Kailash Kher will perform at Beyond Barriers

A highlight of the city’s busy winter calendar for some time has been a three-day college fest culminating in a musical extravaganza on Park Street. This time, both Xavotsav and Beyond Barriers will be extra special for Xaverians old and new. After all, St Xavier’s College will be celebrating Xavotsav 2006 and the eighth chapter of Beyond Barriers as an autonomous institution.

“This is the first time we are hosting Xavotsav and Beyond Barriers after being granted autonomy and it makes this year that much more special,” said Imran Zaki, general secretary of St Xavier’s College Calcutta Alumni Association (SXCCAA).

Beyond Barriers on December 23, sponsored by the RPG Group, will star Bollywood’s Sufi singer Kailash Kher and the winner of the Ek Main Ek Tu contest on Zee TV Ujjaini Mukherji.

Kher, who shot into the limelight with the sensational Allah ke bande from the movie Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II, has sung many popular numbers for movies like Main Hoon Na, Fanaa and more. Ujjaini has sung for films like Alag and Corporate. The two are expected to draw in a crowd of more than 10,000.

In previous years, Beyond Barriers has brought in musical performers ranging from Hari Prasad Chaurasia to Hariharan, Lucky Ali to Strings, Kunal Ganjawala to Vasundhara Das.

But the last evening of the four-day extravaganza on the Park Street campus is not just about having a blast. For, Beyond Barriers is now linked to the cause of the new campus coming up on the EM Bypass by 2010.

“Beyond Barriers does not signify a musical evening alone. It is a movement with a much larger purpose. Most of the proceeds from the show will go into the funding of the new college campus,” said Zaki.

Last year, the event had generated a surplus of over Rs 15 lakh for the new St Xavier’s College campus on a 17-bigha plot on the Bypass. The target this time is “over Rs 50 lakh”.

The opening of the new campus will coincide with the institution’s 150th year celebrations in 2010, preparations for which are already underway.

The new campus will initially be used for postgraduate programmes in management, media studies, biosciences and information technology.