Well Play-ed

There wasn’t a huge crowd to cheer the victors on when the results were finally declared. Nor were the lights on the stage as bright. But none of it seemed to matter to the jubiliant team when their names was announced.Amidst loud cheers from the tenacious ones who had waited on despite the late hour to hear the ultimate verdict,the winners finally did take it all. The place-Yashwantrao Chavan Auditorium,the victors-College of Engineering Pune (COEP),and the event-the finals of the 36th edition of the Firodia Karandak Competition.  

The finals this year held on February 24 saw eight college teams pit their cultural skills against one another for the supreme prize. Speaking about the victory,Vaibhav Tatwawadi,of COEP says,“This year we came up with a unique theme for the play when both me and the writer of the play Vinay Narayane were brainstorming on the theme. We decided to showcase a story that showcased the difference in the mindsets of the urban populace,and their power hungry and selfish nature,which cares for none,who come in the way.” Interestingly Tatwawadi also won the award for the best actor in the male category. The play titled Khel Mandla,explores the long drawn battles that leaves farmers stranded on one end,with big companies trying to usurp their fertile lands for their own commercial expansion. Tatwawadi who plays the lead role in the play says,“My character Aditya works for a chemical firm which is bent on aggressive expansion. Aditya however is unaware of the ulterior motives of his firm and when he finds out the same opposes them against the unjust expansion.”

The play,which has a very ‘Christmas Carol’ feel to it has the main protagonist speaking to the ghosts of three characters who have been killed. The three ghosts in the play are those of the village Patil his wife and their servant Babnya,who tell him the wrong doings of the company and enable him to stand up against the corruption of his own firm and try to work towards changing the system.

The eight finalists in the final were Fergusson College,Pune Institute of Computing Technology,Kashibai Navale College,ILS Law College,BMCC,VIT and SIT. Speaking about the competition this year,Ajinkya Kulkarni,organiser,says,“It was plain difficult  when it came to choosing a winner for the simple reason that,students from the colleges have come up with themes that itself are ingenious and very socially relevant. Outside that,since the drama doesn’t allow participants to use recordings of any sort,the judges gave out the marks on the basis of the cultural performances that are built into the storyline of the play.”

Writer of the play Vinay Narayane who also picked up the award for the best writer says,“We just wanted to raise the issue that do development and industrialisation go hand in hand for a nation like India which is primarily an agricultural country. And to showcase the same we focus on the story told to Aditya by the three ghosts about the wrongdoings of his own firm. At the end we give out the message that one needs to be a part of the system in order to change it.”

Results

Best play

1st: COEP for the play Khel Mandla

2nd: BMCC for the play Manuj

3rd: joint place: SIT for the play Har Khwaish Pe Dum Nikle and Fergusson College for the play Chakra

Best writer

Vinay Narayane of COEP

Aniket V of SIT

Best director

Abhay Mahajan of BMCC

Akshay Tilak of COEP

Abhishek Girme of SIT

Best actor

Vaibhav Tatwawadi of COEP

Siddharth Menon of BMCC

Ashish Girme of SIT

Best actress

Madhura Jugade of BMCC

Svanandi Tikekar of ILS

Tanvi Desai of SIT