Chitkara University hosted India’s Largest National Theatre Festival ‘Rangrezz’ 2018 on October 5-6, 2018

October 15, 2018 – Chitkara University today announced that it hosted India’s largest National Theatre Festival, Rangrezz 2018. The event witnessed the participation of a large number of teams from all over the country, to perform at Chitkara University. Rangrezz 2018 took place from October 5 – 6, 2018 at Chitkara University.

Theatre festivals can be credited to not only catalyzing the theatre culture in its home city but also provide a platform for new talent and unique works. The recently concluded inter-collegiate theatre festival at Chandigarh’s Chitkara University has been doing its best to keep the creative culture on its toes in the country. With individual flavors and features imbibed from various cultures from across the globe, the theatre extravaganza explores a myriad palette of talents and styles of theatre, making it an experience nobody would want to miss.

This year too, the National Theatre Festival, Rangreez, aimed to tap into the best as well as newer and fresher theatre productions from all over the country. Participating teams presented the biggest-ever, tempting line-up of short plays, which provided a quick yet clear glimpse of the societal attitudes prevalent among the youth, with stirring presentations that evoked a response. Classic plays, condensed to fit the one-act format with a time stipulation, presented characters as snapshots in a kaleidoscope of experience.

The first-prize winning entry was a spirited and subtly comic adaptation of GirishKarnad’s ‘Hayavadana’ which was based on the idea that humans are imperfect and thus have a number of limitations. Other notable re-enactments included a good mix of William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet and Macbeth’; abridged versions of Manav Kaul’s ‘Ilhaam’ and Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’; versions of the Ramayana; the Mahabharata seen through the lens of the anti-heroic Karna; and Manto’s short stories.

The impressive line-up also included SandeepShikhar’s ‘Treadmill’, which hit hard with the audience. The characters in the play used running — as the title of the play suggests — as a metaphor to portray the rush of city life. “Running has become a way of life for us city dwellers – we run to achieve goals, yet fulfilment eludes us” – the play concluded on this note. Popular plays by Vijay Tendulkar — Holi with a new twist ending, and Kanyadan, with a gripping, socially relevant subject, also kept the audience intensely engaged. Sometimes ironical, sometimes humorous, these plays kept the audience glued to their seats with excitement & anticipation.

Addressing important issues and changing scenarios through theatre, female empowerment took centre stage, in the face of the #MeToo movement, as multi-talented students showcased original productions with the sensitivity of treatment and an execution that did justice to themes in question. Next, considering the recent Section 377 ruling, it came as no surprise that several plays took on gay themes. Flamboyant and fabulous, the plays formed an eye-opening introduction to gay relationships, aptly portraying the attraction and affection within them too!

The unique feature of Rangreez’18 was that the two days of theatre festival ushered in twenty new colours and aspects of life in the form of stage plays, nukkadnatak, street plays, drama, comedy acts, fun events, among others, with productions being carried out by some very talented artists – making it an experience of a lifetime.

Speaking on this occasion, Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Vice-Chancellor of Chitkara University, said, “Chitkara University’s flagship National Theatre Festival, ‘Rangrezz’ 2018, celebrates new voices and original productions. The aim of the festival is to provide a platform for the youth to inspire each other, discover hidden talents and connect with pertinent ideas & issues across the globe through art. Over 100 teams across 18 states in India enthusiastically participated and performed in the National Theatre Festival, and we are delighted to be able to provide this platform. I would like to congratulate everybody for putting up a spectacular show!”