When it comes to music festivals, the campus fests do not fall behind the major music festivals happening in Pune or Goa. The campus fests have become so massive that they feel like a full-fledged music festival. Festivals like Mood Indigo – IIT Bombay, Antaragini – IIT Kanpur, Rendezvous – IIT Delhi are among the few that have made a special place in the to-attend list. Mood Indigo is the largest cultural festival in Asia followed by Antaragini. Engifest the cultural festival of DTU, has grown drastically since the past few years and it seems to surpass many of the IIT hosted festivals.
Four of the best college festivals in India are:
Mood Indigo – IIT Mumbai
Antaragini – IIT Kanpur
Engifest – Delhi Technical University (DTU)
Rendezvous – IIT Delhi
1. IIT Bombay – Mood Indigo
- Hosts 1,50,000 attendees every year in the month of December.
- Termed the largest cultural festival in Asia.
- Mood I was started back in 1971 by a group of students while the name ‘Mood Indigo’ was taken from Frank Sinatra’s album.
- MI started with a budget of just Rs. 5000 and now has a budget in crores.
- 47 years old fest
- Among the first organizers of the festival was Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder and ex-CEO of Infosys.
- Legends like Asha Bhosle and R D Burman performed at the 1981 edition of Mood Indigo.
Music and Dance events
-Beat the Street: Group Hip-hop dance Competition.
-Nrityaamjali: Classical Dance Competition.
-Mantra: Hindi Rock Band Competition.
-Conchord: Accapella Competition.
-Choreonite: Thematic and Non-Thematic dance Competition.
-MI Idol: Hindi solo signing Competition.
-Sanskriti: Group folk dance Competition.
Dramatics, Lifestyle & Fine Arts events
-Aagaaz: Street Play Competition.
-Third Bell: One Act Stage Play Competition.
-Chosen One: Moni-acting Competition.
-Chef’s Corner: Cooking Competition.
-Fa-Marathon: Fine Art Competition
-Trashion: Best of Waste Competition.
-Rangeela: Watercolour Painting Competition
Non performing arts
-Arz Kiya Hai: Hindi Poetry Competition.
-Framed: Photo Story Competition
-Pentastic: Creative writing Competition.
-Director’s cut: Short-film making Competition
-Reportage: Journalism Competition
Live wire artists who have performed at Mood Indigo
-Shankar Ehsaan Loy – Trio of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa
-Shaan
-VishalShekhar
-Mohit Chauhan
-Sonu Nigam
-Kailash Kher
-Asha Bhosle
-Amit Trivedi
-Lucky Ali
Bands who have performed at Mood Indigo
-Indian Ocean
-Agnee
-Parikrama
-Karnivool
-Katatonia
-Epica
2. IIT Kanpur – Antaragini
- Antaragini hosts around 1,10,000 attendees from across the country with participation from over 200 colleges.
- The festival was formerly known as Cultfest, which later changed to Antaragini in 1993.
- The non-profit student-run fest is 53 years old and started in 1965.
- Being one of the biggest in Asia, Antaragini is a 4-day festival and is held in the month of October.
- Every year, a team of over 1000 students start working 8 months prior to the event dates.
- Antaragini is also popular for MUN – Model United Nations and Sunburn.
- World-known faces like KSHMR, have made the participants sway on their tunes.
List of events that take place during the festival
-Dream On: Campaign inviting industry experts who mentor the students participating in the event.
-India Inspired: Political forum
-Ritambhara: Fashion show
-Kavi Sammelan
-Synchronicity: Rock band competition
-Junoon: Eastern music Competition
-DJ Wars
Celebrities at Antaragni IIT Kanpur
-Amit Trivedi
-Farhan Akhtar
-Adnan Sami
-KK
-KSHMR
-Sonu Nigam
-Sunidhi Chauhan
-Vishal & Shekhar
-Raghu Dixit
-Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Bands that have performed at Antaragini
-Indian Ocean
-Agnee
-Euphoria
-Glyder
-Onogana
-Cleva Girls
-Skiller
3. Delhi Technological University – Engifest
- Engifest also Engineer’s fest, was started in 1974 by a group of students.
- The festival with over 80.000 footfall is known as North India’s largest cultural festival.
- Engifest is popular for its pro-nites and it’s unique events, one of them is called Shakedown, which is a car drag event and drags automobile and technology lovers from all across the country.
- Engifest welcomes students from over 150 colleges.
- The festival has hosted celebrities like Piyush Mishra, Vishal Shekhar, Nucleya, Sunidhi Chauhan, Bassjackers, Bhuvan Bham to name a few.
