By Teresa Cheong
Sunday was Oscar night in Hollywood, yet hundreds of students were drawn instead to Blackman Auditorium for a taste of Bollywood.
The Northeastern Sanskriti and the International Students ‘ Scholars Institute (ISSI) performed their eighth rendition of “Tarang,” a production of Indian dance, music, fashion and drama, for an audience of about 700 students.
“It was our biggest event by far and the biggest one this year,” said Rohan Patankar, Sanskriti’s vice president and the organizer of the show.
Previously, “Tarang” was held in the Curry Student Center Ballroom. This was its first year in the much larger Blackman Auditorium.
“Our preparation was tough and we had been preparing for two months,” Patankar said. “All the dancers are voluntary, and [the stage] is an open floor where everyone can take part. One day, if a Latino wants to join us, he is welcome. We come together and have fun in the dancing. Like me, I am not a good dancer either.”
With 28 states, seven Union Territories and 100 different native languages, India is a country of diversity and unity, Patankar said, and the show was to promote the uniqueness of the nation.
“With diversity, we are one nation,” he said. “We are all international students who came here to study. We just put what we have in our home country on the showcase to promote the Indian culture as well as entertain Indian students here.”
A traditional Indian welcoming dance opened the show and was followed by an Indian rock music performance, which earned loud applause and whistles from the audience.
Not only was traditional belly dancing featured, there was also the famous Bollywood dancing. Similar to Hollywood, Bollywood refers to the Hindi-language film industry in India, which uses a mixture of dancing and singing in the films.
“I love the Bollywood dance and the fashion shows,” said Preeti Jain, a student at the Graduate School of Information Systems. “The last song, ‘Vande Mataram,’ is great, and it is a close song for all the Indians. It is a national song that everyone knows.”
Most of the audience members were enthusiastic about the production.
“It’s awesome,” said Sanat Ragmi, a sophomore electrical engineering major. “I like the dance. I like the show.”
Nisha Parekh, a freshman at the Graduate School of Engineering, also said “Tarang” was an “awesome show.”
“We are away from our country, so it is good to celebrate together after a long time,” she said.
While the show was largely successful, there were a few glitches. A small technical problem occurred at the start of the show and the individual performances ended abruptly with the curtains moving in and out at the wrong times. Nonetheless, the audience seemed to enjoy the show.
“Next year, we are looking for a bigger place for the show,” Patanker said. “We dream big and will do our best for it.”
The next big event from the Sanskriti is the Diwali, the festival of light, which is a big holiday in India and is celebrated in September.
