radio run by Usha Mehta during the 1942 Quit India Movement, the sacrifice of Shaheed Vinod Kinariwala in Ahmedabad, the 1922 firing on tribal communities, Birsa Munda’s fight for forest and land rights, and the courage of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev during their trial under British rule.
The production also traces the journey of Vande Mataram, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1875, and how it became a symbol of India’s freedom movement. It highlights that Maharishi Aurobindo translated the song into English in Vadodara in 1905 while serving as a professor at Vadodara College.
The play is open to the public free of charge.