Milan (cultural festival)
Milan (Sanskrit for unification/coming together) is the National-Level Cultural Festival organised by the Directorate of Student Affairs of SRM Institute of Science and Technology. Milan is five day fest with a foray of events that spans extensively over a number of sporting events and multifarious music, dance and art events. Every year in addition to these events, Milan also brings to SRM some top-notch music band performances and Proshows. The 2015 edition of Milan attempted to break the Guinness World Record with 100 hours of continuous events. History. Milan first began in 2008. Commencing  with about 25 events in 2008, Milan has grown over the course of time to host over a 100+ different creative and fun-infused events of art, dance, music and sports with ever-expanding participation from across the country. Several prominent celebrities including Asha Bhonsle, Mammoothy, Kamal Hassan, Suriya, Vetrimaran, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Karthick, John Abraham, Vishal and Shekher, Nucleya, Amit Trivedi, Vijay Deverakonda, Yashika Anand, Sorabh Pant, Rahul Subramainan have graced Milan with their presence over the years. Live band performances and concerts have been major attractions at Milan year after year. There have also been some outstanding  stand-up comedy performances by some nation-wide famous comedy groups like Evam Tamasha, East India Comedy, OML. In 2020, Milan will commemorate its 13th successful edition at SRM Institute of Science and Technology. Events. Milan organizes over a 120+ events every year which encompass over a multitude of domains. In the past few years, there have been a set of Pre- Milan Events which have been instrumental in setting the stage afire for Milan Literary events. Each year in Milan, a number of literary events like debates, extempore and essay-writing that take place provide a platform to  young orators and writers to exhibit their literary skills. Topics range from politics, ethics to environment and technology all of which are the need of the hour to build a socially-conscious and intellectually adept generation of youth. These literary events occur in several languages including English, Tamil and Telugu, thus, ensuring avid participation from the diverse student body. Funzone. Funzone, previously known as Informals, is one of the major attractions for participants of the festival. It involves a variety of events, the major highlights being, the legendary treasure-hunt, Mythos D' Aghor and Milan Roadies which come with grand  cash prizes. Milan’17 saw the advent of a fresh set of games like Man v/s Food, Memenia and Nincompoops which have been major show stealers. Creativity and Fine Arts. This is a domain in which artists can let loose their creative genius with events like road graffiti, wall-painting, collage-making and poster-making. Often, these art works represent an underlying theme and bring to light thought-provoking ideas and social messages through the sublime medium of art. Music. Music at Milan has been an ever-evolving domain with some classic events like solo singing and instrumentals with a  fusion of a new batch of events like Rap Battles, Beat-boxing, Acapella, Battle of the Bands, Jugalbandi and so on which have been redefining standards every year with fierce and enthusiastic participation from new talent every year. Dance. With a plethora of events like Pro Battle, Adapt Tune, Choreonite and Choreonite +, the dance domain is easily one that attracts all the participants and audience. Power-packed performances of dance groups and individuals put the audience in a trance and never fail to amaze talented artists called upon to judge these events. Colosseum. As the official domain for dramatics , Colosseum comes with the best of events which allow participants to put on their thinking cap and exhibit their creations through short films, script-writing and theatrics. As the saying goes, "The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton", budding actors and actresses are made on the stages of Colosseum. Aeromodelling. "The sky is the limit." But with the Aeromodelling domain, there are participants breaking all bounds. It is the one-stop domain for aeromodelling enthusiasts to explore their prowess into designing their own craft and flying high. Environment. The environment club comes with its special  set of events each year at Milan to reiterate the need for sustainability and protection of the environment. Events like Green Avengers and Ecoshoot among others have set the track straight for the kind of trails that educated humans must leave behind. Online Events. The online events are yet another stunning attraction in a world that is heading increasingly towards the virtual. With innovative events like Story of My Life and Hastags, this domain is a star among all online stars at Milan. Fashion. The fashion domain of SRM sets the bar higher each year with a stellar fashion show . With an ingenious display of fashion collections designed by students themselves, the Vogue Way proves to be nothing short of a creative grandeur. Proshows. Professional acts that have appeared at Milan in the past include: 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. In 2016 John Abraham Inaugurated Milan and Valedictory guest was Vetrimaran. In 2017 Aditya Roy Kapoor Inaugurated Milan and R. Sarathkumar was the special attraction of Milan'17 and In 2018 Vijay Deverakonda Inaugurated Milan and Amit Trivedi, Nucleya was the special attraction of Milan'18. Butterflies. Butterflies is a social initiative undertaken by SRM University which aims to aid the under-privileged school children  in and around the Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu. The program strives to provide education children and thereby help them overcome social issues they are subjected to and to prevent early school dropouts. In an attempt to share the joy and happiness that Milan stood for, Butterflies came into being. Hosted with a tagline ‘Inspiring Change’, Butterflies continues to be a huge step in the campaign that aims at giving back joy to the society. Every year children studying in government schools from 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. During Milan, SRM University provides accommodation to non-local students. The food stalls during Milan provide  a wide platter of cuisines in one place and are a huge hit among students. Participants from other colleges are provided complete guidance about the means of transportation and routes to University by the Hospitality Domain.