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A taste of IBA
The IBA Talent Mania 2002 held at the IBA City Campus evoked mixed feelings. The commendable fact is that some of the plays were good enough to provide the judges a platform to rate the acting talents of the students. But a bad sound system, under-rehearsed actors and off-cue performances marred the impact former IBA students and talent shows have had in the past on audiences.
The talent show comprised performances by the four Executive BBA levels, the first of the lot being Yeh Hai IBA — a slapstick comedy plagued by bad acoustics. Most of the plays were in a lighter vein, and in such plays dialogue delivery is the lifeline which serves to endear the characters to the audience to get creditable ratings. Yeh Hai IBA suffered on this count among many more, ultimately slipping away to give way to a mock interview of Hrithik Roshan by telephone callers and that fared better. The lines were catchy and evoked a steady round of applause. However, disturbing jabs at homosexuality left a bad taste in the mouth. Overall, the sequence was commendable due to its good wit.
Speaking of the gay lifestyle, it seems the IBA students are most enamoured by the alternate lifestyle for almost all the plays had actors that played effeminate or gay men — Flight PK420 and Kutub Ghar included. A live song rendition by one of the female students was followed by another play that was again lost on the audience due to a bad sound system and under-rehearsed themes.
The saving grace of the evening was the play called Kutub Ghar with its strong script and good performances by the multitude cast. Later followed a clip show featuring the activities of this year’s graduating class and a long nostalgic trip down memory lane which saw the otherwise very vocal crowd observe pin-drop silence. Obviously, the show had touched a nerve and as the events flashed on screen, one could decipher the well-bonded nature of the IBA brotherhood.
Finally and at long last, the hour arrived to give away the awards and the runner-up prize went to Flight PK420. First prize was bagged by Kutub Ghar, and the best actor and actress awards to Babar Ali who played Hrithik and Muneeza, who played the mother’s role in Kutub Ghar, respectively.
Another very interesting aspect of the IBA Talent Mania 2002 is the tradition of giving away titles to graduating students. This sequence proved to be one of the most entertaining and enjoyable of all with titles such as ‘Aunty mat kaho na’, ‘Har taraf tera jalwa’, ‘I like to party’, ‘Good things come in small packages’, ‘Sub behnoon ka aik hi bhai’, ‘Chacha Japani’, ‘Nakaam aashiq’, ‘Jagga’, ‘Jockey or nothing’, ‘Mr doodhwalla’, etc, to name a few. One could make out that a lot of thought and ingenuity had gone into the making of the titles for which the managing committee deserves due credit. One could also feel the sadness of the graduating students who were to leave their alma mater soon.
Finally, it was time for the guests to be ushered in another part of the facility for some pizza and coke — another long-standing tradition with the IBA students faculty.
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