At IIPM, it’s Bolna Mana Hai… a unique Mime Competition
Date: March 28 ‘2009,
A German Poet had once quoted, “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.” And it becomes even more challenging when you do not get to speak at all, as in a pantomime! But, of course, there were this bunch of young, unexposed, yet enthusiastic undergraduate students from various Delhi institutes, who merged at IIPM’s International Campus on a Saturday afternoon to compete in an inter-college mime competition, Bolna Mana Hai. Organised by the dramatics and performing arts club of IIPM, STAGE, the competition saw students from institutes like JIMS, Dayal Singh College, RNIS, K R Mangalam Institute of Management, along with the hosts IIPM carrying out various mime performances with quite a lot of gusto and élan. To judge the event, were theatre personality and novelist, Ms. Bubbles Sabharwal, along with renowned academician, Prof. Amita Tandon and French Theatre expert, Ms. Neeta Tiwari. The title sponsor of the event was US based financial consulting firm Open Solutions, while the prizes were sponsored by JMA – one of the largest Indian companies in auto spare parts distribution.
The participants, all young and amateur, tried to put across various theme based mime performances. Many of them were also present in the typical mime attire – both tops and lowers, black in colour and their faces painted white to hold out their facial expressions better. Cheering the participants, the Guest of Honor cum member of the jury, Ms. Bubbles Sabharwal exclaimed, “I congratulate the STAGE club of IIPM to host such a terrific event, which gives the students a platform to express themselves using various means of non-verbal communication styles. This kind of event will definitely help students in boosting their confidence.”
IIPM has always worked towards developing great communication skills amongst its students, as the institute believes that effective communication is one of the most important differentiating factor between a great leader and a mere manager. It is with this objective that the institute keeps on innovating various events / activities for students. This competition of Mime was just another way of pushing the students in expressing themselves in a format that they have never tried before.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Jaydip Dutta Gupta, the Chairman of the STAGE Club at IIPM said, “It is not an easy task to enact without using any form of verbal communication. The students, who are all amateur and not from any acting schools, per se, have shown the courage to go ahead and do exactly the same, for which I congratulate each and every participant, irrespective of whether someone has won or not – they are all winners.”
The event took place in 2 rounds – a preliminary round of individual or team performances and a final round with themes given by the members of the jury. The first prize went to a 3 member team from Dayal Singh College, while the first and second runners up awards of Rs. 2000 and Rs. 1000 were won by students from K R Mangalam Institute of Management and JIMS, Kalkaji respectively.