The two-day extravaganza that was Smaraneeyam, the inter- school cultural fest of Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School, saw the versatile team from PS Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, lift the overall trophy thanks to a winning spree in all the major events.
Twenty one schools participated in the star-studded fest held over a span of three days. The offstage events on Day Zero were Mehendi Design, Junk Art, Collage, Dumb Charades, Face Painting, Tattoo Design, Creative Writing, Nail Art and T-shirt Design. The onstage events – Light Music, Shipwreck and Channel Surfing – were held the next day following an inauguration programme by the managing director of MusicUniv, Anil Srinivasan.
Channel Surfing, judged by R J Balaji, was an instant hit with the crowd. The participants from PS Senior Secondary School stole the show, while Vidya Mandir Mylapore and DAV Velacherry, bagged the second and third places respectively. Light Music, judged by playback singer Ajeesh and singer Raginishri, saw PS Senior emerge triumphant again.
JAM was where Sriram Sridharan scored; Dhruva and Bharath Balaji of PS Senior talked their way to the first and second prize respectively in the Shipwreck event.
Entertaining the crowd with their spontaneity and wit, the team from DAV Public managed to overcome tough competition from PS Senior Secondary and Bharath Senior Secondary School in ADZAP on Day Three. This was followed by Spoof It, which had participants at their imaginative best, thinking on their feet and entertaining the judge, RJ Krithi, to the hilt. The team from DAV Public bagged the first place. The Group Dance was the highlight of the day with students looking like professional dancers and their styles varying from hip-hop and folk to bharatanatyam and western contemporary. The troupe from Bharath Senior Secondary School scorched the dance floor with their incredible ‘flying in the air’ movements and received well-deserved accolades from judge Rajini, dance reality show winner and small screen actress.
Vidya Mandir Mylapore won in Director Sir, a photography competition judged by director Suresh Krishna.
The host performance by Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School, a fusion dance by the students of Class 12 received a special mention from the judge. The host school also screened The Hang Under, a spoof directed by students Nikhil and Raghav, to crank up the excitement in the auditorium.
The final event, Winners, pitting the eight winners of the major events against each other was the icing on the cake for PS Senior since the three finalists – Tarun, Dhruva and Sriram Sridharan – belonged to the same school. Voice-Over drew the competition to a close with the multi-faceted Dhruva winning the Mr Smaraneeyam title.
Com-Vision, including business packaging and office space events, was held along with the cultural fest and Maharishi Vidya Mandir secured the first place.