Santiniketan: Video clips showing teachers and students of the Sangeet Bhavana at Visva-Bharati dancing to the tune of " lungi dance" on Teachers' Day went viral on Thursday.

A section of varsity officials, students and ex-students said such revelry went against the culture of Visva-Bharati, founded by Rabindranath Tagore. Varsity authorities pointed out that the Teachers' Day programme was not official.

Sources said on September 5, the students and teachers had jointly organised a programme where one of the events was "musical chairs". Between several Rabindra Sangeet numbers, some Bollywood chartbusters " lungi dance" - from 2013 hit Chennai Express starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone - were played. A senior teacher is seen dancing in the video.

"This is not the culture of Visva-Bharati, to sing and dance to Hindi songs like Lungi dance. At a time Visva-Bharati is trying to maintain the traditional culture of Santiniketan, teachers and students dancing to the tune of such songs does not look nice," a varsity official said.

Supriya Tagore, a former Patha Bhavana principal, said: "Rabindranath Tagore set up this university with a principle. During our days, Teachers' Day was observed with Tagore songs."

Sangeet Bhavana authorities shrugged off the episode. "We run a department of music and dance and we have respect for all types of music. Hindi film songs have been sung by eminent singers. We don't see anything wrong in it. It was not a programme of the Sangeet Bhavana but was organised by the students. A controversy is being created unnecessarily," Nikhilesh Chowdhury, the principal of Sangeet Bhavana, said.

Officiating vice-chancellor Sabuj Kali Sen said she saw "nothing "controversial". "The programme was not an official programme of Visva-Bharati."