Looking Back at Kaleidoscope 2016.

LOOKING BACK AT KALEIDOSCOPE 2016

By Amrita Menon (Team Creative)

Kaleidoscope 2016: a week of magic, madness and all things Millennial. It took us back into our childhoods and dragged us across time celebrating our past, present and future. From Pokemon and the Powerpuff Girls to memes and viral videos online, it let us strengthen our bonds with our fellow millennials as we celebrated our shared existence and everything that makes us, us.

As we await K’scope 2017 and everything it has in store for us, let’s take a look at some of the highlights from the festival last year.

1.      As always, ‘JAM’ was a hit, drawing crowds at the finals that would put Honey Singh concerts to shame. ‘JAM Master’ Hormuz Ragina didn’t disappoint, making sure the audience were at the edge of their seats at all times, soaking up the all encompassing awesomeness of the event.

2.      ‘What Are Words Worth’, the flagship event that draws aspiring poets from colleges all around the country- was, according to popular opinion, exceptionally good last year. The atmosphere of quiet appreciation had people itching to have their poetry heard and the audience just didn’t want it to end, pushing the time limit as far as it could go.

3.      There can only be one word used to describe ‘Back to the Streets’: Electric. Another K’scope favourite where the audience is not at all afraid to express their appreciation and the performances are so intense that they leave your heart beating fast, long after the event has ended.

4.      Nikhil Chinapa, the on-screen idol to our adolescent, MTV-watching selves, came to K’scope to judge the ‘Mr and Ms K’ finals and the excitement was palpable. His signature wit and that familiar Bangalore drawl charmed the pants off everyone, and challenged participants to give it everything they had.

5.   While the rain initially- and temporarily- put a damper on things (what with our signature canopy almost collapsing over our heads), people quickly got over it and the festivities picked up once again. We learnt that day that at K’scope, it takes more than a little rain to stop us from eating and socialising.

6.      Last year’s performances from the highly anticipated ‘Das Ka Tees’ exceeded all expectations and had the audience laughing from start to finish. Most performances included brilliantly thought-out jokes which were dispatched with perfect comedic timing. Comedy has always been considered as one of the harder genres of drama and last year it was further made challenging as the rules asked performers to incorporate the weirdest and most eclectic array of characters from the Lord of the Rings’ Gandalf to Rosesh from Sarabhai vs Sarabhai.

7.      The ‘After 8’, an event meant to give the Kaleidoscope workforce an opportunity to enjoy the festival for themselves. Coke Studio with Tejas Menon and his incredible music proved to be one of the most electrifying performances of the festival and had everyone head banging, fist thumping and dancing like nobody was watching. It was the perfect end to Kaleidoscope 2016.

NCPA

You cannot have missed the NCPA if you’ve been to Bombay. The widely known cultural institute lies at the heart of the city at Nariman Point. It was established with the mission to keep the country’s cultural heritage and arts alive. A multitude of events in all spaces are held at the NCPA every year ranging from music, dance, theatre, film screenings, workshops, exhibitions, seminars and more. It’s the cultural storehouse of India.

Kaleidoscope has been associating with the NCPA to celebrate and maintain the performing arts. The aesthetic venue hosts over 600 performances every year and is India’s largest art centre. Last year the winners of the event Mano Ya Na Mano; a Hindi play event at K’scope, went back with the chance to perform at the National Centre for Performing Arts. We believe it when the NCPA says “Performances become inspired when they spring from deep within”, its efforts in exploring this idea have stirred us.

Our culture will never be lost because of the archives NCPA has built for us which not only consists of arts of India but also what we’ve absorbed through interactions with the arts globally. Their initiatives have changed the way we look and appreciate art, so be sure to visit the theatre because the line-up of events to be held are promising.

Movie sequels that made us scream in excitement!

1.       FINDING DORY

Duh. This one goes without saying; Finding Nemo grew into a phenomenally large franchise, with games and products and toys and everything. And baby dory is possibly the cutest animated character any of us has ever seen, am I right?

2.       INCREDIBLES 2

We’ve been waiting for this movie since 5 minutes after we finished watching the first one, if we’re being honest. Shielding, disappearing, super-speed, elastic arms, super-strength- this movie’s characters had all the powers we wished we did. Also, ‘Milan, baby, Milan” is now a universal catchphrase and will probably always be.

3.       MONSTERS UNIVERSITY

Sure, this film didn’t cause as many exciting reviews as Dory did, but it did cause a feeling of widespread nostalgia among one section of its viewers. Considering that it was strategically released at a time when most of the people who had been kids when the first movie was released were now either finishing school or in college/university, it did lead to a sense of oneness among the older viewers.

