Abhimanch prove their mettle

CHANDIGARH, May 3: Theatre and engineering seemed to be a rare combination, until one saw the play and realised what Anuj K Gupta told Ne...

CHANDIGARH, May 3: Theatre and engineering seemed to be a rare combination, until one saw the play and realised what Anuj K Gupta told Newsline initially, 8220;Please don8217;t stereotype us.8221; For though they do not have any background in the intricacies of theatre, they did a splendid job, that too with none other than Badal Sarcar, presenting his much-presented, much-talked about Juloos.

The English auditorium was packed to the full with vibrant youngsters, and they got their fill from Abhimanch, the new group floated by the students of the Department of Chemical Engineering. Directed by Devinder Kumar Sinha, the soul of the group, Juloos, a loud comment on the socio-political and religious scenario of the country, unfolded through five vibrant men. Praveen Gandhi, Sunil Garg, Nitin Sharma, Bhaguna Mittal and Sumit Singhal 8212; who gave a running commentary on the state of affairs 8212; were the thread of the play along with the lone woman in the team Kulwinder Kaur.

Juloos, is all about the basic Godotian principle, the optimistic wait for the spirit of life and here it was the wait for the right kind of procession. In this country of processions, that would show the lost generation the right path. Anuj as Munna in his past form that was lost in the cacophony of life and Priyapan Srivastav as the present day Munna whose idealism gets murdered in the opportunistic world did a thorough job. And also Nikit Rajan, who was the blind law-keeper8217; who restored normalcy in no time8217;. Not to forget Jayprakash Negi as the saffron-clad guruji who preached spiritualism to the hungry multitude.

It was a well-directed play without even a moment of boredom, the kind that hooked you to it, though it was something unusual from a newcomer. It was the right beginning for Abhimanch that 8220;intends to provide a platform for the youngsters not only in art, but in literary activities too,8221; as pointed out by Sandeep Chatterjee, the marketing man of the team. If all goes well, October will see them organising an inter-university Nritya Mahotsav.