Zoon barabar zoon
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DISCLAIMER
The following post is purely with respect to a dramatics event at IIT Bombay. Any resemblance to any person or organisation, dead or alive is purely coincidental
*****************************************************************
It's PAF season again! I strongly believe that the world will end in 2012 according to the Mayan calendar and I have no reason to believe I'll be in Mumbai next year around this time, so in all probability, this is my last PAF season. From my experience of watching three of the past seasons, it is my observation that the first PAF is usually quite mediocre (ref Ramleela). This might also be since they have nothing to compare themselves to.
There were very high expectations from the first PAF this time around, titled 'Zoon', performed by Hostels 3, 5 and 10 - a very formidable and culturally sound group. 3 has traditionally been a stronghold for dram and dance, having h10, a girls hostel, throws open infinite possibilities for the story-line/theme and h5 has been the undisputed champion in prod in the past several years (when I say prod here, I mean only the structures part. The tech part has been 8 or 3). With such a strong ensemble, it was only natural for our team to feel a but unnerved at the beginning of the PAF season with our group being 1, 6, 7 and 11 (we are working our asses off, I assure you, but we definitely lacked the fire-power at that time that this team promised. The following is the pre-PAF video by InsIghT.
The PAF
It started with what I can only hope to be a Republic / Independence day parade in front of Lal Quilla. An evident flaw in the FA was the conspicuous absence of the Indian flag on top of the fort. Then entered some extras (read freshies) in NCC uniforms in a haphazard march-past followed by autonomously moving replicas of some missiles. The second "movable" prod consisted of something supported on pillars with "Jammu va Kashmir" written in Devnagri. Now one of these pillars was dangerously swaying and fell down in the middle of it's journey. This prod even threatened to crash into the voice-over box, and would have done so too, were it not for the Prod junta's presence of mind.
Then there was a street-play - the best thing of this PAF - with a nice emphasis on the power of responsible media and public opinion and voice and an excellent satire on today's irresponsible journalism. But beyond this point, the PAF started going downwards. There was a court scene with Dabri's extremely nasal voice-over and pathetic forced stale humour and they somehow link the street play to Kashmir. The theme was how the army inflicts pain on the citizens of J&K and how the people sometimes take recourse to militancy. (This story is fictitious. I am NOT saying this actually happens. Not having been to Kashmir myself, I have no clue what happens there, but I am proud that Kashmir is a part of India)
The story apart, coming to the elements of the PAF:
Prod: Disastrous pach right at the beginning. They had 2 heavy people on what looked like tables protruding out of the centre-stage and the tables were threatening to collapse any minute. There was a lake in the middle of the quadrangle and the water reflecting off of the centre-stage was imply charismatic. This lake also had a stationary boat. There was also a butcher shop which hardly anyone could see since it was shadowed by a tall building.
Lights: Many screw-ups with the moon and the main lights. Actors acting in the dark. Lights turning off when they weren't supposed to.
Choreo: The video showed people dancing with un-lit flaming sticks. There were flaming sticks all right, but they extinguished as soon as the choreo junta came in. This only reiterates the need for full "costume" practices. There were many places where choreo was forceful and downright unnecessary. This one time, the choreo junta took their positions about 3 scenes before their gig was due and stayed there lying on the rough concrete floor in the dark. The choreo which seemed so perfectly synced in the video was only better than the un-synced NCC parade at the beginning.
Music: With Rejin and Kritin, we expected a good performance in music, and they didn't fail (though Rejin wasn't playing). Music was good. Songs were sung in a slightly childlike tone. The quawwali could have been done away with, no one seemed to get the gist of what was being said.
Script: Most of the script used Urdu words. Now, Urdu is a beautiful language, but hardly 5% of the crowd would actually know more than some 10 commonly used Urdu words. Most of the dialogues couldn't be understood. Sorry rahega people.
Dram: Disconnected story line. H10 always does that I guess. They have cut-scenes or choreos which have no relation with the story and confuse the audience as to what's happening (Najafgarh Express, Ramleela). This time it was the shenanigan about the Darwaja in Rajasthan - which was climactically driven home in the end in a very lame fashion. (This is my interpretation and I might be as woefully wrong as anyone who predicted South Africa to reach the semi-finals.) There was this random girl who was a guest and who wanted maggi. The old guy went to the shop to get some but forgot about it all together!
The InsIghT video
If you are still with me in this post, I suggest you have a look at the video, if you haven't done it yet, before reading further.
The drummer looks infi bored in the practice session. The Original compositions were nice, but the lyrics weren't memorable and most of the songs were in high pitched female voices. Prod: movable, realistic - they say. "Prod toh hum hi jeet rahe hai... techapa... prodapa..." Sorryapa people. Choreo - flaming sticks fail - out-of-sync throughout, unnecessary choreo. "Dram looks to be easy, but it isn't." - Puhlease - you don't know how to act. The last statement by the bloke says it all. We did leave the PAF happy saying "Apan hi hai, inka kuch nahi hone wala".
At the end of the day, no one knew the meaning of the title of the PAF. My lit secy later told me Zoon means hope. It means moonlight, and in a poetic sense, hope amidst darkness. A paradoxical name for a hopeless PAF.
