The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

Designers impress gathering
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 2
Sarita Kumari won the award for “best design collection” during the “Anu-Kama 2002”, a design collection show by the passing out students of the Northern India Institute of Fashion Technology (NIIFT) held here at Sutlej Club last night. Sukriti Choudhry was declared the “most creative” designer, Rupinder got the “best construction” award, Rohit Kataria’s collection was declared the “most commercial” and Arun Chouhan and Parmeet were given “jury special” awards.

The night was full of glitz-n-glamour when top models like Annie Thomas, Shefali Talwar, Nethra Raghuraman, Jesse Randhawa and Nina Manuel walked on the ramp displaying some mind blowing collections by creative designers.

The show kicked off with the “Vinnegrette” round by Sarita Kumari in which beauties wore different dresses in white. Deepika’s “Kaleidoscope” collection depicted corrals, flowers and fish and the depth of the sea. Sukriti’s “Peace of Paper” collection was appreciated by the audience. In the “Breaking free” collection, Teena Ashra displayed the shades of deep blue and black.

Young designer Harleen was at her best in her collection “Simply complicated”. In his collection “The tantrums of India”, Harsh displayed horizontal and vertical stitches. Ireena’s “Merge hot-n-cool” was full of complimentary colours. The “Phycasuaforma” collection by Rohit Kataria was a perfect blend of formals and casual.

Designer Shruti Bhalla depicted the internal set up of human body through images in her collection “The invisible vision”.

Spiritualistic, ancient and Indian traditions were depicted in various silhouettes, forms and textures in 23 collections.

The show was choreographed by “Hi-Q marketing and media” and coordinated by Harmeet Bajaj.

Mrs Parneet Kaur, MP from Patiala, presented the awards to the designers. Ms Ravneet Kaur, Executive Director NIIFT, said the aim of the show was to bring the young designers close to the industry.

College to hold short-term courses
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 2
The College of Home Science, Punjab Agricultural University, will organise several short duration training courses for children, college-going girls and women this summer.

Giving this information, Dr S.K. Mann, Dean, College of Home Science, said the courses for college-going girls and women would include those in bakery, food preservation, interior decoration, personality grooming and fabric decoration using non-conventional techniques.

For children, the Department of Human Development would hold ‘Learning for fun’, camp for four activities including natural craft, paper craft, puppetry and hospitality. Giving details, Dr I. J. S. Jaswal, head of the department, said the camp would be held from June 10 to 21 for children of age seven to 12. He said kids would make different decorative items from leaves, wooden pieces, paper and clothes. They would also be taught to arrange birthday parties, decorate their halls and rooms and learn innovative ways to invite their friends, he said. Dr Jaswal said on the last day, an exhibition of the items prepared by the kids would be arranged.

For the 25 home scientists from local colleges, krishi vigyan kendras and state agricultural universities at Palampur, Hisar, Kanpur, Faizabad, Jabalpur, Dharwaad, Bikaner, Pali and Partapgarh, bakery classes would be held from June 3 to June 12 on the campus. She said besides faculty from the college, there would be instructors from New Delhi and demos by owners of bakery shops in Chandigarh and Ludhiana. The participants would also be taught about marketing and management of such products, she added.

CULTURE

Shekhar’s maiden production impresses
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 2
The play Woh Tum Hi Ho depicts the story of a young woman who has reached the end of her tether in both her professional and personal life, and is forced to entrap a man to give boost not only to her sagging career but to find a life partner. It shows the realities of lone girls in the world of glamour who have to take recourse to forcing themselves on males in order to survive in the tough “dog-eat- dog” world.

The play was brought here by the Ludhiana Sanskritik Samagam (LSS). It was staged in Guru Nanak Dev Bhavan here last night.

The protagonist of the play, Radhika Bulbul, played by Roma Navani, opens with a frustrated Bulbul making a last stop at the audition of an ‘ad maker before the invisible crew. Her efforts to find any job during the day have failed. At the end of the screen test, the director, Ashok Sehgal, played by Shekhar Suman, praises her acting talent. That is enough for Radhika. She takes him home, and by her guile entraps him into a relationship. Ashok Sehgal has a commitment to attend a New Year party, but all his attempts to get out of the house fail. A demented Radhika and a “hyper” Ashok have a duet with comic dialogues that keeps the audience in splits. Both have razor-sharp tongues and fight each other fiercely.

Directed by Om Kataria of Yatri Theatre Plus, Shekhar Suman impresses with his acting prowess.

The hilarious comedy was undoubtedly a meaningful play that started with the celebration of New Year’s eve. Bulbul, who has been deserted by all her male friends, finds Sehgal an answer to all her quests of life. In the first meeting with the director of ad films, she finds him fit for being her Prince Charming, who would help her achieve everything she has yearned for — a life partner and a producer for the ludicrous plays written by her.

After forcing him to spend a night with her, the cheerful Bulbul leaves no stone unturned to see that he stays with her.

Finally her transformation from a bubbly girl to a mature woman, who bridges the gap between Sehgal and his son from his divorced wife, makes the “precious catch” do a rethinking. The play ends on a happy note with both of them marrying and looking forward to a fulfilling life.

Roma Navani’s acting was effortless and natural. She found a perfect foil in Shekhar Suman. Though the play had only two characters, the dialogues gripped the attention of audience. Incidentally, it was the maiden production of Shekhar’s Silver Theatre Academy. He is making a serious effort to involve people in promoting theatre.

While the play was quite enjoyable and Ludhianvis were happy to have the chirpy Shekar Suman among them, the nuisance of the ringing mobile phones played a spoilsport to some extent.