Inspired by the celluloid

Taking inspiration from the world of cinema, the vibrant theme for this year’s annual techno-cultural fest of RV College of Engineering was ‘Life in Technicolor’. The three-day fest, named ‘8th Mile’, was recently organised with much fanfare on the college campus and witnessed active participation by colleges in the city. 

“The fest has been our annual event since the past four years. Our college is exactly eight miles away from Majestic, hence the name. This year we have around 75 technical and cultural events,” said Adhvik Shetty, the literary events head for the fest.

The campus decor resonated with the interesting theme. A red carpet arrangement was done in one of the areas and  electronic circuits gave off  flashes during pictures. Handmade posters of superheroes like Spider-Man and Captain America were put up all over the area. Old cameras with rotating wheels installed in the heart of the campus added to the cinematic appeal.

There were also a few engaging events inspired by the theme. One of them was ‘Spotlight’, a journalism-based event which comprised newspaper report editing followed by turncoat. ‘Series of Unfortunate Events’ was inspired by a TV series. The first round had crossword puzzles and literature-related word trivia to be solved and the second round saw images and stills from movies which had to be captioned. The last round was ‘crossover fan fiction’ wherein fictional characters from movies and books were taken and a tale had to be spun involving one in the world of another. The highlight of the first day was ‘Campus Roadies’, a personality based event which ended with a stress interview. A technical event titled ‘MI-7 Rogue Recursion’, wherein students had to break barriers and move to the next coding round, also saw wide participation.

In the evening, comedian Sorabh Pant tickled the funny bone of the crowd with his jokes, especially on engineering students. The ‘choreo night’ saw a mix of Western and Eastern dances, with Jain College as the winners. Later, progressive Carnatic rock band, ‘Agam’, enthralled everyone as they performed live in Coke Studio, with the opening act by ‘Indi-Ever’.

One of the attractions on the second day was ‘Collesium’, a centrestage theatre act comprising intra-college and inter-college rounds. ‘I am Sherlocked’ comprised a treasure hunt and a crime scene to solve. The opening act for the evening was by the inhouse band ‘Project Mishram’ followed by a celebrity night featuring Anushka Manchanda.

Another highlight was the overnight ‘hackathon’, sponsored by Oracle and Amadeus, which saw budding engineers brainstorming to crack various complex codes.

On the third day, an innovative ad campaign-based event, ‘Mad Ads’, was conducted. The fashion show, ‘Verve’, saw students at their stylish best. The fest concluded with an  EDM night. The opening act was by house music producer duo, ‘Zephyrtone’, followed by DJ duo ‘Lost Stories’.

Vinay Jugati, the events head, said, “The fest has been a great learning opportunity. This time, it was a bit more challenging in terms of raising funds but we did it in the end.”

Specsmakers was the title sponsor of ‘8th Mile’.