DramaTech (India Institutes of Technology)

For the Georgia Tech group of the same name, see DramaTech.

DRAMATECH is An amateur theatre group in New Delhi, India, formed by the alumni of IIT Delhi.

Amateur Theater Group of alumni and present students of IIT Delhi, Indian Institutes of Management, Delhi University, and other institutions.

History

Dramatech was formed in 1984 by three alumni of IIT Delhi: Subramanian Sanyal(1978), Deepak Gidwani(1981) and Rakesh Gupta(1981) (not to be confused with Rakesh Gupta, M.D.-Gastroenterologist).

The first meeting took place at Sanyal (Sanny-da)'s home in Chitaranjan Park. It was Sanny-da who thought of the name Dramatech, the "tech" being in reference to their common alma mater.

The first production Bael Se Muthbhed, a MusicAL adapted from a famous Bengali play (Chuttir Phande), was launched.

Dramatech now has 28 successful productions to its credit,and has always provided the Delhi audience with good, wholesome theatre experience with plays like Agatha Christie's Ten little Niggers (And Then There Were None) and Witness for the Prosecution (both in Hindi), Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, Dr. Govind Deshpande's Uddhvast Dharamshala, Molière's Bichoo, Vijay Tendulkar's Panchi Aise Aate Hain, Badal Sircar's Ballabhpur Ki Roopkatha, Dr. Shankar Shesh's Rakt Beej, and Mary Coyle Chase's Harvey . The group performed regularly between 1984 and 1992, thereafter it was revived in 2002 with the performances of Ek Jaam Auntiyon Ke Naam, Ranjit Kapoor's Hindi adaptation of Joseph Kesselring's Arsenic and Old Lace.

Current productions

The group's current production is a musical, Fiddler on the Roof in Hindi. Scheduled for 8,9,15,16 December 2007 at Sri Ram Centre.

Translation, Lyrics, Direction: RAVI RAJ SAGAR.

Original book by Joseph Stein, Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, Music by Jerry Bock.

Ravi Raj Sagar's previous stage productions for Dramatech include: Agatha Christie's TEN LITTLE NIGGERS, Witness for the Prosecution, and Conan Doyle's SHERLOCK HOLMES STORIES, all in Hindi. All three productions have been praised by the audience and the critics alike. WITNESS was selected for the Sahitya Kala Parishad's Annual Fest of Best Plays 1986. HOLMES stories was an audio play, broadcast by AIR.

Free, legal download of Dramatech's Audio plays, dramatised Sherlock Holmes storuies in Hindi: http://www.archive.org/details/SherlockHolmesStories-DramatisedInHindi

Past productions

Prodn #1: BAEL SE MUTHBHED Translated from bengali and Directed by S. Sanyal

This first play was staged in the good old seminar hall of IIT Delhi and was sponsored by IITD dramatics club. The lead character was played by Rakesh Gupta. Others in the cast were Alok Tiwari, Champa Mukherjee, Sanjeev Kalhan, Deepak Gidwani... It was a musical adapted from a famous Bengali play (Chuttir Phande). It was translated and directed by Sanny-da. He also wrote the songs as well as composed the music for the play. Deepak Gidwani provided the live music being a guitarist himself. The play was an instant hit both with the IIT Alumni where it was performed for the first time as well as in Lady Sriram College....

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Sanny-da joined TCS which took him to Calcuuta and then abroad. He is now settled in the US. Alok Tiwari surfaced a few years ago but has again gone into hiding. He lives in Noida. Sanjeev Kalhan is in Delhi, Champa Mukherjee somewhere in India- her brother Sudip participated in the IITD musical evening last year. Rakesh Gupta is in IAS.(dt 2007)

Prodn #2 : The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Directed by Deepak Gidwani

This play was extremely poetic and established the group's class so early in its existence. The cast was supremely talented and included Vinita Dang, Vikram Sakhuja and Srilata Borat.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Vinita and Vikram both were in P&G Mumbai for some years. Then Vinita married and moved to Pune. Vikram is heading a media co in mumbai. Deepak Gidwani directed several plays for Dramatech, such as Neil Simon's Broadway Bound, Peter Shaffer's Equus (play), Harvey (play), and Bernard Pomerance's The Elephant Man (play). He is married to Dramatech actress Archana, who also directed Dramatech's most successful children's play "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". The play was scripted by her, with music by Sanjay Rajagopalan and Deepak. Deepak and Archana now live in the Chicago area(dt 2007).

Prodn #3 : BICHCHOO by Molière. Directed by Rakesh Gupta

This play saw the expansion of the group with Alok Tiwari, Namita Kapoor, Ravi Raj Sagar, Seema, and others supporting Rakesh himself in the main role. The play was fun with Rakesh excelling in the lead role. The play also saw the first of a series of intra-dramatech marriages, with Trilok Rajora meeting his partner Seema in this one.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Namita Kapoor married and moved to O&M Bangalore, Rajora is settled in Gurgaon where his wife Seema runs an IIT coaching institute, Ravi Raj Sagar is in Delhi. (dt 2007)

Prodn #4 : Agatha Christie's TEN LITTLE NIGGERS(And Then There Were None) in Hindi. Translated & Directed by Ravi Raj Sagar.

It was Vicky Sakhuja who provided the script of the English play to Ravi, who had been looking for it for years. The play introduced many new actors to the group including Ranjana Nath, Ramu Ramdas, Sanjiv Chopra, Biraj Arora, Anand, Samir. From the old set, Rakesh Gupta, Alok Tiwari, Rajora, Vinita Dang and Champa acted as well. Lights were handled by Sanjay Nayyar and Umesh Goel and sound by Madhukar Sharma. The play, performed at SRC, was well liked by the audience and critics, and was repeated six months later.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Ranjana married Kavita Chowdhury's brother Kapil and moved to Mumbai. Ramu joined Thermax in Pune. Biraj married and moved to Mumbai. Anand went to Chennai. Sanjiv Chopra is in Delhi very much a part of Dramatech in addition to running his professional theatre group Natwa. Nayyar is now settled in Houston, USA, Madhukar is in Delhi running his own co, an associate of Thermax. Umesh Goel completed his M Tech (Systems & Management) from IIT Delhi. He has been working with Indianoil ever since. Currently in Delhi. His son is now in IIT Delhi (B Tech Civil). (dt 2007)

Unforgettable Memories

1984. The group was rehearsing at IIT as usual, when news came in of Mrs.Indira Gandhi's assassination, and the rioting that was spreading across the city. Deepak's car was stoned by a mob on the way home, and he had to do some deft driving to make it. Manmohan Jain, the director for the play being rehearsed, wasn't so lucky. It was curfew before he could get home, and the Delhi police thought it would be safer for him to spend the night in their pleasant company!

Classics

Sam Shepard's "True West (play)" starring Pravin (Jimmy) Hasija and fresh out of IIT Anup Bhalla, and directed by Deepak Gidwani. Superb acting by both actors.

Pradeep Shrivastav's direction of "Rakt Beej" took dramatech to another plane. Sanjiv Chopra as "bara purush" received rave reviews. The play was also performed for an erudite audience at the India International Center.

Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" directed by Sanjeev Agarwal: Shailendra (Shelly) Jain as Stanley and Shefali Bhushan as Blanche were "Red Hots"!

Michael Frayn's "Noises Off" directed by Umesh Vyas: easily dramatech's funniest play. It took the greatest acting by the talented cast to not crack up themselves! Umesh Vyas was to later wed Anjali, who was one of the jury in WITNESS.