The Bengali play "Nihsango Ishwar" was the biggest winner at the 20th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) 2025, bagging five awards in 13 categories.

Directed by Suman Saha, who also acted in the lead role, the play is about the last day of Krishna's life, with an emphasis on his thoughts as a mortal man and not as a god.

The awards function on March 20, 2025, marked the culmination of a week-long theatre festival that kicked off on March 13. META 2025 saw more than 350 entries, with 10 plays in contention, representing a good mix of languages such as Bangla, English, Hindi, Bundeli, Malayalam, and Kannada. 

Some other major winners were "Swang: Jas ki Tas," which won Akshay Singh Thakur the Best Director title and also the Best Sound and Music Design. The play also won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) award for Abhishek Gautam and tied the Best Ensemble award with "Chandaa Bedni." "Chandaa Bedni" also took home Best Choreography, Best Light Design, and Best Actor in a Lead Role (Female) for Ranjini Ghosh. Rajeshwari Kodagu won the Best Costume Design award for the Kannada play "Dashanana Swapnasiddhi."

The winners were hailed by Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. vice-president and head of cultural outreach Jay Shah as being incredibly creative and with exceptional storytelling, restating the capability of theater to bring about change.

The META 2025 jury included theatre director and veteran actor Lillete Dubey, director Sudhir Mishra, media icon Sunit Tandon, Theatre and Film head at the National Centre for the Performing Arts Bruce Guthrie, and renowned puppeteer Dadi D Pudumjee.

The event also bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award upon writer and translator Shanta Gokhale for her work in Indian theatre and literature.

META, established by the Mahindra Group and produced by Teamwork Arts, continues to appreciate and celebrate excellence in Indian theatre, giving stage space for different forms of storytelling and performance arts.