DISCLAIMER
The following post is purely with respect to a dramatics event at IIT Bombay. Any resemblance to any person or organisation, dead or alive is purely coincidental
*****************************************************************
It's PAF season again! I strongly believe that the world will end in 2012 according to the Mayan calendar and I have no reason to believe I'll be in Mumbai next year around this time, so in all probability, this is my last PAF season. From my experience of watching three of the past seasons, it is my observation that the first PAF is usually quite mediocre (ref Ramleela). This might also be since they have nothing to compare themselves to.
There were very high expectations from the first PAF this time around, titled 'Zoon', performed by Hostels 3, 5 and 10 - a very formidable and culturally sound group. 3 has traditionally been a stronghold for dram and dance, having h10, a girls hostel, throws open infinite possibilities for the story-line/theme and h5 has been the undisputed champion in prod in the past several years (when I say prod here, I mean only the structures part. The tech part has been 8 or 3). With such a strong ensemble, it was only natural for our team to feel a but unnerved at the beginning of the PAF season with our group being 1, 6, 7 and 11 (we are working our asses off, I assure you, but we definitely lacked the fire-power at that time that this team promised. The following is the pre-PAF video by InsIghT.
The PAF
It started with what I can only hope to be a Republic / Independence day parade in front of Lal Quilla. An evident flaw in the FA was the conspicuous absence of the Indian flag on top of the fort. Then entered some extras (read freshies) in NCC uniforms in a haphazard march-past followed by autonomously moving replicas of some missiles. The second "movable" prod consisted of something supported on pillars with "Jammu va Kashmir" written in Devnagri. Now one of these pillars was dangerously swaying and fell down in the middle of it's journey. This prod even threatened to crash into the voice-over box, and would have done so too, were it not for the Prod junta's presence of mind.
Then there was a street-play - the best thing of this PAF - with a nice emphasis on the power of responsible media and public opinion and voice and an excellent satire on today's irresponsible journalism. But beyond this point, the PAF started going downwards. There was a court scene with Dabri's extremely nasal voice-over and pathetic forced stale humour and they somehow link the street play to Kashmir. The theme was how the army inflicts pain on the citizens of J&K and how the people sometimes take recourse to militancy. (This story is fictitious. I am NOT saying this actually happens. Not having been to Kashmir myself, I have no clue what happens there, but I am proud that Kashmir is a part of India)
The story apart, coming to the elements of the PAF:
Prod: Disastrous pach right at the beginning. They had 2 heavy people on what looked like tables protruding out of the centre-stage and the tables were threatening to collapse any minute. There was a lake in the middle of the quadrangle and the water reflecting off of the centre-stage was imply charismatic. This lake also had a stationary boat. There was also a butcher shop which hardly anyone could see since it was shadowed by a tall building.
Lights: Many screw-ups with the moon and the main lights. Actors acting in the dark. Lights turning off when they weren't supposed to.
Choreo: The video showed people dancing with un-lit flaming sticks. There were flaming sticks all right, but they extinguished as soon as the choreo junta came in. This only reiterates the need for full "costume" practices. There were many places where choreo was forceful and downright unnecessary. This one time, the choreo junta took their positions about 3 scenes before their gig was due and stayed there lying on the rough concrete floor in the dark. The choreo which seemed so perfectly synced in the video was only better than the un-synced NCC parade at the beginning.
Music: With Rejin and Kritin, we expected a good performance in music, and they didn't fail (though Rejin wasn't playing). Music was good. Songs were sung in a slightly childlike tone. The quawwali could have been done away with, no one seemed to get the gist of what was being said.
Script: Most of the script used Urdu words. Now, Urdu is a beautiful language, but hardly 5% of the crowd would actually know more than some 10 commonly used Urdu words. Most of the dialogues couldn't be understood. Sorry rahega people.
Dram: Disconnected story line. H10 always does that I guess. They have cut-scenes or choreos which have no relation with the story and confuse the audience as to what's happening (Najafgarh Express, Ramleela). This time it was the shenanigan about the Darwaja in Rajasthan - which was climactically driven home in the end in a very lame fashion. (This is my interpretation and I might be as woefully wrong as anyone who predicted South Africa to reach the semi-finals.) There was this random girl who was a guest and who wanted maggi. The old guy went to the shop to get some but forgot about it all together!
The InsIghT video
If you are still with me in this post, I suggest you have a look at the video, if you haven't done it yet, before reading further.
The drummer looks infi bored in the practice session. The Original compositions were nice, but the lyrics weren't memorable and most of the songs were in high pitched female voices. Prod: movable, realistic - they say. "Prod toh hum hi jeet rahe hai... techapa... prodapa..." Sorryapa people. Choreo - flaming sticks fail - out-of-sync throughout, unnecessary choreo. "Dram looks to be easy, but it isn't." - Puhlease - you don't know how to act. The last statement by the bloke says it all. We did leave the PAF happy saying "Apan hi hai, inka kuch nahi hone wala".
At the end of the day, no one knew the meaning of the title of the PAF. My lit secy later told me Zoon means hope. It means moonlight, and in a poetic sense, hope amidst darkness. A paradoxical name for a hopeless PAF.
Comments
Have you been to kashmir in recent times? And more importantly have you talked to people there to strengthen your belief? Just asking
Sorry if I have hurt sentiments. but it is extremely difficult to believe that this actually happens, it did not come out that well in the PAF anyways.
I have not been to Kashmir and it is wrong on my part. I have edited the part accordingly.