Kerala - Kochi   

Cliched performances at university fete

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

Shibu K. V. of Mahatma Gandhi University, who won the first prize in the fancy dress competition in the youth festival in Kochi on Thursday.

KOCHI: The shock waves of the Mumbai terror attack reverberated across the Maharaja’s College ground on Thursday afternoon when participants of the fancy dress competition at the Mahatma Gandhi University youth festival displayed the tragedy of the victims on stage.

Participants came dressed like victims who have survived the bomb blasts. Many performed the role of soldiers who lost their legs in ferocious battles with the terrorists. Others tried to bring on stage the plight of the common man on the streets.

Students also recreated terror scenes where people cried for help. The Godhra train tragedy enacted on the stage received applause from the audience. Despite such attempts, the fancy dress event failed to impress the audience thanks to the clichéd performances by many participants.

More than 10 participants took the oft-repeated role of beggars, inviting protests from the capacity crowd that had turned up at the Maharaja’s College ground in the morning. Judges of the competition pointed out that there was very little attempt to take the road less travelled in the fancy dress event. They referred to the lack of experiments in bringing fresh ideas on to the stage.

But Shibu K.V., an M. Phil student of Theatre Arts at the Mahatma Gandhi University campus in Kottayam, tried to make a difference and he won the hearts of both the audience and the judges.

He enacted the role of an elderly person living in memories of Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmathi Ashram. The make-up was perfect and the popular make-up artist E. Muthukrishnan successfully recreated the serene settings of the ashram on stage. “I am happy to have won the event especially when I was participating in the fancy dress competition for the first time,” said Mr. Shibu.

Abitha Kabir, a final-year student of history at Catholicate College in Pathanamthitta, finished a close second when she mapped the plight of a war victim in Baghdad. She also earned the ‘A’ grade in the event. Abitha had won the second prize in the fancy dress competition in the youth festival held last year.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Market tips for farmers
A development campaign on wheels
Nanotechnology will change lives: Sivathanu Pillai
CBI files affidavit in Abhaya case
Security tightened at railway stations
Keralite among terror victims
Book on medieval navigation
Cliched performances at university fete
Ophthalmic surgeons’ meet
Volume on Guruvayur temple
The fight is behind the leader Ocean Race watch
Uneasy calm at Taj Hotel
Security stepped up in the city
Supplyco offer
Samatha Law Society
Body found
Tender coconut ban lifted
Lacklustre show at fete
Dies of burns
In Kochi Today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu