Many well-known musicians, comedians and theatre artistes will perform across seven cities during a two-month festival
The blend of comedy, theatre and music in live entertainment has become a successful strategy to draw crowds. The latest festival, Stage 42, will bring together the best of these different genres in seven cities between February and March. The festival will take place in seven cities — Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.
There’s a handpicked selection of artistes and actors, performing at different venues in each of these cities through the course of the festival. Over 150 shows have been planned. In comedy, acclaimed individuals and groups like Bill Burr, All India Bakchod (AIB) and Pretentious Nights will be doing shows. Nucleya, DJ Anish Sood and Bhayanak Maut will set the musical waves flowing while spectacular theatre shows will be done including Akhtari, Dastangoi and others.
Stage 42 will also host multiple club nights in each city and these will include performances by bass monster Nucleya, indie folk band Swarathma and Friends, comedy rock band Vir Das’ Alien Chutney, stand-up comedian Biswa Kalyan Rath of Pretentious Movie Reviews, Reggae Rajahs and more. Noted Urdu litterateur SR Faruqi and Mahmood Farooqui have been working tirelessly towards the revival of Dastangoi, a lost form of storytelling.
Developed a thousand years ago, these stories talked about the valour and adventures of Amir Hamza, an Arab hero and were very popular in 19th century India. But with the demise of Mir Baqar Ali, the last known exponent of the art form, in 1928, the form also died with him. However, a lot of dastans will be performed in this fest.