Kathmandu, May 9: Prime Minister and Royal Nepal Academy (RNA) Chancellor Girija Prasad Koirala inaugurated National Drama Festival – 2057 at a function held here this afternoon.

Before he inaugurated the festival by reciting four lines from noted dramatist Balakrishna Sama’s verse play Bhakti Thapa, Koirala said that sometimes a Prime Minister too has to act like a player. “As a matter of fact, we are all players of a drama that begins with our birth and ends in death,” he added.

He lauded RNA Academician and artist Nir Bikram Shah, who is the coordinator of the festival, for reviving Nepalese theatre to prominence through such programmes.

The entire festival that is dedicated to late Sama consists of 30 plays, RNA sources said. “Various artistes from 33 different districts are taking part in the festival.”

At the function, Premier Koirala felicitated senior novelist-dramatist Govinda Bahadur Malla Gothale and senior stage artiste Bekha Narayan Maharjan for their outstanding contribution to the development of Nepalese literature, especially drama.

RNA Vice Chancellor poet Mohan Koirala said that despite various constraints and difficulties, the Academy would make sincere attempts in promoting art and artistes.

Coordinator Nir Bikram Shah and RNA Member-Secretary Dr. Tulsi Prasad Bhattarai also shed lights on the festival and the history of the development of Nepalese drama.