Om Puri Calls On Punjab CM

Assures Revival Of Punjabi Theatre Through HTCPA

5 Dariya News

Chandigarh 22-Jun-2012

Noted bollywood actor Om Puri today called on the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to apprise him about his plans for the promotion of Punjabi theatre at the newly constructed Harpal Tiwana Centre for Performing Arts (HTCPA), Patiala as a befitting tribute to the legendary theatre personality Harpal Tiwana, whose name was synonymous with the Punjabi theatre. An assurance to this effect was given by Puri to the Chief Minister during his brief interaction with Badal at his official residence.Expressing gratitude to the Chief Minister, the veteran actor said he was personally indebted to Badal for the completion of the state-of–the-art HTCPA within the record time thereby cherishing the dream of lakhs of theatre lovers across the state. Om Puri said, “Seeds of acting were sown by Harpal Tiwana during my youthful days, which had now turned into a full bloom tree and therefore with all humility I owe my success and fame at this point of my career to his able guidance who taught me the basics of theatre”. Puri envisioned that he would soon motivate the leading theatre personalities like Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Raj Babbar and others to stage plays at HTCPA to offer rare feat to the drama lovers. He said regular shows of dramas would be organized there with the broad objective to revive the theatre movement in state, which had gradually lost its pristine glory over the years.Meanwhile, the Chairman of Parvasi Media Group Rajinder Saini, with offices in Toronto, Vancouver in Canada and Chandigarh, who was also present in the meeting informed the Chief Minister about the function to confer Punjabi International Film Academy Awards (PIFAA) on the prominent Punjabi personalities to be held in Toronto from August 3-6, 2012, for the promotion of Punjabi art and culture globally.The Chief Minister asked the convener of HTCPA Manpal Tiwana and Resident Director Mrs Nina Tiwana to make the institute self sustaining by regularly staging plays at the venue. He assured fulsome support and cooperation from the state government to make HTCPA a pioneer theatre institute for the revival of lost glory of Punjabi theatre.The Chief Minister was accompanied by his Special Principal Secretaries KJS Cheema and Gaggandip Singh Brar.