With the Inter-IIT Cultural Meet being just a few days away, all cult sections are busy practising away. Watch Out dropped by each section of the Cultsoc to get a sneak peek into their practise regime and to find out their expectations from the meet.

Tell us what are the events are under your section?

Under the category of dramatic arts we have 3 kinds of events- stage play& street play, these are group competitions where we participate in teams of 20-30 and monologue where a single person performs.

Give us an insight into your practices for the cultural meet.

For the street play, we are continuing over our semester play. We are already prepared for it and just improving on places where we lacked, how it was perceived by the audience and other minor details.For the stage play, we have selected an entirely new script. Practise for stage play goes on from morning till 12 at night. It involves a lot of work, choosing the scripts, writing dialogues, working on the characters, music selection, setup etc. For the street play, we practise from morning to evening, before the sun sets, in the ABN ground. After this, the street play members work as the non-cast for the stage practice in OP Jain Auditorium.

Are only original plays are allowed or adaptations can be performed?

Both adaptations and original plays are allowed but they do not have any marks for the script. Marking will be on acting and direction, creativity and overall impact through music, lights, costumes and stage.

In the process of preparing the play which is the most challenging and difficult task?

Everything requires a lot of hard work but I would say it’s in terms of direction and acting where all the IITs would be at par. So, to be a step ahead we are experimenting with our creativity, music and light. Execution of the idea is the most important task.

Being the host contingent the advantages and disadvantages that you face.

Advantages as a host contingent are that you have a very good idea of the stage, the props, furniture etc. We are getting good resources, we have bought a new xylophone, the OP Jain stage is getting revamped and the lights are also improved. The disadvantage is that you lose a part of the team who are are helping with the organising of the cultural meet and that we are not getting to go to another place (laughs).

So, is it a pressure or an excitement to be the host?

I wouldn’t say it’s any extra pressure. If we were going to any other IIT we would have put in the same amount of effort that we are putting in now.

Till now how has been the support of the administration and the Inter IIT core team and what are the problems you faced?

Regarding the rules and resources we got a good amount of support but infrastructurally one of the biggest problems is that we have to practise besides the Choreography Section and they play loud music which causes a lot of inconveniences. Also, another problem we face being in Roorkee is that it is difficult to arrange the costumes and props. We try to arrange it locally or get it stitched from the tailor. Similarly, it is difficult to get a wig so we even ask people to shave their head off.

Comparing to the previous editions, what challenges you faced that you are trying to overcome in this performance?

We haven’t won any place in the street play yet, so of course, we are collecting everything from the winning teams that we missed and combine all of those to execute our idea. We won the second position in the stage play last year and we went to the judges who told us the places where we lagged like a few costumes didn’t go well, a few places where acting could have been better etc. So have all the points in our mind and trying our best to execute them.

How does an inter-IIT platform aids in the improvement of your section?

We have always been performing semester plays which are for the campus Janta, an audience which does not know much about dramatics and nobody to judge. But Inter-IIT is a competition and it comes with pressure. We tend to act differently under pressure and try to be the best version of ourselves. There are professional Judges who will observe the details and technicalities and there are teams who are also part of dramatics section of their college.We get an opportunity to see where we stand, where we lag, where we are good and this overall helps in our growth.

In previous versions, you have faced problems in the management, so what do you think that Roorkee must improve on?

Last year in the event there was no coordinator from The Dramatics Section during the dramatics events. When we had issues with the lights we needed someone from the section who knows about the technical details to help. This created a big problem and so we are trying to ensure this does not happen here.

You might have good days and bad days, so how do you deal with the bad days?

Well, we laugh at mistakes. I think that any of the cult activity has a lot of energy associated with it. When something is not going good in a stage play then we go and see the practice of the street play where they will be singing the chorus and so you get the energy from people around you Any kind of blunder becomes a joke. For example, if there is an intimate scene between two characters it’s usually funny to see the actors getting awkward and laughing but we have to maintain professionalism.

Any ending remarks?

Go for Gold ! We will give our best.