Mood Indigo (culfest)

MOOD INDIGO, or "MoodI", as it is fondly called, is the annual cultural festival of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Held towards the end of December every year, Mood Indigo is a brand name in itself, attracting a whopping 60,000 students from approximately 500 colleges all over the country. Started in 1973 by a bunch of enthusiastic IITians, the fest has snowballed into becoming Asia's largest college festival, thanks to the hard work and dedication of IITians, the continuous support given by MoodI's fantastic sponsors, and the tremendous success of the events with the crowds.

Mood Indigo, held for about 4-5 days, (20th Dec to 23rd Dec 2008), is packed with a series of unending competitions, workshops, exhibitions, talent shows, live performances, games and, to top it all, a range of exciting prizes. Armed with a handsome budget, IITians go out of their way to offer something new every year, making sure that Mood Indigo goes that extra mile.

Competitions at Mood Indigo encompass a wide range of talent; there's room for everyone here, be it musicians, dancers, orators, quizzers, actors, artists or photographers. Further, every year, variety is introduced in the competitions, posing a challenge for the competitors, and a refreshing change for the audience.

When it comes to judges, IITians settle for no lesser than the best, with judges like Anupam Kher, Ram Gopal Varma, Seema Biswas and Raageshwari having graced previous versions of the fest. MoodI has seen some of the country's best creative minds like Mani Ratnam, Nagesh Kukunoor, Amjad Khan; bands like Parikrama, Zero and Pentagram.

Apart from the competitions, workshops and exhibitions form an integral part of MoodI. Workshops in the past have covered chocolate-making to martial arts to hypnotism to tap dance, with the instructors being the very best in the business, some specially flown in from abroad. Bike stunts, sand sculptures, rangolis and the like have made up Exhibitions at MoodI.

Of course, there's plenty of room for pure fun too, with treasure hunts, mazes, 2-minute games, fun quizzes, 'Ka Ching' the midnight casino, water sports, and adventure sports being offered at MoodI. Attractive prizes are up for grabs for winners of these too. MoodI has offered rappelling, zorbing, hot –air ballooning, etc as adventure sports in the past. To top it all, a pool-side disco is an extra addition in the festivities, with some of the best DJs the country has seen, like DJ Akbar Sami and DJ Ashraffi.

Pronites at Mood Indigo perhaps steal the show with the festival boasting of a guest history like Pankaj Udhas, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Grammy winner Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Jagjit Singh and so on. MoodI has been graced by the likes of Asha Bhosale, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, KK, Shaan, Lucky Ali, Kailash Kher, Remo Fernandes, Sivamani, Euphoria (Indian band) and Indian Ocean (band) .

Livewire offers the chance to see the best rock bands of India like Parikrama, Zero (Indian Band), Thermal and a quarter, Sceptre (band), Vayu at their musical zenith. To add to these once-in-a-lifetime experiences, MoodI has roped in performances by Rajpal Yadav, to dance-dramas by international dancers to musical nights by the very best in the business.

To catch up on all the action that has taken place at MoodI over that past few years, visit:

MoodI '07: [http://gymkhana.iitb.ac.in/~moodi/mi07/]

MoodI '06: [http://gymkhana.iitb.ac.in/~moodi/mi06/]

MoodI '05: [http://gymkhana.iitb.ac.in/~moodi/mi05/]

MoodI '04: [http://gymkhana.iitb.ac.in/~moodi/mi04/]

MoodI '03: [http://gymkhana.iitb.ac.in/~moodi/mi03/]

MoodI '02: [http://gymkhana.iitb.ac.in/~moodi/mi02/]

MOOD INDIGO web:http://www.moodi.org