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The much awaited Performing Arts Festival of Shri Ram College of Commerce, Histrionica 2016, got off to a spectacular start with Mr. Manoj Bajpayee and Mr. Rajkumar Rao coming down for the promotion of their new movie ‘Aligarh’ along with the director, Mr. Hansal Mehta.

The cast of Aligarh at Histronica, SRCC
The cast of Aligarh at Histronica, SRCC

The entire auditorium bustled with a full house and eagerly listened to them as they shattered the wall of Section 377 brick by brick. The movie ‘Aligarh’ revolves around a professor who prefers to share his bed with a man instead. ‘Is this such a heinous crime?’ the movie questions the entire Indian mentality. The session reached its peak as Mr. Mehta went on about the Censor Board and its illegitimate decisions with respect to A-Rated scenes. “The Censor Board needs sex” said Mr. Mehta as the audience erupted with laughter. The session, being a highly interactive one, then moved on to the further questions being posed by the audience to the celebrities, be it dialogue recitals or their views on sensitive issues. A highlight worthy of mention was when Mr. Manoj Baypayee enticed the audience with his dialogues from Gangs of Wasseypur and Mr. Rajkumar Rao spoke about his secondary role in Queen.

As the clock struck 1:30, the stick first struck the dafli, marking the beginning of the Street Play Event-Aahvaan.

The common call, being the most awaited part of the day then began as the entire college gathered at the Co-op and watched the Dram-Soccers form a huddle in excitement to dance their life out, in pure bliss. The campus echoed with “Aao Aao, Naatak Dekho” and the daflis continued to play as they marched around the campus, making every soul in college shake a limb. The various selected street play teams then went on to perform and were judged by the renowned Atul Satya Kaushik, the lyricist of the all-too-famous SRCC call song-‘Oha’ and Satyendra Malik, an SR Alumni

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The street play team of The Dramatics Society of SRCC made its first home performance as they presented their play “The Defective Ward” which brought many to tears. The event ended with valuable and critical feedback provided by the judges and all the teams returned as winners.

The second day commenced with the stage all set and auditorium filled with theatre lovers for  Histrionica’s stage play event-Charades. To begin with we had the team from Ramjas college showcasing their talent in their annual stage play production ‘Deluxe Hair Cutting Salon’ ,followed by a thought provoking monologue  ‘Shakkar ke Paanch Daane’  presented by the team from Shaheed Bhagat Singh (evening) College.  The annual production of Shivaji College ‘Jeevita Chellave’ beautifully wrapped up the first day of Charades leaving the audience awe-inspired and eager for more.

To make the day even more blissful we had Mr. Randeep Hooda gracing the occasion with his presence in the celebrity interactive session. The event started off on a humorous note where Mr. Hooda  joked about his surprise and disappointment at not turning up in Miranda House, for that was the impression he was under all the while. The actor went on to talk about a wide variety of topics- from the ‘great performance’ of MP’s in the parliament and the ongoing Jat Stir to how he got his first role.  He had the audience in fits of laughter when he openly discussed his weirdest fan experiences wherein a lot many girls had expressed their desire to be kidnapped by ‘Mahabir Bhati’.

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Randeep Hooda

 

From discussing burning issues with a light hearted approach to explaining how finding a job was the hardest task for an actor, the actor’s charisma kept the audience mesmerized.

Right after the session ended , a group of young theatre aspirants from various colleges had a short personal workshop with Mr. Hooda.

The third day of Histrionica commenced with an enthusiastic audience that packed the auditorium to witness the fist event for the day; Charades. The first play was Veronica’s Room, a production by Sri Venkateshwara College, followed by Party; a play by Hansraj College.

Our home production Blithe Spirit was cheered on by a house full in the auditorium. The play was greatly praised for its key elements of humour and the mysterious atmosphere of the supernatural that it created. The closing play was Characters Revolt. A play presented by Hindu College.

Later, Mr Piyush Mishra interacted and sang to the audience in The Stage. The event started off with Mr Mishra telling about the struggles he’s faced during his transition from theatre to Bollywood. It was followed by a question on his version of ‘ishq’ to which Mr Mishra recited shers from his own book titled ‘Kuch Ishq Kiya Kuch Kaam Kiya’. He then sang his famous songs – Husana, Duniya, Aarambh and Ik bagal on popular demand from the audience.

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The last event of the day was Live Wire where the immensely talented Mr Nikhil D’souza performed his various songs. The parking lot was full with students and music lovers who cheered, swayed and danced until the day ended.

