Lamakaan

Er.Vedakumar Manikonda, Chairman, Deccan Heritage Academy, Hyderabad attended the Drama Show of Prof.Bhaskar Shewalker “Kuch Theatre, Kuch Zindagi” followed with the conversation between artist Vinay Varma and his mentor Bhaskar Shewalker, two noted theatre personalities of Hyderabad at Lamakaan, Hyderabad on the March 11,2022. This is the first event after two-year gap due to pandemic at Lamakaan to hold its 12th anniversary. The event explored Bhaskar Shewalker’s theatre journey spanning six decades. He’s nurtured manytheatre groups in the city, and the event will be a tribute to his work.

With the cultural space finally open for the public after a long break during the pandemic, liberal talks, debates and conversations once again have a home “Lamakaan”.

Prof.BhaskarShewalker recollected his Two Decades of Association with Er.VedakumarManikonda in conducting Theatre workshops to children and teachers of Hyderabad on behalf of Children’s Academy , Hyd and appreciated his efforts on inculcating in children to use their imagination and explore their own creativity through the workshops.

BhaskarShewalker,the former Head of the Department of Theater Arts, S.N.School of Performing Arts, University Of Hyderabad. Prof BhaskarShewalkar has been keeping many theatre aspirants’ hopes alive, albeit the odds. A theater personality of national repute, he has so far directed 90 plays in Hindi, Urdu, Telugu and English, and most of them have been translated/adapted from French, German, Russian and English plays. Many of these plays have been performed all over India. He specializes in Theater Education and Creative Drama (For Children). In his theater career spanning over 40 years, he has conducted a number of workshops and participated in seminars organized by SangeetNatak Academy-New Delhi, Central South Zone Cultural Centre-Nagpur & Thiruvananthapuram, National School of Drama Regional Research Centre-Bangalore, Centre of Cultural Resources and Training-Hyderabad and Max Mueller Bhavan. He is the ‘digdarshak’, as we say in Marathi or Hindi, because he not only conceives and designs the show from the writer’s and his own points of view but also figures out that it works for the audience.He’s nurtured many theatre groups in the city.

VinayVarmaheads Sutradhar Casting House and the Theatre group Sutradhar. He is an Actor, Director, Voice-lender, Dubbing artiste, Script-writer, Translator, Casting Director, a Trainer of actors, voice & body language based soft skills and a Corporate Trainer.

LAMAKAAN”: an inclusive cultural space that promotes and presents the best of arts, literature, theatre, debate and dialogue with a commitment to being open and accessible. Late M Mr.Hassan, a local art enthusiast who worked at R. R. Labs (now the IICT), began the construction of Lamakaan in 1972 after he purchased the land. Work on it continued for about two decades after which Mr. Hassan began living there. A puccaHyderabadi who was entrenched in the ‘Mallepally’ culture, he would always have guests over, which was kept in mind while designing the house. He suddenly passed away in 2004. After his death, AshharFarhan, (Mr. Hassan’s nephew), his wife Humera and friends ElaheHiptoola and Biju Mathew decided to start Lamakaan in 2010 on his remembrance and started Lamakaan in 2010.
How the Name Lamakaan Came to be:Mr. Hassan saying ‘MakaankaLamakaan ho gaya’, (like ‘parwah’ and ‘laparwah’) literally translating to ‘no house’. “So that’s how we decided the name “LAMAKAAN”.
The welcoming milieu, the open balcony, the amazing rock in the compound below and the inexpensive yet great food makes Lamakaan a perfect place to even simply hang out. But of course, it is more than just that. Lamakaan is a place where one can express oneself without holding back. It encourages debate and also conducts engaging events to discuss contemporary issues

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