NEWSLINE
COMPLETE CINEMA
3RD NOVEMBER, 2001

AMITABH DONATES TO SHERWOOD COLLEGE

Nostalgia kindled after many years as Sherwoodians past and present got together on October 27 at St. Andrew's Hall, Bandra to watch a play "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest" by Ken Kesey, sponsored by Star, put up by the present students of the school. Amitabh, the Chief Guest of the evening, later at a dinner get-together organised at Hotel 'Golden Orchid', praised the performance of the actors and through Dalip Tahil (who had organised the entire event) announced a donation of Rs. 11 lakhs on his behalf for the Nainital based College which is his alma mater. The Principal, Richard Mountford, expressed gratitude to Bachchan fo his magnanimous gesture. The show among others was also graced by Kabir Bedi.

THE THEATRE AGE
NESTING IN THEIR GLORY

The auditorium resonates with resounding cheers. The euphoria is infectious and joining the crazy bunch of sixteen and seventeen-year-old students takes just a few seconds. The applause is well deserved. The Sherwood School from Nainital has delivered a sterling performance in an intense drama that would have cooked the goose for most of their contemporaries. As opposed to the tense and taut book, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is perhaps best remembered for Jack Nicholson's powerful portrayal of McMurphy, the protagonist. Saturday evening's performance was a valiant effort by the high school students to re-create that desperate and tortured house of authority. Directed by their English and Dramatics teacher Natasha Mountford, the cast put up an admirable display of talent and energy as seven or eight characters whipped up a storm portraying the mentally disturbed patients of Ken Kesey's creation. Each character had multiple dimensions. At any given time there were at least four or five characters present on stage and not one of them let their character lapse even for a second. "We went through a month long dramatic exercise before starting on the script. The students learnt to adapt completely to their characters", says their director Natasha. Facial distortions, nervous twitches, uncontrollable stammering, absurd arguments, all combined to create the sense of controlled chaos within the institute which undergoes a change with McMurphy's entrance. "We have based our production on the battle of wills between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy," says Ayan who plays the lead role of McMurphy. The performance was high powered and energetic at its best, no doubt spurred on by the enthusiasm the cast felt about performing in Mumbai with ex-Sherwoodian, Amitabh Bachchan, as their chief guest. Each performance was executed with a great deal of ebullience and verve and the performances by Ayan Dutta and Angad Sethi were commendable. "I started acting in my ninth standard and I want to pursue serious theatre acting," says Ayan. "I hope my parents let me go through with it; maybe after today's performance they will," he adds with a smile. Performing with their teacher was no big deal. "She's really very young and the chemistry between all of us was great," say the students. The chemistry was indeed a ruling point as the resulting equation gave way to eleven lakhs being donated Bachchan towards the school. The jubilant spirit and the raucous cheers did justify a job well done.

LIFESTYLE

Birds of a feather flock together

Saturday evening was one of nights, lots of cameras and tons of action. The Sherwood College Dramatics Society presented One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, as part of their fund raising programme. Although the psychological drama was an intense performance by the students, a large of the attention veered towards their illustrious alumni, who included none other than the Big B and Dalip Tahil, among others.

The performance received its share of aplomb and applause for their energetic and talented act, but an equal amount it not more was reserved for Amitabh Bachchan. Also in attendance were Kabir and son Adam Bedi and Dolly Thakore.

The event had been sponsored by Star TV, so the television cameras present had a busy time running after the stars. Bachchan refused to leave his seat even during the interval, probably in fear of being mobbed by the dozens who were vying for more than a glimpse. The entire auditorium was sparsely occupied till he entered, followed hordes of excited fans. The school was no doubt proud of their ex-student, as they presented him with a plaque, which Amitabh reciprocated by donating eleven lakhs to school. For the Nainital school the double bonanza of the massive donation and a few words of praise from the Big B, were much more than what they had bargained for, but no one's complaining.

Amitabh donates 11 lakhs

By Taran Adarsh

It was a nostalgic evening for Sherwoodians, past and present. They all got together with media personalities at St. Andrew's Hall, Bandra on October 27 to encourage the present-day students who performed Ken Kesey's 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'. The show was sponsored by Star.

Past-Sherwoodian Amitabh Bachchan was the chief guest at the show and at the dinner get-together which followed at the Golden Orchid, Bandra. Not only did Bachchan watch the full play, but he had a word of encouragement and genuine praise for every young actor. So touched and impressed was he that he requested Dalip Tahil (who had organized the entire event) to announce his donation of Rs. 11 lakhs to Sherwood College, Nainital.

Among those present were actors Kabir Bedi and Dalip Tahil, who like Bachchan, were theatre-trained at the school and who won the Geoffrey Kendal Cup for Dramatics.