Students present a dance drama during the youth festival in Ranchi on Wednesday. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Nineteenth century freedom fighter Rani Laxmibai met 21st century anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare on stage amid cheers and applause at Marwari College in the capital on Wednesday on Day One of the two-day youth festival.

Besides the host cradle, visiting students of Ranchi College, Ranchi Women’s College, Mandar College, St Xavier’s College, Nirmala College and Doranda College also thoroughly enjoyed their unique date with fun, culture, history and talent shows.

Pro-vice chancellor of Ranchi University V.P. Sharan inaugurated the event, with Ranchi College principal Anand Bhushan, Marwari College principal Manju Sinha, St Xavier’s College’s mentor Kamal Bose teamed with other varsity officials attended the fest.

“This fete is a prelude to the zonal inter-university youth meet that will be hosted at Tezpur in Assam from December 16 to 20. Top performers will be handpicked for the bigger event,” said Sharan.

Conceived and directed by Sushil Ankan and Ajay Malkani, noted artistes and faculty members of host cradle, a patriotic dance drama incorporated a narrative to help audience understand the presentation easily.

It offered a colourful glimpse of Indian history since colonial times. Dancers matched steps with the patriotic song Jahaan daal-daal par sone ki chidiyaa karti hai baseraa, woh Bharat desh hai meraa from Prithviraj Kapoor’s 1965 classic Sikandar-e-Aazam.

The performance also portrayed how Rani Laxmi Bai, Jhansi’s queen, took up the sword against the British, the tribal uprising led by legendary Birsa Munda and his followers who attacked the colonial rulers with bows and arrows and how Mahatma Gandhi attained freedom for the country through ahimsa or non-violence.

To connect the youths with today’s India, students also depicted Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption.

Besides this, the classical dance, thumri and ghazal performances also drew loud cheers.

Neha Mukherjee of Ranchi Women College presented Jhuki jhuki si nazar, a ghazal of late maestro Jagjit Singh from the film Arth, while Riya Sinha of Nirmala College enthralled the audience with a thumri number.

“This fest will really be a happy memory of my college years. This is an excellent platform to showcase our talent as well as learn from others,” said Riya.

The event-packed two-day fest has 24 items in its list, including collage, cartoon, poster and rangoli contests, English and Hindi recitations, debates, extempore and rendition of different musical instruments.