The Millennial Bookshelf

BOOKS THAT EVERY MILLENNIAL HAS READ

1.  Harry Potter

This one is pretty obvious, right? This series made its mark on many generations, establishing itself as not just a children’s book series. Although the most obvious theme running through this series is magic, there are strong themes of friendship, racism, loyalty, trust, love and so many more that stay with you long after you finish reading it. This series created an entire world in such detail that it could act as an escape forever.

2.       Percy Jackson

This one faded out pretty quickly, but something it managed to do was rope in the interests of an entire generation, and get them interested in mythology and its little intricacies. It managed to provide us with information about the Greek gods we never knew before and Rick Riordan even went further with other books about Roman and Egyptian mythology.

3.       The Hunger Games

Themes like the abuse of power, like fighting for protection, like poverty, friendship, family, all play a significant role in this series too, and stayed with us long after we finished it. While the major ongoing argument was Gale vs Peeta, people often forgot to realise that the main aim of the protagonist’s was to protect her sister, Primrose.

4.       The Inheritance series

Anyone who says that this series didn’t break their heart is lying to you, and you know it. This series was written so, so wonderfully that even if the readers disliked the plot or the way it ended (it’s understandable), they were all impressed by Paolini’s style of writing. It highlighted what growing up under pressure felt like (in an exaggerated way, of course).

The Best of the 90’s

Culturally, the 90’s was one of the greatest modern decades that ever happened.  It was a period which hinted at and laid the premise for the changes and the new order of things that would emerge in the 21^st century. The transition to the digital information culture happened and gave us our new home – the internet. We, as the Millennial generation got to live in that spectacular era and now we reminisce all things from happiest decade of our lifetime.

1.       We got Titanic-ed!

‘Titanic’ broke a million hearts and you cannot remember this movie without singing ‘My Heart Will Go On’…well, at least in your head. This movie had a massive impact on pop culture and we’ve all tried the iconic pose of Jack & Rose.

2.       Danced to the Macarena

Haven’t we all been infected by the music of the English-Spanish song ‘Macarena’ and don’t we still remember the moves? Dale a tu cuerpo alegria, Macarena. Heyyyy Macarena!

3.       The Boy band phase

Nope. One Direction wasn’t the first teenage boy band sensation. Boy bands shot to fame in the 90’s and were all people were listened to then. Remember that boy band Justin Timberlake was a part of? Bands like NSync, Backstreet Boys, Westlife- to name just a few- ruled those days.

4.       F.R.I.E.N.D.S

This sitcom is never getting old and we still can’t stop the F.R.I.E.N.D.S references. We all absolutely loved (and still love) Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey and Ross. This show gives us all sorts of life goals and lessons. While F.R.I.E.N.D.S still continues to be a pop culture phenomenon, ‘The Rachel Haircut’ was marked as the 90’s fad with everyone trying to mimic it.

5.       Did you get Goosebumps?

Yeah, those books we sneaked under our blankets with a torch just for the thrill of it. They don’t seem so scary now, do they? But thanks to them we are now much braver adults who can’t fetch a glass of water for ourselves in the dark.

6.       The wise anima(l)tion film

The 90’s gave us ‘The Lion King’, that bitter-sweet film which taught us that ‘The past can hurt. But, we can either run from it or, learn from it.’ Hakuna Matata was our motto even before YOLO was born. Who would’ve thought that a bunch of talking animals would teach us so many life lessons? We’ll always have a soft spot for this film in a way that no other generation would understand.

7.       Daily dose of Comic

We loved our Archie Comics, Garfield and Calvin & Hobbes. We loved Garfield for his humor, related a little too much to Calvin & Hobbes and Riverdale was our dream town.

8.       How do you remember the rainy days?

The rainy days were marked by tests of friendship when board games like Ludo, Snakes & Ladders and UNO came out of the cupboard. Those friendships that survived managed to endure.

9.       TV time

W e remember the 90’s for its cartoons and shows like Spongebob Squarepants, Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Power Rangers, That 70s Show, Full House et al. If the 90’s hadn’t produced this pop culture gold, our childhood wouldn’t have been quite so entertaining.

10.   Movie Mania

This decade made its contribution to pop culture with films like Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, The Matrix, Forest Gump, Toy Story , Jurassic Park, Home Alone to name a few.

And then the millennium changed, leaving the best of the 90’s behind…….