Medina 2014 Archives - DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

Day two at Medina – the annual theatre festival of Hindu College witnessed the street play competition – Itehaad-e-Ibtida on 7th March. After day one of Qissa-e-Ibtida (stage play competition), Dastan goi (Urdu storytelling) and Filmy Chakkar (Bollywood Quiz), day two featured only the nine hour long street play competition.

Continuing the tradition of bringing something new and unique for street theatre artists, Medina is not about the usual annual productions being performed by various teams. All the artists are given different challenges each year – these range from performing the production of other teams participating, to performing a 2 year old production of your own society with a preparation time of few hours. This year all the teams were shuffled, each time having members of 5 other teams divided according to the year of their study and music art portrayed in the performances. Through this process, 10 teams were formed and they were given 3 hours preparation time to make a new play on different social topics given to each team through a chit system. The topics given were related to the topics on which plays in the university have been happening recently.

Mr. Sahil Yadav, alumni of Ibtida and presently in Jawaharlal Nehru University judged the event. He mentioned, “Medina is different because it is not a usual competition. Artists come out of their comfort zone. They perform with people whom they don’t know, brainstorm and form a play in few hours.”

Participating teams included SGTB Khalsa College, Hansraj College, Jesus and Mary College, PGDAV College, Ramanujan College, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Miranda House, Shivaji and Guru Teg Bahadur Institute of Technology.

After 3 hours of preparation, all the teams presented their plays. The results were as follows:

1st position:
Team – final year students of Ramanujan College, second year students of SGTB Khalsa and first year students of GTBIT with musicians from Jesus and Mary College. They performed a play on Gender Inequality.

2nd position:
Team – final year students from College of Business Studies and Hansraj College, second year students from shivaji and PGDAV freshers with musicians from Shri Ram College of Commerce. “Old Age is…” is the play they presented on old age challenges and problems.

Retiring Actor Award: Prabhjot Singh, SGTB Khalsa College

Newcomer Award: Nikita Kumar, Miranda House

Rohit Kumar of India’s Got Talent fame, made a sand painting depicting various elements of street theatre. This was followed by the feedback session and small celebration organised by Ibtida. The cake cutting was followed by a DJ where students themselves also sang songs from Hindi cinema. All the participants, same as the judge really liked the concept.

A member of dramatics society of Shri Ram College Of Commerce said, “Itehaad-e-Ibtida is the best and the most creative theatre festival of Delhi University. We wait for Medina 2015. Thank you for keeping the true spirit of theatre alive in the circuit.”

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With the tagline ‘Sailing through Drama’, Ibtida – the Hindi dramatics society of Hindu College is holding Medina, the 3rd Annual theatre festival on 6th-7th March.

Three events were scheduled for the first day of Medina. These included Dastangoi, Filmy Chakkar and Qissa-e-Ibtida.

The day started with Dastangoi, the last form of Urdu storytelling event which went for an hour. Dastangoi promotes the lost art of Urdu storytelling. “Kabir ke dohe ko, unki kavitaaon ko, unki zindagi ke baare mein muh zubani btana hi hamara kaam hai”, said Ankit Chadha who was the performer for the event. Ankit is the alumni of Ibtida and Hindu College. Dastangoi was held at the Virgin Tree in the college campus where Mr. Chadha was too subtle to be the lead performer. Sitting on a mattress under the tree, he attracted a lot of spectators.

Filmy Chakkar, the bollywood quiz was also held at the same place as that of Dastangoi right after it. Various teams participated and the quiz was divided into three rounds. Each question had various hints and teams were marked accordingly. The participants had to guess names of bollywood actors and films through these hints. Abhyuday Tiwari and Pranjal from Hindu College won Filmy Chakkar with a cash prize of Rs. 1000 and prizes in kind worth Rs. 4000.

Last in line for the first day at Medina was Qissa-e-Ibtida – the non competitive stage play event. Four top teams were selected for the finals by the Ibtida team through a screening process. This celebration of theatre began with Kirori Mal College performing their production God followed by Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay by SGTB Khalsa College and The Private Ear by Ramjas College. The last play for Qissa-E-Ibtida was by Hans Raj College presenting Holi, their annual production.

Mr. Avtar Sahani – the eminent movie and theatre personality judged the event. Each team was awarded Rs. 4000 and two best actors were adjudged and presented Rs. 1000 each. Sahib Singh from SGTB Khalsa and Priyanka Kumar from KMC got the title for their respective productions.

Mr. Sahani provided feedback to all four teams and said, “Choose less subject matter, but do justice to what is there in the final script. Too many things lead to confusion. Clarity in theatre is very important which can be achieved by not deviating from the main theme of the act.” He appreciated all teams for their effort and expressed happiness that theatre is still alive in the university.

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