Nikhil D'Souza
Nikhil D’Souza

The Sri Ram College of Commerce auditorium was packed to capacity with students lining up to see Papa CJ bring his unique brand of comedy to Delhi University. The performance was the highlight of day two at Histrionica 2014. The International comedy sensation had the audience in splits as Papa CJ didn’t even spare the SRCC principal in his act.

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He didn’t miss out on a single opportunity to roast the students and the faculty of SRCC with digs at the various societies and foundation courses while he not so subtly continued to crack jokes about things like politics and terrorism. In classic Papa CJ style he constantly kept the audience involved as he made them do an exercise to enjoy comedy and mock as many spectators as he possibly could. As he continued to profess his pride to be Indian, he continued to rip American checking at Airports and second generation Indians in Britain a new one.

With all the inside jokes on SRCC about Crossroads, the Dramatics Society, Demeanor and of course the gay boy digs at the Doscos sitting in the audience he made sure that the students did nothing short of falling of their chairs as they laughed through the act.

Want to laugh a little? Here are two cracks from the show!

“The only two types of people who do Yoga are foreigners and first year B.Com students.”

“What the hell is Integrated Mind Body and Heart? In our time we called that Masturbation.”

The Dramatics society of Shri Ram College Commerce (SRCC) is back with its annual fest, Histrionica! The four-day fest kick started on 24th February with the Nukkad Natak – Aahvaan. Despite not being a competitive event, it celebrated the vibrancy and exuberance of street play with great vigor. Around forty five teams participated in the prelims that took place on Sunday, out of which only eight made it through to perform in the finals. Although this year the familiar zest about the fest seemed a tad bit missing, the decoration (including minions) and excitement among the spectators was palpable.

The common call started at 1:30 pm with the entire dramatics society dancing and hooting around the college and singing there theme song “oh-ha”. The event took place at the co-op area and around 150 students surrounded the place to watch the teams perform. Kirori Mal College with its act “Company Raj” began the event. Next in line was Hans Raj College, stunning the audience with its extra ordinary performance, “Rehaayi” meaning freedom. It portrayed the reason why “criminals” commit crime and why they deserve a chance to relive. Khalsa College and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies were no less who presented “We, the people” and “Rajneeti Unplugged” respectively. They stressed that common man is as much a part of politics as anyone else.

SRCC gave a performance full of humor and satire on “Bhram” meaning illusion. Hindu College and Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce (GGSCC) were as good as any of the others. Where Hindu college mocked the education system with its play “Kaisi yeh path shala”, GGS came up with “Chidiya ki Kahani”, stupefying the audience and compelling them to fight away the patriarchal society. IP College for Women was the last one with their play “Mooch neech ka Papada” before the tired yet extremely satisfied audience dispersed and the judges congratulated the teams.

Upcoming events at Histrionica include the stage theatre acts at Charades, along with a comedy night with Papa CJ and a closing act with the Raghu Dixit Project.

The annual performing arts festival of Shri Ram College of Commerce, Histrionica 2014 is all set to begin 24th February, 2014! This 4 day long fest will see colleges from all across the University coming together to celebrate the performing arts under one roof.

However, before the festival actually begins, The Dramatics Society of the college has planned a special pre-event session!

It’s time to belt out your favourite tunes and unleash the singer within you. Tone-deaf people, here’s your chance to steal the spotlight. The Histrionica Karaoke Night is here!

A night full of music, fun and food; it promises to be an extravaganza for all Delhi University students.

The Histrionica Karaoke Night will be held on Thursday, 20th February, 2014 at the Jack n Chill Café, Hudson Lines. The cover charge of Rs.250 per person includes unlimited snacks (Veg pizza, Veg Coleslaw Sandwich, Veg Chilli Garlic Noodles) and a drink. The festivities being at 5 pm!

Follow their Facebook page and website for more details.

