Show brings Indian tradition, American culture together

This weekend the Indian Student Association hosted several events to celebrate Masti -- a cultural event for South East Asian students. The celebration included dinners, a basketball tournament and a fashion show. \nThe fashion show, held at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre, was a grand event. The show included dancing, rapping, mini movies, and of course, great clothes. Everyone was decked out in the latest fashion, and hip-hop music dominated the theme. Amrita De, public relations coordinator for the event, said ISA had been planning the show for about three weeks. \nThe show's four hosts -- Chiraag Ganghar, Saab Grewal, Amir Raza and Ashwin Murthy -- joked continuously to keep the crowd interested. The first part of the show included a mini-movie, called "What Does Masti Mean To You." The movie -- one of several shown during the night on "Masti TV" -- showed the four hosts walking around campus asking random people what Masti meant to them. The video was humorous and kept the audience laughing. \n"I thought it was good and really funny," said Amy Jani, who came from Purdue to visit the celebration.\nThe mini-movies were played after every fashion segment and included a remake of "MTV Cribs" called "Masti Cribs," and a remake of "Joe Millionaire" called "Jagdish Millionaire."\nThe first fashion presentation had an urban theme and included the song "Disco" by Slum Village. The clothing was donated by local Urban Stylz clothing store and worked well with the urban element. The girls wore light blue and white tank top sweat suits. The show also included a few black and white jumpsuits with zip-up jackets and pants worn with oversized sunglasses and a black newspaper-boy hat. The models didn't walk down the runway in a traditional manner, but instead danced to the hip-hop music. \nThe hip-hop didn't stop at the urban fashion, but continued when IU Essence, the IU hip-hop team. The women came out in black and white outfits, dancing to P. Diddy, Missy Elliot, Sean Paul, R. Kelly and 50 Cent remixes. The crowd enjoyed the performance and cheered the women on when "In Da Club" by 50 Cent played. The performance was lively and went well with the theme. \nThe urban fashion segment continued with men's clothing donated by Urban Stylz. The models walked down two runways that extended from the stage. The clothing included sweat suits and denim outfits. The main designer was Akademiks, which the men wore proudly. Outfits included a white sweat suit with maroon and black blocks on the sleeves and legs, a baby blue and navy sweat suit, and a nicely made black denim outfit. The latter outfit included a mid-thigh length jacket and baggy jeans that showed the seams in blocks.\nThe surprises of the show were Murthy freestylying on stage and Raj Bhardwaj, a student from Purdue, popping and locking to Indian-style hip-hop. Murthy freestyled about the inequalities Indians face in American society and the pride of his ethnicity. The crowd cheered him on as he gave a great and energetic performance. \nMany people from the audience said that was their favorite part of the show. \n"I thought it was funny and creative," said graduate student Katherine Bryant. "My favorite part was the rapping." \nJani also agreed, saying her favorite part was the freestyle. Some were surprised at the amount of western influence in the show. \n"It was interesting how hip-hop was such a part of the whole show," Bryant said. "It was very westernized."\nOthers weren't as surprised, saying it was to be expected.\n"It was expected to some point; it is a mix of two cultures," said junior Pallav Shai. "The hip-hop part is almost common nature."\nThe next fashion segment was the evening wear. The models wore clothes donated by Bare Essentials. All the dresses were full-length floor gowns. One of the highlights of this part of the show was a pink beaded outfit -- a full-length dress that tied in the back and gathered at the rear. Other dresses ranged in colors from turquoise to blue to red. There was a mermaid-fitted strapless showy red dress, and a princess dress with a pink corset-like top with a full skirt. The men wore tuxedos, some traditional; others were more original and stylish. There was a stylish tuxedo with a knee length white coat over a gray vest with a matching tie and black pants. One of the models wore an all-white tux with a tie. Others wore traditional tuxes.\nThe next fashion segment was traditional Indian clothing donated by Rivas in Chicago. It was spectacularly beautiful. The models danced to traditional Indian music as they modeled the clothing. The men wore long tunics, mostly white or beige, under vests that were embroidered around the collar and matching pants. One man's outfit included a white tunic with a light green vest and white pants. Another striking outfit included a long black tunic with a white scarf and white pants. \nThe women's clothing was a little more ornate. There was a pink beaded pant outfit with a knee length tunic and a green beaded vest, a scarf over an olive green tunic and matching pants. \nSome of the women wore full length, full cut, hip slung white satin skirts, with white halter tops to match. The outfit is traditionally called a gagra and the scarves are called deptas. These outfits are made of raw silk, spun silk or satin. There was also a beautifully made red pant outfit with a spaghetti strap top and a cowl neckline with wide leg pants. The entire outfit was gold beaded. Bright colors and ornate beading dominated that portion of the show.