IIT-Madras cultural fest Saarang to get underway on January 9

CHENNAI: Saarang, the annual cultural fest of IIT Madras, in which the institute hosts more than 100 events, will start on Wednesday, according to a statement issued by the institute on Monday. The festival, which will see a range of technology, cultural and literary events, will go on until Sunday night.

The theme for this year’s Saarang is ‘Lost Cities’. The festival will kick off with the ‘Classical Night’ on Wednesday with a performance by the Indian Jam Project and award-winning Carnatic singer – Nithyasree Mahadevan.

The institute expects a footfall of 70,000 students from over 500 colleges, the statement said. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director, IIT Madras, said, “More than 1,200 students are working on this event. It is a great learning experience for them. It is a festival by, of and for students. The faculty are present only to help them. The event has been celebrated since around 1970s, when I was a student. Every year, it changes to suit the changing interests of the student community.”

As a part of this year’s festival, the institute is organising ‘Spotlight lectures’, for which the line-up includes speakers including Ratna Pathak Shah, Dhruv Sehgal, Ashwin Sanghi, S Soumya, Prajaktha Koli, Anu Aggarwal and Shipra Khanna, among others. Saarang is also venturing into vernacular events this year, the statement said.

Thursday night will be host to the awaited National dance competition ‘Choreo Night’. Dutch DJ and music producer Maddix will play the lead act that night along with Adrima as the supporting act. On Saturday night, Indian band Parikrama will be playing and on Sunday night, Benny Dayal’s band Funktuation will release their newest album, Funkatcheri and Bollywood singer KK will be the lead artist for the night, the statement said.