Bengali play Pinky Buli being staged at the National Contemporary Theatre Festival in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 17: The National Contemporary Theatre Festival concluded here on Tuesday.

Groups from Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal and Odisha staged a number of plays at the five-day event.

Two plays in Bengali and Odia blurred the language barrier. Directed by Meghanad Bhatacharya, Bengali play Pinki Buli, presented by theatre group Sayak, narrated the story of two girls — Pinki, an urban teenager, and Buli, who is an illiterate and underprivileged.

Buli is an imaginative girl who baby-sits Pinki’s brother. She learns Pinki’s mannerisms while the latter finds her conventional academics useless in front of Buli’s life experiences.

As the household is engulfed in bitter circumstances, Buli is forced to leave. But by then, she has taught Pinki the real meaning of life.

Suna Panjuri, staged by Annapurna Theatre-A, Puri, depicted the poignant tale of a woman, Reena, who wishes for a happy married life. But her jobless and drunk husband Naveen makes sure she never gets one.

She switches many jobs before finally settling as a theatre actress. But her fame and glory become her nemesis, as she is raped and murdered after being embroiled in a conspiracy.