The fourth Bharat Rang Mahotsav, inaugurated by Pandit Ravi Shankar on 16 March 2002, marked a major expansion in the festival’s scale and diversity. It presented 126 plays in more than twenty Indian languages, along with productions from Korea, Bangladesh, Germany, Israel and Mauritius. This edition highlighted theatre from West Bengal and the North East through notable productions from Manipur, Assam, West Bengal, Nagaland and Mizoram. Staged across eight venues in and around NSD, the festival concluded on 8 April 2002 with Ratan Thiyam’s staging of Kalidasa’s Ritusamharam.

The 2004 edition presented seventy-five plays, including eight international productions, and marked the gradual expansion of Bharat Rang Mahotsav from its Delhi-centred origins. This period saw the introduction of Satellite Festival editions, enabling audiences in other regions of India to engage with the festival’s growing repertoire.

In 2008, the National School of Drama celebrated fifty years of its establishment, coinciding with the tenth edition of Bharat Rang Mahotsav. This edition showcased the work of sixty NSD alumni from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Mauritius, reinforcing the festival’s commitment to fostering international theatre exchange and a deeper engagement with diverse performance practices.

The fourteenth edition in 2012 commemorated the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. The festival opened with his play The King of the Dark Chamber (Raja), directed by Ratan Thiyam of the Chorus Repertory Theatre. Over fifteen days, ninety-six productions—including sixteen international plays—were staged across eleven venues in Delhi, with fourteen dedicated to Tagore’s works.

In 2024, Bharat Rang Mahotsav achieved a remarkable milestone with the nationwide Jan Bharat Rang programme, which brought together 1,585 performing arts groups from across the Indian subcontinent. The collective showcase featured 1,048 theatre productions, 249 dance performances, 73 music presentations, 131 combined dance-and-music pieces, six mime acts and seventy-eight allied arts presentations, all unified under a shared thematic framework. This extraordinary feat was officially recorded by the World Book of Records, London.

The 2025 edition marked the twenty-fifth year of Bharat Rang Mahotsav and represented one of its most expansive chapters. The festival ran for twenty days and showcased over two hundred productions from nine countries including Russia, Italy, Germany, Norway, Czech Republic, Nepal, Taiwan, Spain and Sri Lanka. Events were held across thirteen locations in India and overseas, with BRM extending its satellite chapters beyond national borders for the first time through programmes in Nepal and Sri Lanka. This edition also strengthened its commitment to inclusivity by engaging the physically challenged, LGBTQIA communities, sex workers and other under-represented groups in theatre.

Inspired by the exceptional success of the 2024 Jan Bharat Rang project, NSD introduced Vishwa Jan Rang, featuring virtual Natya Shastra-based short plays performed by NRIs across seven continents along with contributions from India’s youth. The scale, diversity and global reach of the festival positioned it as a strong contender for a Guinness World Record.