Mood Indigo 2017: Here's what's in store for the final day of IIT-Bombay's cultural fest

Looking at the sprawling event that it has become today — the largest of its kind in Asia — it’s a little difficult to think of Mood Indigo as it was when it first began: put together by 4-5 students in 1971, on a budget of Rs 5,000. Close to five decades later, IIT Bombay’s annual inter-collegiate cultural festival has grown tremendously, inviting the best of student talent, thought leaders, celebrities and performers to its (figurative) stage. Mood Indigo 2017 (or MoodI as the fest is popularly called) has done a fine job of upholding the IIT-B tradition. Right from Day One, the fest hit the high notes — and we don’t just mean with the stand-out gigs by headlining acts like prog rock group Haken, Clinton Cerejo Band, or Dutch EDM duo Bassjackers. From workshops headed by industry experts like Neeta Lulla, writers like Ravinder Singh, AIB, personalities like Mallik Dua, Sunil Pal to panel discussions that featured the likes of Narayan Murthy and P Chidambaram — MoodI consistently struck a balance between the fun, intellectual and educational. [caption id=“attachment_4274617” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra wer seen at IIT Bombay’s Mood Indigo 2017, on its third day. Images courtesy Twitter/@iitb_moodi[/caption]

Bollywood too made its presence felt at Mood Indigo — Akshay Kumar, R Balki on Day 1, Neeraj Pandey and Manoj Bajpayee on Day 2, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Madhur Bhandarkar on Day 3. And amid this jam-packed schedule, the competitions across the performing/fine/literary arts that had students from across thousands of Indian colleges had participating students put their best feet forward. With the four-day festivities (based on a carnival theme this year) set to end on 25 December, here’s a look at what was planned to bring Mood Indigo to a fitting conclusion: [caption id=“attachment_4274609” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  The finals of a slew of competitive events were scheduled for Day 4 of Mood Indigo. Images courtesy Twitter/@iitb_moodi[/caption]

First up, the finals of a slew of competitive events, including Nrityanjalai (classical dance), Beat The Streets (group hip-hop), MI’Nem (the rap contest, held — fittingly enough — in a parking lot), Mime Time, Humour Us etc. Of particular interest? Mercury (the IIT-B sci-tech quiz) and Radio-Active (the radio jockey competition). Then, the informals, which feature some pretty engaging activities, including carpool karaoke, food poker (ahem) and speed dating. And lastly, the horizons segment, which continues some of the interesting workshops that have been in focus at MoodI 2017. Of special interest on Day 4: Humourfest featuring fan favourite Biswa Kalyan Rath; the Kutle Khan Project and Rishabh Sheen Collab for the IMF; and salsa-garba at the interactive dance arena. The culmination of Mood Indigo, however, will be the ‘Popular Nite’, featuring a performance by Amit Trivedi, and an opening act by Sparsh. Trivedi had this to say about his upcoming gig:

The gig should be the perfect ending to a four-day celebration that truly has been, as MoodI’s tag line promised this year: ‘La Fête Carnaval’. Until December 2018! Here’s a look at the complete schedule for Day 4 of Mood Indigo. For more information, log on to moodi.org: