A majestic display of talent 

Apeejay Stya University (ASU), Gurugram, recently organised ‘Talent Hunt – 2022-23’, a talent hunt show, which provided a platform to students to exhibit their latent potential.   

Students across all departments — Technology, Design, Biosciences, Journalism, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Law, and Management Sciences — participated in various events with great zeal and enthusiasm. The event was coordinated by Prof. Sanjay Ahirwal, Dean Students’ Welfare, and Dr. Sonam Raheja, Director, Cultural Affair.

The campus was buzzing with excitement as soon as the students were invited for participation in different categories by Mukund Thakur, Prof at School of BioSciences and Head of Student’s Cultural Society at ASU.

An array of competitions were conducted under the mentorship and supervision of faculty members. On-the-spot painting competition was coordinated by Dibyendu Tripathi from School of Design and Visual Arts. Theatre/Skit presentation was coordinated by Dr. Vijay Kumar, Teacher Educator at School of Education.

Dr Rani Mansuri from School of Pharmaceutical Sciences coordinated the mehndi and rangoli competitions. Similarly, while music competition (Vocal, Group song & Instrumental) was coordinated by Dr. Shatakshi Srivastava, School of Engineering, dance competition (Folk and Classical) was coordinated by Dr. Sonam Raheja. 

Dr Sunil Roy, Dean at School of Management Sciences was the key incharge for the quiz competition. And the photography competition was coordinated by Sabiha Farhat from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.  

For more than 15 days, the campus was pulsating with high energy pockets as students were seen practicing dance steps, qawwali, solo singing, keyboards and drama dialogues.

The Chief Guest for this gala ‘Talent Show’ was Dr Anadi Mishra, a singer and music director who is the youngest ‘A’ graded singer of the country, a title lavished on him by the Central Government of India. He was accompanied by his parents Dr. Arun Mishra and Dr. Amita Mishra. 

The event began with Prof. Raj S. Dhankar, Vice Chancellor, ASU and Dr. Sucharita Kumari, Pro Vice Chancellor felicitating the guests. This was followed by lighting of the ceremonial lamp. 

Prof Dhankar further welcomes the guests as well as the audience while emphasising on the importance of a wholesome education, the significance of cultural activities in a university and campus being the ideal ground for Talent Hunt. 

The Talent Hunt finally commenced with the outdoor competitions first followed by the indoor ones. 

During the indoor competitions, Chief Guest Anadi Mishra, on demand from the audience, also showcased a stage performance wherein many students came up on the stage to dance to his songs while changing the entire ambience from somber to eclectic.

On the spot painting competition was won by Tanya Saxena, runner up was Nisha and the third prize went jointly to Suraj and Muskan. For the Rangoli competition, Diya Sharma bagged the first prize, Akriti Pratap Singh won the second and Charu Joon as well as Prachi were jointly awarded the third prize.

The winner for the mehndi competition was Simran and second prize went to Niharika. Solo singing competition was won by Hiya Bhattacharya, Dashmeet Kaur was a close second and Swaralipi Sarkar came third. The group song competition was won by the Qawwali team of Suurjyoti Jha, and the Instrumental solo was won by Arunab Mathur. 

In the solo dance category, Diya Sharma came first, Sushmita Roy was second and Rashmita Nayak stood third. Manpreet and Chandrajeet Dhara bagged first and second positions, respectively in the quiz competition. Chandrajeet Dhara and team were declared winners of the skit competition as well.

Every performance was applauded as the audience were delighted. The competition was stiff not just for the  number of participants but also for the quality of performances.

The judges for this talent competition was Anadi Mishra, Dr. Arun Mishra, Cultural Advisor, Apeejay College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar, and Dr. Amita Mishra, Head of Department, Performing Arts. They were also accompanied by Mr. Kranti, a renowned theatre artist, Dr. Saroj Kumar, School of Biosciences (ASU) and Dr. Shatakshi Srivastava, School of Engineering (ASU).

In the end, judges along with Prof. Raj S Dhankar distributed certificates and trophies to the winners. The programme concluded with a Vote of Thanks delivered by Prof. Sanjay Ahirwal, where he specially thanked Chancellor Ma’am, the Vice Chancellor and the Pro VC for providing students such a platform to showcase their talents.