The curtains came down on one of the biggest theatre festivals with COEP playing it just right. A peep into the jubilation that followed the results

Bagging the first rank after a gap of 30 years Gumphan was a remarkable win for COEP with its 40 member team preparing since the last four months. Based on the relationship between an old author and a girl who comes to him as a paying guest its performers thought it was an eccentric situation with a good feeling that persuaded the audiences. "Gumphan gives a different outlook to an isolated and unsuccessful life of the grandfather after he meets the girl. I played the sixty five year old grandfather and it was hours and hours of daily practice," says Vaibhav Tatwawadi, final year student who also bagged the best actor award and is into English, Marathi and experimental theatre.

"Several themes came up initially and this was the most liked. There were seven actors altogether however it was a team of fourty from the concept to completion. It was a moment of pride and we have been celebrating since then. Except Vaibhav who does professional theatre the others have been representating the college at various competitions," says Akshay Tilak the director of Gumphan.

It was after meeting city lawyers, various organisations, PMC and a considerable research that the sixteen students of Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) explored the subject of stray dogs and their impact on the society. Who let the dogs out bagged the second Hari Vinayak trophy. Elaborating more costume designer Asmita Paranjpe says, "We had five students as dogs and from ears to tails we had to design special costumes for them. Exploring the social angle, legal angle and so on we have tried to show that the problem of stray dogs is interconnected with many other social aspects, highly affects the lower class and if the system does not act the common man can go to any extent to tackle it."

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