Mr and Miss Udaan
Every SPITian has dreamt at least once to be crowned Mr and Miss Udaan! It’s not just a beauty pageant. One requires the right mix of personality, charisma, creativity and the ability to portray oneself in the best light. The competition took place in three rounds to test each aspect of the participant’s personality. In the first round, participants had to show their social media influence and secure the maximum likes on a video featuring themselves. The selected 16, cosplayed their favourite character in the second round. The top 10 showed their magic on the ramp with an assigned partner in front of an enthusiastic audience, followed by a questionnaire round. In the end, the judges Simran Budharup and Jivitesh Mazumdar crowned Salman Shaikh and Priyanka Rana as Mr and Miss Udaan respectively.
Voice of Udaan
Singing expresses the emotions which only words fail to convey. There are many who sing but only a few can make their voice resonate with all those who hear it. With that goal in mind, Voice of Udaan held its first audition on the 11th of February. Only the 12 best got the opportunity to perform on stage on the 2nd day of Udaan. Aspiring singers from all over Mumbai gathered to perform at the stage of Voice of Udaan on the 18th February.
There were two categories: solo and duet. The participants captured the crowd’s attention with some going the extra mile to use instruments to supplement their vocals. Judges Mahesh Khanolkar (Composer and Violin Player) and Amit Gothiverekar (Professional Keyboardist) complimented the finalists by saying that most of them were good enough to take part in reality singing competitions. Niranjan Pedgoankar emerged victorious in the solo category with Jnanesh Bhat as runner-up while Gargi Kadam and Raj Mehta won first place in the duet category with their soulful performances.
War Of The Branches
The most awaited dancing competition of Udaan, War of the Branches was a classic display of rivalry between the 5 branches of S.P.I.T. It took place in the college quadrangle and saw a huge, enthusiastic crowd of students to support their respective branches. The lively atmosphere was further lifted by upbeat and amazing performances by all the branches coupled with the cheering crowd. All the dances were based on a wide array of themes ranging from serious ones like Adoption (MCA) to fun ones like Bahubali (EXTC). Computers and EXTC emerged as the top two teams and went on for an intense face-off. Both the teams showcased their best skills on stage leaving the judges with a tough decision. However, after a lot of deliberation, Computers were declared victorious.
AELAAN-E-JUNG
Aelaan-e-Jung was an enthralling experience with innovative dance themes. 9 colleges with all their guns blazing, participated in this ultimate dance war. The performance from the teams of KJ Somaiya, Lokamanya Tilak Municipal Medical College (Sion Hospital) and Atharva College of Engineering left the crowd awestruck with their upbeat dances and the judge, Rohit Chawla from the Ensemble Dance Studios, was left with a tough decision to pick a winner. Atharva College of Engineering was declared the winner followed by LTMMC.
“It was a great treat to see some of the best dance teams from Mumbai coming in for a battle here at S.P.I.T,” quoted Sumedh Naik, one of the organizers, “winners deserve accolades but the rest were no short of fun either. The event was certainly a great success.”
Band Performance
S.P.I.T.’s very own band performed some delightfully melodious songs as a precursor to the prom. Shivam Tripathi started the performance with a devotional song, followed by ‘Sawarloon’ from Priyanka Rokade and ‘Ambarsariya’ by Meghna. These delightful performances were followed by a duet by Saish Desai and Meghna Prabhu as well two mesmerizing solo performances of ‘Chaand sifarish’ and ‘Allah ke bande’ by Shivam Tripathi and Saish Desai. Rajas Khasgiwale on the harmonium. Aalap Khanolkar on the mandolin, Kaustubh Toraskar on the tabla and Cajon, Vrinda Singhal on the guitar and Shrinish Donde on the keyboard came together to form the band’s instrumentalists. The distinct sound of the mandolin, the sharp harmonium notes and backing from the keyboard and percussions came together to form the perfect melody for the band. The event ended with a medley of Hindi songs followed by songs such as ‘Perfect’,’Love me like you do’ and ‘all of me’ from Alwin Eldhose, Tanisha Kulkarni, Zai Puro and Abisha Nadar with Viraj Parikh on the keyboard and guitar
“Music is something that brings out the real me. It expresses me better than I can, in a way that captivates my thoughts and takes me into an entirely different world,” quoted Shrinish.
Street Dance
The Street Dance Competition was held on the afternoon of the third day of Udaan. The participants flaunted their own personal style. They showed off their dancing skills as well as ability to effortlessly groove to any beat. The judges, Aishwarya Madhav and Chaitra Shetty, were impressed with the level of competition and believed that the young students had shown the true spirit of free-styling at the dance-off. Despite the tough competition, ‘The Deviants’ was declared the winner.
CARNIVAL
The Carnival, an inter-college fashion show, took place on the final evening of UDAAN. Different colleges throughout the city sent their best models to compete against each other on the ramp. By looking at the extravagant colorful presentations, it was clear that every team had worked hard to achieve the perfect runway look. Every team followed a set theme and was able to leave the audience in awe as they displayed their unique runway styles and outfits. Tolani college bagged the first prize by impressing the judges, Asenla Jamir, Aastha Toprani and Aron Nath, with their innovative way of displaying the theme ‘Neon’.
“This year’s UDAAN saw a lot of new events along with the major flagship events under Performing Arts. Be it Carnival, Aelaan-e-Jung or Mr & Ms Udaan, all the events stood up to our expectations; just because of the entire team’s hard work and joint efforts,” said Aastha Shah, Vice-Chairperson, UDAAN 2018.
The Carnival gave way to the finale event of Udaan, DJ Night by setting up the perfect atmosphere. But that is an event for another article, so spare some time and click here read some more!
By Capt. Jack Sparrow, Patrick Jane, Hercule Poirot and Jean Grey.