Celebrity time at college festival

In the season of college fests, even students at private universities are having a gala time thanks to numerous celebrities who are making their presence felt at their colleges. It was a similar scenario during the 5th edition of ‘Chorus 2014’, the annual cultural festival of Sharda University which saw the ‘who’s who’ of the celebrity league performing and participating in students’ activities.

Themed on ‘Carnival’, the three-day event, recently organised at the university campus, comprised a number of spectacular performances by both the students and the celebs. The campus was abuzz with cultural activities from the word go. On the evening of the opening day, the festival began with a lamp lighting ceremony by PK Gupta, Chancellor, Sharda University.

Present on the occasion were dignitaries from various embassies and high commissions like China, Nepal, South Africa, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Turkey, Gambia. This was followed by a rendition of Saraswati Vandana and Ganesh Vandana by students. It was a sight to remember when more than 100 Fanush (hot air balloons made of paper) were released in the sky to mark the beginning of the festival.

Soon the dance mania took over with a number of dance performances lined up for the evening. Presented by the university students along with the international students in the campus, these performances coupled with foot-tapping, high voltage music made the crowd go into a frenzy. Spicing up the proceedings with his particular brand of piquant humour was popular comedian Sunil Grover dressed up as Guthi.

Grover, true to his forte kept the gathering rolling with his rib-tickling one-liners and jokes. The air of jollity soon turned soulful with the Nizami Bandhu taking to the stage to sing some of the finest qawwalis. Starting from Kun Faya Kun from Rockstar to the all-time favourite Dama Dam Mast Qalandar including Alla ho and Jhule Lal, made it difficult for the audience to call it a day.

The second day of the fest had a lot in store with preliminary rounds of unusual competitions such as an in-house version of the popular MTV Roadies, titled ‘Rowdies’, ‘Click – it’ (the photography competition), Clash of the Titans (War of the bands), Mosaic Bolt (dance competition), painting, mehandi and tattoo competitions. The crowd-puller, however, remained the Style Fiesta – the campus fashion show to shortlist contestants for the most coveted title of Mr & Miss Chorus 2014!

On the third and final day, there was a high adrenaline rush among students as celebrities such as actress Vaani Kapoor judged the finals and announced the Winners of Mr & Miss Chorus. Simultaneously, Raghu and Rajiv judged the finale of Rowdies and veteran actor Om Puri and talented Divya Dutta declared the winners of the Nukkad Natak competition.

As if this deluge of celebrities wasn’t enough, the students got a chance to let themselves loose as MJ 5 performed on tracks ranging from Dangerous by Michael Jackson to B-town popular Tip Tip Barsa Paani. To top it all, there was a concert by Sukhwinder Singh lined up for the evening.

As he crooned popular numbers like Chhaiya Chhaiya from Dil Se, Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire and the latest hit Angreza from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag to captivate the audience, the gala affair came to an end, all too soon as the students
would say!