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At Kolkata’s Kala Mandir, Sri Ram Narayan Singh Memorial High School presented its annual cultural showcase, Jhankriti 2025, a two-day celebration centered on the theme of Bengal. The event mixed student music, dance and theatre with academic recognitions, underscoring the role of the arts in school life and community identity.
Opening night: young performers set the tone
The first evening brought together the school’s primary section in a sequence of tightly staged items. Traditional and contemporary forms shared the programme, and the stage included tributes to revered film and music figures from the region.
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Lamp-lighting marked the formal start: school leaders joined visiting guests Mahua Mukherjee, a classical dancer, and Keya Sinha, an academic director, to inaugurate the festival. The children’s pieces ranged from ballet to short theatre scenes, with several productions earning strong audience response.
- Standout pieces: a dance-drama adaptation of a classic children’s tale, a ballet sequence, and a comic play based on a beloved Bengali character.
- Special tributes: musical and theatrical homages to Salil Chowdhury and Raj Kapoor.
- Awards: recognition for academic and co-curricular achievement on day one.
Mahua Mukherjee commended the production values and the play’s humane message, while Keya Sinha described the evening as a clear result of sustained student effort and guidance from teachers.
Senior showcase: history, politics and empowerment
The second day focused on older students and unfolded as a more varied theatrical and musical programme. It opened with devotional numbers — Durga Vandana and Shiv-Parvati Vandana — before moving into sequences that traced cultural motifs and historical episodes from Bengal’s past.
Puja Mehra delivered the annual school report, highlighting academic milestones and extracurricular growth. Senior students then presented a lineup that shifted rapidly in tone: a campus band called Jhankar offered contemporary music, a classical dance-drama revisited a spiritual theme, and a sharp political satire examined social tensions through humour and dialogue.
One ambitious item reworked a Roman tragedy for the school stage, while the finale — a modern dance titled Aahvan — centered on themes of women’s agency and leadership.
- Band performance: Jhankar — contemporary and ensemble-driven.
- Dance drama: Chandalika — rooted in classical choreography.
- Political satire: Bhed aur Bhediya — social commentary in a comic register.
- Adaptation: a staged version of Julius Caesar, reinterpreted for student actors.
- Finale: Aahvan — a choreography advocating women’s empowerment.
Madhuri Majumdar, who has taught dance at the university level, praised the students’ discipline and expressive range. Rabindra Sangeet singer Manisha Murali Nair highlighted the steady support from faculty and families that made the performances possible.
Recognition and wider significance
The school honoured its top ICSE and ISC performers with cash awards, cheques reaching up to Rs 15,000, and presented certificates across academics and co-curricular fields. These recognitions were woven into the festival rather than presented as a separate ceremony, reinforcing the message that scholarship and the arts are complementary.
The event matters beyond a single weekend: it offered a public example of how schools can preserve cultural memory while encouraging creative risk-taking. For families and educators, the programme demonstrated tangible outcomes — student confidence, ensemble skills and cross-disciplinary learning — that follow from sustained investment in arts education.
In sum, Jhankriti 2025 combined performance, pedagogy and celebration to present a locally rooted but forward-looking portrait of school life in Kolkata.