Day 3 of Histronica, a fest organised by the Dramatics Society of SRCC kicked off with their event ‘Charades’ which showcased plays by various colleges. The judges were Shibani Puri, a designer, director and an NSD alumnus and Dr M Sayed Allam who has had wide experience in acting, script writing and directing for over 25 plays. The event started with a play by LSR titled ‘Attempts on Her Life’ which had 4 actors taking the stage and performing with simple props. The play’s director, Ms Gajju said, ‘This is our annual piece, a play written by the British playwright Martin Crimp. We’ve been practicing for about 2 months now’. Next to perform was the dramatics society of Ramjas College, ‘Shunya’. Their self-composed play called ‘Saints and Sinners’ had a rustic appeal to it and the funny and witty dialogues kept the audience in splits of laughter. The play however ended on a serious note. After a short break, SRCC’s students took the stage with the play ‘Noises Off’ which was a Hinglish comedy about people rehearsing for a play. The funny script about a play in a play kept the audience hooked. The next event lined up for the day was a Mob Freeze organised by an NGO, Education Tree around the theme ‘Jo merahai, who merahai’ which basically stressed on a woman’s complete right over her own body. The informal events for Day 3 included a live performance by the band Faridkot which saw a large turnout. A Battle of the Bands competition was also held where the best band was awarded a music contract. “The entire event has received a very good response from colleges all across the University. We’ve had performances from some of the best dramatics societies and a lot of theatre enthusiasts have been attending the event as the audience. The play that received the best response from the viewers was “12 Angry Men”, by KMC. What we wanted to celebrate was the true spirit of theatre and hence the events were non-competitive. The judges did share their critique though, through a discussion with the students. We started working on Histronica from December last year and we’re happy with the kind of response we’ve got”, said Gauri Chandra, a first year Economics student in the Organising Committee.  ]]>

The Dramatics Society of SRCC is back with their annual theater festival, Histrionica 2013. This time, it is not only about theater. The four day festival includes: Charades-the stage plays, Aahavan- the nukkad natak, Just for laughs- the stand up comedy act, sum of parts- the skit competition, Shutters- the photography competition, Saaz- the musical night and Live wire- the rock night.

The dramatics society has worked hard over the years and has added gravitas and substance to the festival to make theatre accessible to all those who aspire to do it all well as those who watch it from a distance.

The festival starts with Sum of parts, the skit competition, on 14th February. An event for all those who want to bring out the actor within, Sum of Parts gives you a chance to be more than just a faceless member of the audience.
Shutters, the photography competition is a contest for budding photographers, organised in collaboration with the Delhi University Photography Club. This year, the competition will be online as well as on campus.

On 15th Feb, look forward to an afternoon of riotous fun and laughter in the event Just for Laughs, which is the stand-up comedy act. For all the theatre lovers, we have Charades, the stage play competition. English, Hindi and bilingual plays from all over Delhi University will be performed. From 16 plays, 8 were shortlisted, which are “12 Angry Men” by KMC, “Akka Amoli Anni” by Maitreyi College, “Attempts on Her Life” by LSR, “Baap re Baap” by Hansraj College, “Laal Pencil” by Dyal Singh College, “Norway Today” by Ramjas, “Saints and Sinners” by Ramjas and “Threesome without Simone” by KMC. A must watch in the festival, Charades has always attracted and enthralled the audience.

On 16th, Saaz promises to be a star-studded night devoted to the beauty of the classics. Histrionica does not only approach the youth of Delhi, but also the families who like to go out together on a Saturday night and have a nice time. If you happen to be a lover of classic music, Saaz will not disappoint you.

Aahavan, the street play competition will be held on the 17th. From the catchy songs to the human formations that leave the audience in awe, this form of theatre has the ability to engage the audience from the very beginning and holds their attention till the end. The shortlisted teams which will be performing are: ” Aakhir hum bhi insaan hain” by Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, “Abbey, Teri toh!” by Maharaja Agrasen College, “Darte Kyun Ho Pappu Mia?” by Daulat Ram College, “Naadaan” by Hansraj College, “Reservation Leela” by SGTB Khalsa Colege, Hindu College, “Ye Kaisi Saza” by Dyal Singh Eve College and “Yeh Gandi Baat Hain” by PGDAV College (D).

After Aavahan, the audience will witness the Battle of the Bands, called Live wire: The Rock Night. A treat for rock fans and music enthusiasts, look forward to scintillating performances by the upcoming artists of Delhi.

DAY 1 (16th January, 2011)

The Dramatics Society of Shri Ram College of Commerce with their sweatshirts reading ‘100 percent cut off, 200 percent dramebazi’, began the first day of their annual fest ‘Histronica’ by singing their official ‘Oha!’ song. Though the event got delayed as a consequence of campus placements going on in the college, as well as the Indo-US meet, the fervour and energy was soon on display as they filled the air with calls of ‘aao aao..natak dekho…srcc ka..natak dekho’ in tandem with their dafli beats.

The main event of the day , ‘The Street Play Festival’ began soon after. With a stupendous footfall of hundreds of people, the street play festival was filled with scintillating performances by CBS,Hindu,IP (for women), Hansraj, SRCC, DRC, Khalsa and GGS. The street plays through their songs, squeals, screams, calls and subtle satire, spoke of a wide array of themes such as whistle blowing, child abuse, right to education to name a few. The event was judged by Ms.Tejaswini (LSR passout currently practising street theatre in Law Faculty) ,Soumyajeet (Indian representative for Lok Theatre Group) and Mr.Shirish (works with National School of Drama).

