Journalism of Courage
A spectacular evening
The Citadel Extravaganza 2010,held at Le Meridien on Saturday evening,was a mix of glitter and glitz and the bold and the beautiful. 14 contestants vied for the Mr & Ms Citadel 2010 titles through four rounds of Indian wear,Casual Wear,Q-n-A and Common Question rounds. In the first round,the girls looked gorgeous in sheer sarees and stringy blouses embellished with sequins while the boys looked hunky in low-neck waist-coats. The casual round was fun and chirpy as the contestants showed off some Latin-American dance moves on Shakira’s Waka Waka. The judges actors Chunky Pandey,Tanisha,Arjan Bajwa,Mrunal Kulkarni,Ajinkya Deo along with Paroneeta Hira,Sandip Soparkarr,Ajinkya Firodia,Hrishikeish Shirodkar and Nitin Desai had a tough time shortlisting the contestants for the semi-final and final rounds. And to give them time in between the sequences,there were performances by Australian dance troupe Zingara,a Tandav-cum-martial arts dance and a contemporary dance performance by Hrishikesh Pawar and his troupe. Also,Pune’s Pradeep Bhargava and Sheila Christian were felicitated for their exemplary work. Back to the contestants,the winners Abhishek Malik and Vibhuti Sharma were crowned by Chief Guest Abhishek Bachchan. Sameer Singh and Shaurya Sanadhya were the first runners-up,while Halley Laithangbam and Aarzoo Alamin were the second runners-up. Those present at the event were Mayor Mohan Singh Rajpal,Ramesh Wanjale,Subhash Sanas,Swati and Manish Dholepatil among others.
Play-ful!
Saturday gifted a fine revisit of four modern-day classic short plays to Pune’s theatre-lovers. Tom Stoppard’s A Separate Peace,Harold Pinter’s One for the Road,Noel Coward’s Still Life and George Simon Kaufman’s The Still Alarm regaled the audience at the Symbiosis Vishwabhavan with the quirks and fierce social commentary of a century past,but all that still rings today. Stoppard’s play,though well adapted,left behind a limp reaction. A simple enough story,but full of subtle unconventional strands,the play missed a certain tightness to it. The second piece,solid and acerbic as is Pinter’s leitmotif,was brilliantly enacted. Gripping and bold,the three characters played out every nuance with good effect. Coward’s piece was egalitarian,filled with all the everyday emotions of everyday people. The cast hit the romance and the parting,the banter and the tragedy,bang on. And nothing could have made the end better than Kaufman’s hilarious short satire on fiddling in times of a fire. The audience sure chuckled and giggled out of the hall.
