Majlis, the Debating and Theatre society of BIMTECH, Greater Noida, recently organized two workshops for the students of the MBA school. The first workshop was on the art of public speaking.

The society came in touch with Parnab Mukherjee, arguably India's best live Quiz Master (QM), who has an experience of conducting over 600 quizzes all over the country. The workshop was conducted in the last week of November.

On the first two days Mr. Mukherjee stressed on the important rules of public speaking. He highlighted the importance of posture, handling the microphone, eye contact, gestures, on-stage movement, voice modulation and use of time on the stage. It must be noted that though only 60 students were allowed to register for the workshop, the sheer flow of students into the class forced Majlis to hold the workshop in the 120-seater Seminar Hall of the college, instead of a classroom, which was decided previously.

Being actively involved with various NGOs and the welfare activities of the United Nations, he created a platform for discussion on various social issues such as land acquisition and the SEZs. “The problem with SEZs is that it is being projected as an Industry vs. Farmer issue. It’s sad. The problem is that millions of landless labourers dependent on those sold pieces of land will get nowhere. They will get neither the compensation nor the jobs. They will starve to death. The compensation goes to the land owners, not to the labourers working on that land”. This was a revelation to many.

He even showcased a photo essay of many acclaimed photographers commemorating the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. The students got goose bumps after seeing those photos. He made them feel uncomfortable so as to bring them out of their comfort zones.

Day 3 and Day 4 were spent on practical demonstration and structuring of ideas and sentences. On the final day, a creative speaking exercise was held, where the students were shown a series of photographs and were asked to frame a speech on the basis of those photographs. Meeta Shukla and Parul Kapoor were declared the winners and were given trophies by Mr. Mukherjee. As a token of gratitude the faculty mentor of Majlis, Prof. Mukesh Chaturvedi felicitated Mr. Mukherjee with a Majlis memento.

Cinema and theatre workshop
Theatre and cinema are two mirrors that reflect the changes in the society and showcase human behaviour in new light. To help the students understand cinema and theatre better, Majlis organized a workshop, which was conducted by the celebrated theatre personality Salim Arif. Mr. Arif has been a popular figure on television and cinema and has worked in television classics like Bharat ek Khoj, Chanakya and Chandrakanta. His stint in television saw him doing hits like Maachis, Gadar and Guru.

The workshop saw students being introduced to the finer aspects to cinema and theatre. He began with the traditions of the performing arts in India and shifted to the entertainment scenario in the early 20th century. He traced the growth of the silent movies, the changes in theatre, the growth of the talkies and the imminent rise of commercial cinema.

The students understood the niceties of the works of titans of cinema like Satyajit Ray, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt and Bimal Roy. For the first time, many students realised the beauty of works like the Apu Trilogy, Awara, Pyaasa, Bandini and Sangam. They were also entreated to a screening of full-length movies for three days, post-dinner, during which they watched movies like Shatranj ke khiladi, Om Shanti Om and Chicago.

The workshop also talked about contemporary commercial Bombay cinema. Being a workshop for future managers of the corporate world, Mr. Arif discussed at length about the commercial side of cinema and the current changes that are taking place in the field of entertainment, with a special focus on the growth of the multiplex culture. He tracked the growth of bhojpuri cinema in the hinterlands and the resultant changes in the movie viewing habits in the metros. On the final day, Mr. Arif shifted the focus of the workshop to the world cinema and acquainted the students with the choicest of French, Italian and Japanese movies.

The workshop also included poetry reading sessions, where Mr. Arif talked about the importance of voice modulation in creating the right mood and effect for a dialogue. As a result, the students got to hear gems of Urdu poetry by Gulzar and Ghalib in the deep baritone of Mr. Arif.

The workshop was a  revelation to the students. Everyone chimed in to say that all these years they considered film-makers like Satyajit and Bimal Roy to be quite esoteric. The workshop helped in shattering all the wrong notions about parallel cinema and it created new fans for Ray in BIMTECH. The experiment with cinema and theatre proved to be a delight and Majlis is contemplating to hold many more such interesting sessions which will help students view life in a new light through the lens of theatre and cinema.