Melodies of 50 Cent, Bollywood and beatboxing helped about 160 students and parents gathered at Marvin Center Friday night to celebrate the Indian festival of Diwali.

In Indian culture, Diwali means a festival of lights and the holiday aims to celebrate good triumphing over evil, light over darkness and truth over falsehood. Friday’s celebration featured seven different performance groups who fused modern music and themes into their acts.

Performers included two Indian a cappella groups, one from GW and one from the Maryland, and five dance performance groups. Some dance groups fused traditional Indian music with sounds of popular artists such as 50 Cent and Sean Paul. Other groups used sounds of beatboxers or popular Bollywood songs in their music.

Indian Students’ Association President Saumya Narechania said he was pleased with turnout for the event and the audience members’ level of enthusiasm.

“I think (the audience) reacted very well . the performers fed off of the audience a lot,” Narechania said.

For seniors like Shravan Amin and Aakash Shah, this year’s Diwali Festival was their last at GW. Although Amin and Shah said they were sad about their last time, they agreed their last dance performance was one to remember.

“We were really excited,” said Shah. She added, “It was all about the audience and they all loved it.”

Sophomore Rajiv Menon said his favorite performances were those choreographed and performed by freshmen and seniors. The dance acts were broken up based on the year of the performers.

“They were all really into it,” said Menon. “It was really good.”

The Indian Students’ Association plans to hold their next festival, Holi, in March.