Tatwa 2006- report and review

Tatwa 2006- a report and a review

Part-I

Tatwa- the two day play fest culminated today at the Jnana Jyothi auditorium. The event for which Harish, Abhijith and troupe had been toiling so hard(and for which the placement office computers contributed so much of their precious computing power) has been a success.

The word ‘tatwa’ in Sanskrit means summary or gist or the essence of something. Even though this word has no relevance in the context of a play fest, the word is short and catchy, hence acceptable as the name of a play fest.

The concept of a play fest is definitely a new idea for UVCE. The organizers deserve the credit for taking the initiative and organizing the event when support and acceptance may not have come very easily from the college. The organizers managed to get good sponsors- Radio Mirchi, The Hindu etc., a superb venue- the Jnana Jyothi auditorium and sufficient number of participating teams.

The event started of yesterday (April 8^th) at around 11 clock. The chief guest for the inauguration was Chandrashekhar Tejaswi, a local theatre personality. The event began with a one minute video showcasing the pioneers of drama. While the video showed photos of Girish Karnad, Arjun Sajnani etc it never mentioned T P Kailasam, much to my disappointment. However the idea of screening a video was good.

The inauguration formalities were the usual. Something worth mentioning here is that the chief guest in his speech expressed his irritation about the two bags which were strewn on the stage and also about people walking around the stage. Which is bad, I agree unanimously. But engineering college fests always have an atmosphere of informality about them.

The jury consisted of 3 members whose names I don’t remember. The first team to start was the team from BHS(whatever it stands for). After making the audience wait for a long time, the team started of.

The following teams participated in the event.

Day one:

1) BHS performing ‘Kaakana Kote’

2) 24 Rajput rifles

3) the man upstairs

4) UVCE performing ‘bandwaalavilladha badai’

Day two

5) UVCE performing ‘…’(missed this one)

6) Hittina Hanju

7) ___ cut ( don’t remember the name)

8) Brahmi from KSIT

9) Pishachi ___ Pishachi

10) BMS

11) ‘Cheque please’ from NLS

Having just been introduced to watching theatre, I am not sufficiently qualified to comment about the nuances of acting, theatre production etc. But some teams and some individuals always stand out and leave an impression. Here are my comments about every team…

1) Kaakana Kote

Superb presentation. Lot of hard work is visible here. Perfect timing. The stage was

Never left empty. Transition from scene to scene was always done with music and
diversions of dance etc. while the stage was prepared for the next scene.

Actors who stood out were those playing the protagonist’s side kick, Moni, Molii and the
Heggade. The actor playing the protagonist did an average job in my opinion.

2) 24 Rajput rifle

An original script. Definitely not worth the hype(as claimed as the winner of the VTU
fest).

3) The man upstairs

Or the woman upstairs? Was very dull and mediocre.

4) UVCE ..’bandvaalavilladha badaayi’

Written by T P Kailasam. Superb acting by the person playing the male lead. The play
was hilarious. The actors brilliantly covered a contingency situation when the seat they
were sitting on collapsed and integrated that into the scene seamlessly.

5) UVCE’s second team

Missed watching this unfortunately.

6) Hittina Hanju

Watched from the middle. Initially everything just flew over the head…the play
proved too difficult to understand. However as it progressed, I understood things a little.
The female protagonist was brilliant. However the male protagonist, being a
professional theatre person, didn’t live up to the expectations.

7) __ cut

Never understood why the team chose such a script.

8) Brahmi from KSIT

Superb special effects with the lighting and the sound. ‘ranganna’ was brilliant. The
story in my opinion was not all that great.

9) Pishachi__Pishachi

Didn’t watch the whole play. Just saw the start which seemed okay dokey.

10) BMS

The story was original and simple. Would have been mediocre and negligible had it
not been for the performance of the female lead who was brilliant. She showed the
most believable realistic expressions and body language.

11) Cheque please from NLS

Superb script. Probably the best script in the lot. Good dialogues coupled with good
performance by one and all left all of us laughing.

End of Part-I
To be contd.