Annual Productions 2012: A look back

Fourth Wall, the Dramatics club of IIT-B came together for the club’s biggest event, the Annual Productions 2012, showcasing IIT-B’s best plays on the 17th and 18th of January. To get rid of the organisational difficulties that arise from clubbing Theater Fest and Ann Prod together, this year, the two events were held separately.

Day-1 started with “I believe”, an energetic street-play, directed by Ayush Jain and Tanash Sharma, and enacted by a bunch of sophomores, apart from the director duo. This was followed by a comedy play called “Andher Nagri” performed by freshies. The play was an easy watch and was applauded by the audience. Then came an English play “Flip”, written by Alankar Jain, and enacted by Rohan Vadgaonkar and the writer himself. The play told the story of the flip in the friendship of two best friends. “Sukoon”, a short but gripping play directed by Tanash Sharma and enacted by, Prasun Agarwal and Kanad Dagaonkar told the story of a suicide bomber. Next in line was a monologue in Marathi, brilliantly enacted by Chaitanya Dhande, which although could not be understood by many, was appreciated for the actor’s expressions and body language. Day-1 ended with an abstract play directed by a distinguished alumnus of Fourthwall, Sameer Mishra, and enacted by Bhavna Gupta, Yudhister Satija(UD) and Sankalp Kelshikar. The attendance of the audience was low to begin with and although people kept pouring in, yet LT was never quite full.

Day-2 fared better as far as audience attendance and response is concerned. “Kissa” was written by Divya Alok Nirmal (Pappa) and Altaf Ahmad and enacted by Arpit Agrawal, Karunesh Jigyasu, Sonal Chouhan and Altaf. A twisted tale of love, friendship and betrayal, having its share of humour and sentiments, the play was applauded for wonderful acting and live music. “Silence Please”, a mime performance by Deepak Sharma, virtually stole Day-2 with its mind blowing acts, and the same was reflected in the audience’s cheers. Daak Ghar, an adaptation of Rabindra Nath Tagore’s play painted a panoramic view of a village as seen through the eyes of a sick boy. The play was directed by Kumar Dhruv Soni and enacted by Badri Chavan, Jitendra Mandora, Pankhu Ri and Rishabh Jain. Next came a short English play with a long name “The history of why the chicken crossed the road”, written by Jennye James, enacted by Abhilasha Saroj and Rahul Shankar Bhardwaj (RSB) and directed by Pragya Maheshwari, the play was applauded by the audience.  Exploring the broadway genre, “Ye ishq nahin aasaan…” was pure entertainment. Telling the tale of a Nawaab caught between his wives, the play delivered hearty laughs. The play was written and directed by Aditya Gupta (Bonda), and enacted by Kalpana Meena, Neha Nogia, Aishwarya Ghumre, Manju Kaushal, Samarpan Soni,  Ankit Yadav apart from the writer and director, himself.

Thus came to an end the 2-day event, which with its rich diversity of plays, ranging from street plays, original plays, adapted plays, monologues, mimes, English plays, broadway and multi-lingual plays, lived up to the expectations!

Alankar Jain, Neha Innanje, Venktesh Pandey with inputs from Abhilasha Saroj