History
Dramatech was formed in 1984 by three alumni of IIT Delhi: Subramanian Sanyal(1978), Deepak Gidwani(1981) and Rakesh Gupta(1981). It later expanded to attract talent from other institutions, in particualar, IIM Ahmedabad and Delhi University. The group is now composed of students (IITD, LSR, DPS RKP, Vasant Valley School, Venkateswara, Sri Aurobindo, IP University, ..), corporate professionals (HP, IAS, KPMG, IITD, Airtel, Rediffusion, McCann, agencyfaqs.com, ..), entrepreuners (Ezeeflex, itasveer.com, Brown Heart Chocolates, Red Hat Entertainment,..), teachers and homemakers.
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.
Notes on 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....
To have a peek at some old photos of this play go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/rakeshkumarguptaias/BaelSeMuthbedNostalgicMoments
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Sanny-da joined TCS which took him to Calcutta and then abroad. He is now settled in the US. Alok Tiwari surfaced a few years ago but has again gone into hiding. Found again – is working with DLF, Noida. He lives in Noida. Sanjeev Kalhan is in Delhi, Champa Mukherjee in Bangalore (she came to Delhi in 2010 and saw our RUN FOR YOUR WIFE).- her brother Sudip participated in the IITD musical evening in 2007. Rakesh Gupta is in IAS.(London,dt 2007) but from 2007 back in Delhi and has acted in all Dramatech plays since then.
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.
To have a peek at some old photos of this play go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/rakeshkumarguptaias/BichuNostalgicMoments
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 and has directed many Dramatech plays since 2007. (dt 2011)
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.
To have a peek at some old photos of this play go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/rakeshkumarguptaias/TenLittleNiggersNostalgicMoments
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Ranjana married Kavita Chowdhury's brother Kapil and moved to Mumbai. Then to New York with Y&R (dt2010). 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.also acting in films in Mumbai. Nayyar is now settled in Houston, USA, Madhukar is in Delhi running his own co, an associate of Thermax. (all dt 2011).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. The second intra-Dramatech marriage. The third one was betweem Gidy and Archana.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (dt 2011)
Shefali Bhushan is CEO of beatofindia.com and also trying to make a movie in MumbaI. Umesh and Anjali Vyas were in Singapore, now in Mumbai. Sanjay Lodha in Mumbai.
Shailendra Jain is teaching Marketing at a Univ in the States. Pradeep Srivastava was the CMO of Idea, now of Videocon, in Mumbai. Jimmy Hasija is Head of Projects with Aaj Tak, Noida.
Manmohan Jain is working with i2 Flex Solutions and living in Charmwood Village, Faridabad.
Sonal Dabral, who acted in Udhwast Dharmshala in the 80s, was in Lintas Delhi, then moved to O&M Mumbai, before heading its office in Malaysia. Returned to Mumbai as Country Head of BATES 141.