Mysuru, 7 Jan

India’s most popular National Theatre Festivals, Belli Bahuroopi, will host its 25th edition from 11 January to 18 January, for 8 days at different venues of Rangayana premises in Mysuru, said Rangayana director Satish Tiptur on Wednesday.

The festival attracts many theatre groups and artists from across the country. This year the government has extended the festival from five or six days to an eight-day event.

The festival will be inaugurated by senior theatre artist Baraguru Ramachandrappa on 11 January at Sriranga Mandira. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will inaugurate the 8-day festival on 12 January at 5.30pm at Vanaranga. 

Rangayana, a government-run theatre institute, has organised the 2026 edition with a theme of ‘Dr BR Ambedkar - Walk towards Equality to pay tributes’ in honour of Ambedkar Speaking at a press conference, Tiptur said that this year’s events will focus on freedom and explore various dimensions of Ambedkar’s belief that “freedom of mind is a freedom, is real freedom”.

The State government has also released a budget of Rs 1 crore for the festival silver jubilee celebrations. In the year 2024-2025, the government released a budget of Rs 25 lakh for the festival.

This year’s festival will organise 24 stage plays, including 12 plays in other languages: English, Hindi, Marathi, Tulu, Tamil, Malayalam, Tiptur said. Among the 12 plays, six will be children’s plays, he added.

The plays will be held in different venues of Rangayana, including Vanaranga, Bhoomigeetha, and Kalamandir. He said, apart from these events, about 72 stalls will be set up for various activities like book fair, desi food mela, and handicraft exhibitions.