Mumbai gets its own fest

India's financial centre could be the next stop on the global events calendar with a unique partnership.

Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore have their shopping festivals, Edinburgh has its theatre fest, Cannes spills over when it's time for the annual film exposition, but in India there's nothing that can be billed as a mega-event for a global audience.

Hyderabad tried to fit the bill with the Hyderabad Shopping Festival that was started with much hype in 2001, but has since become just another provincial event.

Which is what makes the Mumbai Festival beginning January 7 (and running through the 16th) pivotal.

Says Gouri Kanjilal, regional director of the India Tourist Office, "Mumbai is a financial capital with a tremendous amount of heritage associated with it. We want tourists to realise this and be part of the city's vibrancy, and let their participation result in economic benefits for every Mumbaikar."

The fest is former Member of Parliament Sudhir Sawant's dream, and as chief convenor of the Rs 11-crore Mumbai Festival Committee, he's thrilled at the interest.

His optimism stems from the 2,000-odd establishments that have signed up as participants in the event. Voluntary support has come from corporate entities like Coca Cola, Reliance Infocomm, Star Network, The Times of India and Orange, among others.

Sawant says the lesson from the Hyderabad fest was: "Don't involve the government in execution and planning." Sawant started off partnering with corporates, while eminent citizens took on the responsibility of looking after individual events.

"We don't have a pre-assigned budget," says Anand Mahindra, chairperson of the Festival Committee. Instead, Sangita Jindal of the Jindal group will handle the art and heritage segment, and Siddarth Kak of the Surabhi foundation will look after crafts, coordinating the 150 artisans who will be exhibiting at Bandra Reclamation.

For his part, Niranjan Hiranandani has chipped in to light up the entire skyline of the Powai region.

The all-involving festival is also a first because it brings traditional rivals on the same platform, like music channels Channel V and MTV.

While Channel V will be conducting the search for Mumbai's best college rock band in the programme "Almost Famous", MTV will be flying in, in association with Air India, jazz greats George Duke, Ravi Coltrane and Earl Klugh, and the 30-member Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Band, for the closing evening.

Coca Cola has launched 40 trucks painted with the festival slogan "Mumbai meri jaan", and bottles with the festive logo printed on it. Orange will enable downloads of the A R Rehman-composed ringtone "Mumbai meri jaan". "We hope the success of this year's event will bring in more corporates to partner for next year's events," Mahindra says.

While the Festival Committee is still hoping for a waiver on retail sales tax for participating establishments and shops, other ingenious events like an auto-rickshaw race have been finalised, with corporate speedsters like Gautam Singhania, participating.

The Mumbai Mela at the Bandra Reclamation, will feature a rural style haat, where in the evening, apart from food stalls and artisans, folk musicians will perform under a banyan tree.

Bollywood, though, isn't hogging the limelight. Film star Suneil Shetty will be plugging the food festival, and there will be special events like the Top 20 song night by Radio City, and a Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy event, but for the rest, Mumbaikars will have to contend with shopping, dining, touring the city's hot spots in double-decker buses, or checking out the Mumbai trains especially festooned for the season. Special cruises are being organised by the launch association for DJ-manned night cruises.

"The festival will be a success because it is everybody's," says chairman Anand Mahindra. Which is why the committee's pulling all stops to ensure everything works.

Already, it's hoping to scale up the event fifty times in 2006, for which work will begin as early as March. But for now, Mumbai is getting ready to celebrate its identity in a festival that could be a case study in public-private partnership.