THE GOD IS BACK. OR IS IT? – PAF 2022 Review

In the quest to revive the insti culture, the Performing Arts Festival (PAF) is an important checkpoint. With the chants of “PAF God hota hai”, there was a hype in the institute about its return. Given a short timeline of 2 weeks in which it was put together with a lot of students already busy with their club’s flagships, whether the festival lived up to the expectations of the insti junta or not is a different question altogether.

‘Advaita’ is a story about an ambitious girl planning to make it big as a director in the film industry. The plot revolves around the numerous obstacles she has to face in our patriarchal society. Tackling the serious issue of mistreatment of women in the workplace, there were certain scenes with depictions that really make you delve into your thoughts and reflect on the reality of the situation. The story covers a lot, from a family’s preference for a man’s ambitions, pretentious woke commercial marketing, accusations of preferential treatment, to disregard for a woman’s talent. 

Dance was an important element of this entire PAF, with the story simultaneously being conveyed through artistically crafted routines after every scene. Symbolism was used effectively, with balloons representing ambition, steps leading to achievement, and traffic cones representing hurdles. The dance team did a fine job of composing synchronized dance routines and expressing emotion with them.

The PAF had extensive prod, and to a student who has never seen PAF before, this seems like one of the most impressive parts of it all. The rooftop cafe, the advertisement set, the symbolic stairs and door, and the rooms of the house, were all put together beautifully. The fine arts on the prod looked detailed, thus bringing the setup to life. The prod team clearly worked very hard, with contributions from the alumni, considering the amount of time that this PAF had for its execution.

The acting in the PAF fared well, with most actors pulling off their roles with conviction. The female protagonist, played by Prajna Shah, was impactful and touching. Other notable characters would be the antagonist played by Avichal Jain, the assistant director played by Bhawna Sawdia, and the parents Sesan Naik and Mahek Virwani. The humor was well placed and was executed perfectly by the caterer played by Bharat and the company official Yogesh. 

The one part of the PAF that came out seamlessly was the voiceover. The accents, the modulations, and the expressions were all very well conveyed by the voiceover artists. Some voiceovers that left an impact were the neighbors by Alisha Praveen and Yogesh, the company rep by Alok Gupta, and the caterer by Samay Jain. 

The music in PAF failed to leave a lasting impact. The piece at the start lacked stable vocals, occasionally making the lyrics of the song difficult to comprehend. The choices of songs for the dance were apt, but the background score could have used more attention. That being said, the band put together these performances in a span of 2 days, and a lot of the pieces were improvised during PAF. 

And last but not least, the concluding act consisted of a thousand colorful balls being showered on the OAT stage, a surprising but stunning end to the show. However, to sum it up, despite showcasing some extensive stage production and dealing with several societal issues, the ending of the story seemed anticlimactic and left the audience unsatisfied.

The end was accompanied by the traditional prod demolition, a captivating sight of the PAF team running to tear down the complete production, the fruit of their week-long toil, created by their very own hands. This activity started as a way to prevent other PAFs from using one’s prod but is now one of the most fun traditions of PAF.

Though laced with some imperfections and mistakes, this PAF was an essential kickstart to bring back the glorious PAF history. Pulled off in a very short time and with a team that probably has never seen PAF before, this can be considered a stepping stone to the original competition-fueled, passion-powered PAF of years long gone.