24 May,2017 12:30 PM IST | Mumbai | The Guide Team
Share your poetry with a tinge of humour, and stand a chance to win prizes at a new competition
Rohan Joshi, Shailaja Shyamsukha and Chetan Dalvi
If you are a poet looking for a platform and recognition, look no further. Sign up for Desi Vyang, a competition for poetry enthusiasts, where the three best entries will win prizes. Moreover, every participant's work will be compiled into a free ebook, which will be available for download post the event.
The competition is organised by Desi Dramebaaz, a month-old YouTube channel that gives a humorous twist to news events. Their first video, which was a funny take on the government's Swachh Bharat campaign, racked up over 1,000 views within a day of being uploaded.
"We knew right from the beginning that we wanted to support the arts, but we didn't exactly know how to take the idea forward," admits author Chetan Dalvi, who founded Desi Dramebaaz with videographer Rohan Joshi and physiologist Shailaja Shyamsukha, who is also involved in poetry, dance and acting.
The idea of doing an on-ground event, he adds, came to them quite by accident. "Rohan and I were covering one of Shailaja's seminars one day. During a break, we stepped out to eat, and on a whim, decided to approach people outside a nearby cinema hall to ask them why Katappa killed Bahubali. People were enthusiastic and gave fun responses. That's when we realised on-ground events are a great way to connect with our audience. And what better way to begin than with poetry? So many poets in Mumbai don't have a proper platform to showcase their talent."
The theme for the event - to be held on Saturday - is humour, and each participant gets four minutes to recite their work before the two judges, actress and poet Dipti Misra, and Brian Phillips, who is from the advertising industry.
