It’s time to revel in the treasure trove of art, culture, food, literature, cinema and everything else that one needs for a balanced life! In other words, it’s time again for the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (KGAF) that turns the city into a haven of art and culture for a week every year. This time, the fest is bigger and better with ‘change’ being the mainstay.
Festival Director Brinda Miller says, “We decided to bring in sweeping changes in the format and ideology this year so that it could become more compact and channelised, more people could be brought on board for brainstorming; and, finally, the audience base would increase manifold. So we have increased the number of sections, with independent curators for each section. The venues have also been increased so that visitors can spread out and see our beautiful city expansively.”
With change being the core of the festival, the sections have been innovatively titled: Changescape (Heritage Walks), The Book of Changes (Literature), Traditions and Transitions (Dance) and so on.
Theatre-lovers can look forward to gems like Snuff Puppets and ‘Manto Zinda Hain’; cinema-lovers have gems like Mahesh Manjrekar’s Kaksparsha and Amy Caitlin-Jairazbhoy’s Music for The Goddess among others; those with a yen for literature can immerse themselves in a variety of workshops and readings. Kids have a huge choice of activities to choose from such as workshops in origami and mosaic, quizzes and storytelling sessions.
Those wanting to explore the city can participate in the Heritage Walks through various locations such as CST station and Flora Fountain. Foodies can indulge their taste buds while learning how to make those delicious foods through workshops by aces like chocolatier Zeba Kohli, patisserie-expert Pooja Dhingra, and celebrity chef Vicky Ratnani.
One can also stroll around the leafy avenues of Kala Ghoda picking up knickknacks even as street-performers as diverse as Bahurupias, puppeteers, dholkiwalas and pattebaazs regale you with their performances. There are also performances by singer Usha Uthup, danseuse Aditi Mangaldas, and Bollywood’s favourite composers Salim-Suleiman.
Bottomline: A week full of fun, frolic and festivity.
