The 1970s was an interesting time for Om Katare. The 60-year-old was, then, a young playwright and actor struggling to make ends meet in the city of Bombay. With few opportunities, he chose to create his own theatre company and host plays and performances. “It was a venture brought together by a few friends,” Katare, founder of Yatri Theatre Festival, recollects. Forty-five years later, it has grown into an annual presence at the city’s familiar haunt of Prithvi Theatre. This year, the festival will spread across four venues adding to an intra-city presence.

“Our first ever production was Sharad Joshi’s Ek Tha Gadha urf Aladad Khan. It was January 16, and the Kapoors [Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kendal] were kind enough to give us a space to perform at Prithvi. Since then, I juggled television and theatre,” Katare recalls. Since then, the playwright has written and directed over 50 plays, and 400 performances, including the critically acclaimed production of Sakharam Binder, directed by Sulabha Deshpande.