Plays titled ‘Tu maar de seeti’ (cbs), ‘zaruarurat kyat hi ‘(hindu),’albert pinto ko gussa kyun aata hai’ (ip for women), ‘dharm’(khalsa), ‘laalsa’(hansraj), ’prathmik’(srcc), ’ugte suraj ka sapna’(ggs), ’mehfooz’(drc) kept the crowd gripped and staring on in awe at the sheer brilliance of it all.

Students devoured on food at the various stalls which included Kolkata Biryani House, Dominos, Brown Sugar and Kwality Walls. After the street play exhibition, the side events commenced. The main filler events were –Shutter (photography event), Twister (game) and Poem Writing. With a staggering participation of 100 students in shutters, 150 students in twister and 35 students in poem writing, the competition was palpable at the fest.

Later as the evening progressed, it started to rain. The judges sat with the teams for comments and suggestions till 9 pm and in their 3 hours dialogue they expressed how they loved the creativity exhibited in the performances. In a well decorated college with ‘angeethis’ to warm the students in the evening, an intellectually stimulating talk with the judges was the perfect way to call it a day.
Navika Chaudhary, member of the SRCC dramsoc, went on to say, “drama is more than just a passion, it’s a way of life, and the dedication and commitment with which the teams performed today proved exactly that.”

With the sounds of “o baake chunar…munariya hoye…o baake ammi boli hoye…o beta…jeet ke aana..’ still in their hearts, everyone went home a winner.

DAY 2 (17th January, 2011)

The second day of the SRCC dramsoc fest ‘Histronica’ was as thrilling and eventful as the first. With more people coming in, despite the chilly winds and extremely cold weather; it was the day for stage plays. The entrance to the college was elaborately decorated with painted matkas and masquerade masks.

The list of people judging these plays is worth a separate mention. The first being Geeta Sudan who herself happens to be an SRCC alumnus and is presently a director at Paradine. She has also acted in accomplished films such as ‘No One Killed Jessica’ and ‘Udaan’. The second being Deepak Dhamija who is currently an entrepreneur, as well as the founder of Shoelace Production. He has also directed 10 plays. The third being Amrita Laalji, who teaches theatre at Shri Ram School and National Open School. She also happens to teach a practical course in ‘drama in exploration’ in Delhi University.

After a warm welcome to the judges, the four plays commenced in the auditorium. The acting was par brilliance and so were the themes and scripts. The sets only added to the sheer brilliance of it all. SRCC performed ‘The Untitled,kyunki kuch cheezon ka zikr nahi kiya jaa sakta’ centred around the electra complex. The second was a brilliant adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel ‘A Mousetrap’ and was titled ‘The Three Blind Mice’. The third play titled ‘Mr.Kolpert’ was a dark comedy and was presented by Ramjas. The last play was based on schizophrenia, was titled ‘Uss Paar’ and was acted out by the team of Hindu College.

Once the plays ended, the judges as well as the audience lauded the efforts of the teams and the judges went on thave a discussion with them. In the dialogue that followed they said that the script of ‘The Untitled’ was commendable because the concept of electra complex is difficult to portray, therefore writing a script on it was a brave move. Also Hindu and Ramjas were appreciated for their remarkable acting. And the adaptation of script of the ‘Three Blind Mice’ was exalted as well.

This was followed by a musical rendition by Harpreet Singh as well as a magictricks performance by Karan Singh. The filler event which happened later was ‘Ad Mad’ and it was won by Akshay and Mariam from Hindu College. They won Rs.1000 and special mugs sponsored by Worlds of Wonder.

It was yet another brilliant day hosted by SRCC’s dramsoc. And in Ayusha Kaul’s (who is a part of SRCC dramsoc) words ,”drama is life,you must live it well,enough said.” This was definitely another ‘well lived’ day.

Mannat Sandhu
[email protected] 

The 4th edition of Histrionica, the annual theatre festival of the Shri Ram College of Commerce is here, but with a changed format. A four day festival, it will be held from the 16th-19th January 2012. The previous editions of the festival were competition based, but this year, productions won’t be competing for any prizes but the participating teams would instead be felicitated with certificates, cash, and mementos.

The four day festival is slated to see performances of nine stage plays including three by the dramatics society of SRCC, eight street plays, ‘Groove’ the choreography competition and a number of filler events which include Shutters- the photography competition, Ad-Mad, Imagery-the poetry writing competition, ‘This, then that’- the act and react competition, Mimmikry Gimmikry. Along with these events, there’ll be a street play performance on the ill effects of tobacco by the children of NGO Hriday. These children were subjected to tobacco torture and have now been rescued. As a part of its roadtrip, Lok, the theatre group from Kolkatta will be performing its musical. It will also be conducting workships during the fest.

