After a gap of six years, IIT Bombay was finally back with its Annual
Production. The Annual production, as the name suggests, is IIT Bombay's
yearly (supposedly!) presentation of drama/theatre. However, the
enthusiasm of students in the past few years towards this event had been
low.This time around, with serious efforts of the GS Cult and others, it
seems IITB is finally going to revive the culture of a dram cell and the
annual productions. The last time IIT presented an annual production was
in 1995. It was a play called 'Tughlak' which was performed at major
theatres like Prithvi and NCPA.This year's annual production showcased
Girish Karnad's play called 'Yayati'.
The idea to have an annual production is to create a platform where the institute's best talent can combine and present something which is close to professional theatre. With a competitive cultural scene in our GC, it is generally assumed that if the best of all hostels can combine we can put up a great performance. However, our performances in the PA (Performance Arts) category at various cultural festivals has been low profile and not reflective of the true talent. Participation in dramatics events at the institute level is only done with the spirit of inter-hostel competition, the only motivation being the GC points. The purpose of the annual production is to inculcate a passion among the students for the artform of theatre rather than competition.
Dramatics events in IIT like the GC Drams and PAFs have not been able to provide a proper platform for theatre. Owing to the tight academic calendar, the GC drams usually turn out to be a last minute efforts. On the other hand, even the PAFs help no cause. The voiceovers, the large scale of stage and the space that needs to be covered in PAFs makes them very different from theatre.
The play 'Yayati' was Girish Karnad's first literary creation. As in many of his plays, the play was set against a historical backdrop with the characters potraying the different aspects of human nature. Keeping in mind the requirements of the scripts, the cast was selected from auditions by various actors in the institute. The production is planned to be played at major theatres in the city depending on the reviews received by it from the critics of various drama circles.
Direction: Vikram Jamwal
Music: KK with Sumit Singh, Purushottam, Anshul Saxena
Cast: Amit Pathak, Neeraja Balchander, Deboleena Minz, Saumya Gupta,
Prachee Bhatia and Vikram.
Set design: Monica, Malavika and Adil Rasheed
Event Coordination: S. P. Singh
Zishaan M. Hayath is a second year dual degree student in the Civil Engineering
Department. He can be contacted at d0zmh@civil.iitb.ac.in.