Bhubaneswar, Feb. 9: The 17th edition of the Kalinga Natya Mahotsav began at Rabindra Mandap here today with the staging of Eka Mati Aneka Akasa.

The five-day festival organised by city-based theatre group, Satabdira Kalakar, aims at bringing to the fore works of the state's prominent playwrights. The works of eminent playwright Pranabandhu Kar have taken centre stage at the festival.

The play Eka Mati Aneka Akasa, staged by the host group, revolved around a woman who despite being rejected by the men she loved, continues to keep herself strong and forgive those who had hurt her. Directed by Dhira Mallick, the play brings out the emotions that Kar tried to convey in his writing.

The acting of the Sandhya Rani Biswal, who played the protagonist, was appreciated. "The images of a woman being sacrificing, caring and gentle have been nicely portrayed in the play. The protagonist has done a good job," said 25-year-old theatre enthusiast Bidisha Panigrahi.

At the festival, two of Kar's plays will be staged in Hindi and Bengali. While Asanta will be staged in Bengali by Dum Dum Sabdho Mugdho Natyo Kendra from Calcutta, Snayu Sanghara will be presented in Hindi by Delhi-based theatre group Utsav.

Two more city-based troupes will also showcase their productions. The artistes of Natya Chetana will stage Sua Munhare Patare directed by Subodh Patnaik and Panchamaveda will present Haren Sahoo's Swetapadma.

Theatre enthusiasts are excited about the festival. "I am not acquainted with Odia literature and the plays will give me an opportunity to be familiar with the woks of our veteran writers. It will be fun," said Sai Ram, a student of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidlaya.

The festival was started in 1986 as a children's festival but later focused on staging multilingual plays after Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi began a theatre fest in the same format. Last year, the festival focused on the plays of Ratiranjan Mishra. "Many of our eminent writers' works have not got the due credit because the people never got to know about them. The festival is an attempt to encourage artistes and theatre directors to stage plays scripted by such writers," said director of the festival Darpa Narayan Sethi.