The festival received 21 stage play entries out of which 13 were shortlisted based on the content, and the idea was to select a spectrum of genres. The judging at this level was done by the faculty of the dramsoc of SRCC and certain alumni. These teams went through another round of selection in which they showed a few select scenes from their play. Acting, direction, execution, basic lights, music and use of the sets were some of the parameters on which they were evaluated. The judges’ panel in this round included two alumni of the dramatics society of SRCC, and one each from that of Sri Venkateswara College and Hindu College.

The plays that will be performing are ‘Mr Kolpert’ by Ramjas College, ‘Us Paar’ by Ibtida, the Hindi Dramatics Society of Hindu College, ‘Ek tha Gadha’ by Hansraj College, ‘Skeleton Woman’ by LSR, ‘Park’ by Ramjas College, ‘The Blue Moon’ by KMC. Plus, SRCC’s own dramsoc will be putting up the plays titled ‘The Untitled’, ‘Three Blind Mice’, and the ‘Studio Ruins’.

‘Skeleton Woman’ by LSR is a story about two people who defeat fantastical odds to be together. Swinging between reality and make believe it weaves together an Inuit folktale and a modern day story about a young fisherman turned writer with a potent imagination and his long suffering wife. Raksha Thakur plays the young man, Saumya Deojan plays young woman one and Garima Jaju plays young woman two.

‘Us Paar’ by Hindu College revolves around Meera, an ordinary homemaker, a mother but an extraordinary wife who sees a hero in her poet husband – Sagar, whom the world has conveniently tagged a failure. To reassure Sagar of his greatness, Meera takes it upon her to make him believe that he will essentially complete that one composition with which he has been struggling. The play is directed by Aarushie Sharma and the charcters are played by Anuran Das Gupta, Vishakha Singh, Vedi Sinha, Shreya and Animesh Panwar.

For the street play part, nineteen entries were received out of which eight were selected. The plays that would be performing during the festival are ‘Tu Maar De Seeti’ by CBS, ‘Zarurat Kya Thi’ by Hindu College, ‘Albert Pinto ko Gussa Kyun Aata hai’ by IP College, ‘Mehfooz’ by DRC, ‘Praathmik’ SRCC, Dharm by Khalsa College, Laalsa by Hansraj College and ‘Ugte Suraj ka Sapna’ by SGGSC.

DHARM- the street play of Khalsa College tries to question the concept and relevance of religion in the contemporary world. The focus of the play lies on the creation and establishment of religion/religions and their interpretations in today’s times. The play tries to explore the control on and fear of religion in the common man. The play is an attempt to look for answers to a few difficult questions like-‘Is religion a creation of man’, ‘Has religion become an escape for us’, ‘Has man become a puppet in the hands of his own doing’ and ‘Do all religions preach the same things’

‘Albert Pinto ko Gussa Kyun Aata hai’ by IP College disapproves the apathetic outlook to daily news headlines of rape, murder and abuse and questions human nature.

The theme of the play ‘Tu Maar De Seeti’ by CBS primarily revolves around the phenomenon of ‘Whistle-Blowing’. The motivation for the play came from the tragic fate of Sh. Satyendra Kumar Dubey, who was murdered for raising his voice against the corruption in NHAI. The play aims to awaken the conscience of the masses and encourage them to speak out against anything wrong.

Histronica is one of the finest and the most popular theatre festivals in campus. It was started four years back by four of the alumni members of the society. Talking about changing the format of the festivals, Medha Bankhwal, organizer, Histrionica says, “ The idea of holding a performance based festival is to bring together theatre enthusiasts to appreciate the art and not rank them as first, second and third. Street plays can’t be judged. Because you can’t label one social issue as more important than the other”.

Street theatre today, as we see has evolved a lot. Its not only about a group of young men and women performing a street play using danda, chunni and daffali as props. Today we see innumerable musical instruments, jute sacks, powdered colors, placards, banners, huge cloth pieces, et al being used as props. Talking about this change, Dhruv Raj Gupta, an alumnus of SRCC dramsoc says, “If using different props makes conveying the message of a play easier, then why refrain from using it. Theatre after all has no boundries”.

Medha agrees with him, “Street theatre gets audience who aren’t even vaguely interested in theatre. It spreads a message through entertainment. So if using certain props makes the play more interesting, then why not use it. And anyway there isn’t any hard and fast rule that you have to stick to a chunni danda and daffali as props”.