Milan (cultural festival)

Milan (sanskrit for unification/coming together) is the national-level cultural festival organised by the Directorate of Student Affairs of SRM University. Started in 2008, it is a four day long event that is held in the first quarter of every year. Milan hosts a variety of events every year, ranging from sports, literary, music, dance, and many others. In addition to events, Milan also organizes concerts and DJ nights for participants each year. The 2015 edition of Milan attempted to break the Guinness World Record with 100 hours of continuous events.

History

Milan is held each January. The first event in 2008 was opened by Asha Bhosle.

Events

Literary events

Literary events include debates, essay writing, shipwreck, etc. These test the oratory and literary skills of the participants. Topics involve current affairs like sensex, politics, power-plants, etc.

Funzone

Funzone, previously known as Informals, is one of the major attractions for many visitors to the festival. These events generally include treasure hunting, Mythos D' Aghor and roadies.

Creativity and fine arts

Events like hair-styling, clay modelling and wall painting form a part of this domain. The style or the topic will be told on the spot and the participants should get their creative juices flowing immediately.

Music

This domain consists of events like anthakshari, solo singing (classical and light), solo instrumental, bands (western and eastern).

Dance

Events include choreonights, classical dance and couples dances to entertain the crowd.

Dramatics

Events like variety shows and stand-up comedy provide entertainment.

Workshops

2D film-making, animations, mural painting, etc. are taught by professionals here and a minimal amount of fee is charged.

Fashion

The fashion show involves male and female models walking on a catwalk.

Proshows

Professional acts that have appeared at Milan in the past include:

• Junkyard Grooves (2008)
• Benny Dayal (2009)
• Karthik (2010)
• Bombay Rockers (2010)
• Shreya Ghoshal (2011)
• Rhythm Dhol Bass (2012)

Guest appearances

Asha Bhosle, Tamannaah and Reemma Sen were the guests of the inaugural Milan in 2008. In 2009 Padmashri Dr Kamal Haasan was the chief guest and students were privileged to listen to his motivational talk in building up one's life. Vijayakanth was the special attraction in 2010. In 2011, M. Balamuralikrishna and Vikram were the guest of honor and chief guest respectively. Vani Jairam, Shriya Saran, Taapsee Pannu were also among the guests that year. In 2012, R. Sarathkumar and Siddharth visited the campus on the first day of Milan, followed by Jiiva, Andrea Jeremiah, Ameer Sultan and Mammootty.

Butterflies

Butterflies, is a social service initiative hosted by SRM University, which aims at enhancing the lives of the under privileged school children in and around Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu. The program strives to impart changes in the lives of children to help them face and surpass the social issues they face and to help early school dropouts to continue studying. When Milan was first held in 2008 with the tag line ‘Celebrating Life’, it was agreed that an initiative to spread joy and help improve the lives of underprivileged children be undertaken before the festival. The event ‘Butterflies’ was thus commenced with a tag line ‘Inspiring Change’ and hosted as a pre-Milan initiative.

Every year children studying in government schools in and around the Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu are invited to compete in cultural, literary, sports and other events. Winners are awarded with prizes and medals. The school with the maximum points and participation in maximum number of events is awarded the ‘Best School Trophy’. Breakfast and lunch are provided to the children and their accompanying staff members along with a souvenir and certificate. Transportation is provided for the children from and to their schools on the day. In 2012, Butterflies unveiled its 'School Adoption Program' which focuses on grooming the students in various fields including computer skills, spoken English, extra-curricular activities and academics.

Hospitality

Students from various other universities come and participate in the fest. SRM University provides accommodation to the non-local participants. A variety of food stalls are on site. Participants will be guided from railway stations and bus stations to the campus.