Events that take place during the festival
-Campus Princess – Miss India Organization: Fashion event
-Nukkad and Natya: Dramatics
-Do Re Mi Pa : Music event
-Syaahi: Literary even
-Spandan: Western Dance Competition
-The Engi Quiz
-Shakedown
-Anushthaan: Classical Dance Competition
-Kaleidoscope: Film Festival
-Groovenexus : WIND POINT PARTY
-Paridhan: Fashion Parade
-Poker
Artists that have performed at Engifest
-Sunidhi Chauhan
-Vishal-Shekhar
-Mohit Chauhan
-Manj Musik
-Shibani Kashyap
-Hard Kaur
-Raftaar
-Kumar Vishwas
-Piyush Mishra
-Suraj Jagan
-Boogie Frantick
-Bhuvan Bam
-VJ Bani
-Aditi Arya
Electronic Artists that have performed at Engifest
-UpsideDown
-Lost Stories
-Nucleya
-NYK
-Ray
-Bassjackers
You may also like:
Engifest – A Guide To What You Must Attend!
History Of Engifest – Engineered To Perfection!
Engifest: A Journey Of Stars Invoking Magic!
GAURAV MEHTA & GET MASSIVE Opening The Night For QUINTINO | ENGIFEST 2019
4. IIT Delhi – Rendezvous
- Rendezvous, a 4-day long festival which hosts staggering 225+ events
- It welcomes more than 70,000 attendees every year, running just behind Delhi Technological University’s Engifest.
- The festival hosts 13,000 contestants participating from over 500 colleges.
- Founded in 1976, RDV invites 170+ artists from more than 20 countries every year.
Dance events that take place during the 4 day festival
-Choreography Competition
-Solo Dance Competition
-Duo Dance Competition
-Belly Dance Battle
-B-Boying Battle
-Street Dance Competition
-Western group dance Competition
Drama and social events that take place during the festival
-Natika Vatika: Stage Play
-Vismriti: Mime competition
-Swaang:Mono Act
-Mimansa: Street Play
-Kathaanak: Script writing
Photography events that take place during the festival
-Through the lens: Photography competition
-Story teller: Photo story
-Theatrical Trailers: Trailer making
-Design Revolution: Logo designing
-Show Reel: Cinamatic event
Arts & Crafts events that take place during the festival
-Brush Off Brush: Brushless Painting
-2 Shades: Charcoal Painting
-Paint A Spot: On Spot Painting
-Graphic-O-Rama: Graphic Novel Writing
-DeeWar: Wall Painting
-Paintara: Trunk Painting
-Show Painting: Paint your shoes event
Music events that take place during the festival
-Swar: Indian Classical Vocals Solo
-Anahad: Fusion Bands
-Echoes: Western Solo Singing
-Blitzkrieg: English Rock Band
-Agaaz: Eastern Group Singing
-Beat Boxing Battle
-Rap Battle
-Spectrum: Hindi Rock Band Competition
-Instrumental Impromptu
-Allegro: Acappella
-Voice of Rendezvous: Bollywood Classical Singing competition
-Electronica: DJ Wars
Other events that happen during the festival
-Debutant: Fresher’s Parliamentary Debate
-Two-Face: Turncoat Competition
-Open MELA Quiz: A Quiz on Entertainment
-Cook Off: Cookery Competition
-Sports Quiz
-Kombat: The Open General Quiz
-Biztech Quiz: A quiz on Business and technology
-Matrbhumi: The India Quiz
-Slam Blues : Inter College Poetry Slam competition
-Sphinx: The College General Quiz
-Campus Princess: Female fashion show for Miss India
-Comedy Hunt: Comedy Competition
-Illusionist: Magic Competition
Celebrities at Rendezvous
-Rabbi Shergill
-Javed Ali
-Anushka Sharma
-Ranveer Singh
-John Abraham
-Deepika Padukone
-Imran Khan
-Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
-Tom Alter
-Farhan Akhtar
-Kailash Kher
-Mohit Chauhan
-Papon
-Shilpa Rao
-Shubha Mudgal
-Amaan
-Ayaan Ali Khan
Bands that have performed at Rendezvous
-Parikrama
-Agnee
-Advaita
-Prestorika
-Vayu
-Faridkot
-Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ)
-Hoobastank
-Malefice
-Textures
-Mindsnare
-Rockfour
-Mynta
Let us know if you have been to a college festival that left a good impression on you. Until then keep dancing, keep grooving!
