Arvind Gaur who heads the Delhi based Theatre group ASMITA is committed to innovative and socially relevant theatre. Theatre performances on different socio political issues produced and directed by Arvind Gaur are many in number. He has done lighting under the direction of Shri Habib Tanvir.

In the past 12 years, he has directed 48 major plays which include Girish Karnad's Tuglaq and Rakt Kalyan, Dharamveer Bharti's Andha Yug, Swadesh deepak's Court Martial, G P Deshpande's Antim Divas, Albert Camus' Caligula, Mahesh Dattani's Final Solutions and Tara, Eugene O'neill 's Desire Under the Elms, Dario Fo's An Accidental death of an Anarchist, Dr.Narenda Mohan's Kalandar, Bertolt Brecht's Good Woman of Sechzuan and Caucasian Chalk Circle, Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot, John Octanasek's Romeo Juliet and the darkness, Neil Simon's The Good Doctor, Vijay tendulakr's Ghairam Kotwal, Munshi Premchand's Moteram ka Satyagrah, Ashok Lal's Ek Mamooli aadmi, Rajesh Kumar's Me Gandhi Bolto ,Vijay Mishra 's Tatt Niranjana, Doodnath Singh's Yama Gatha,Women in Black ( written & acted by Bubbles Sabharwal) ,Untitled Solo by Lushin Dubey, Uday Prakash's Warren Hastings ka Saand, Pinki Virani's Bitter Chocolate, solo by lushin Dubey, Bhishma Sahani's Madhavi & Manjula Padmanbhan' Hidden Fires ( both solo by actress Rashi Bunny),Walking Through the Rainbow ( joint production with PCVC, solo by Rashi Bunny) & Gandhari, solo by Aishveryaa Nidhi, which was invited to perform at ITI UNESCO one man show International Festival 2005.
Bishma Sahani's MADHAVI, Solo by Rashi Bunny & directed by Arvind Gaur, received special award for best play in experimentation with tradition at International Solo Theatre Festival Armenia.
Kuntiputra Karna by Aishveryaa Nidhi & Shourya Nidhi and Hamare Padosi by Abhinay Theatre, Australia.
 

Kuntiputra Karna brings together some tragic episodes from Karna's life on stage. The first scene of the play takes us to the Kingdom of Hastinapur, which is hosting a competition to determine the most skilled warrior of the world.
Guru Dronacharya, the teacher of the Pandavas and Kauravas, is sure that his favourite student Arjun will win the competition. But only till Karan turns up for the contest.
Dronacharya has heard of this young man's skills and is afraid he may beat Arjun. So, in a bid to secure Arjun the title of the best warrior, Dronacharya points out Karna's lower-class background and declares that he's not fit to compete with princes.

Karna is disqualified. He takes a beating in this competition even without being given the chance to compete.

Ironically, no one realises that, in actuality, Karna is the son of Kunti and Lord Surya, except for Kunti herself, who is present among the audience and who recognises Karan, thanks to the ethereal kavach and kundals he was born with. But, of course, bound in traditions, she once again stifles her love for her son, just as she did while she set him afloat in the river, shortly after he was born.

This, and many other tragic leafs from Karna's life make up Kuntiputra Karna…...

abhinay@aishveryaanidhi.com