Kala Ghoda, the jewel of Mumbai’s art district, bustles with activity. From office workers, stock breakers of BSE, lawyers in their smart black cloaks, art connoisseurs visiting exhibitions at Jehangir Art Gallery, fashionistas and tourists, the area has something to offer for everyone. Most famously, Kala Ghoda hosts the annual Kala Ghoda Festival, Asia’s largest street arts festival.
Kala Ghoda Arts Festival
This year marked the 25th edition of the Kala Ghoda Festival and the theme was aptly named ‘Silver’. More than 300 programmes have been held across 15 verticals: Visual Arts, Urban Design, Music, Dance, Theatre, Literature, Cinema, Food, Children, Lifestyle, and so on.
Heritage Restoration Projects
The festival’s first day featured architect-led walkthroughs of art galleries.: Art Musings Art Gallery was recently restored this year. Sangeeta Raghavan of Art Musings and Alfaz Miller of ABM Architects further discussed the recent restoration of the Art Musings gallery space on January 25th. Simultaneously, there was a walk-through at the new art space for Gallery XXL at Arsiwala House in Colaba where the gallery explained how the interior design was conceptualised inside a heritage building. These two events showed how art and design go hand in hand.
On Sunday, the 26th of January, Ulka Chauhan and Samira Seth demonstrated how archiving and documenting family histories for future generations preserves cultural legacies, and broader historical narratives by documenting 300-year-old heritage homes in her book ‘The Memory Keepers and Future Seekers: Portraits of Heritage Homes in Goa’. This is especially important to Mumbai because the city shares Portuguese history with Goa reflected in the Indo-Portuguese architectural style seen in pockets of the city such as Matharpacady in Mazgaon.
Exhibitions, Walkthroughs and Conversations
A rare opportunity arose on January 30th: Mortimer Chatterjee of Chatterjee and Lal Art Gallery hosted a limited-audience walkthrough of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research’s art collection.
An exhibition at the David Sassoon Library Reading Room showcased Mumbai’s evolution through early colonial paintings and prints, highlighting naval dominance and 18th and 19th-century Orientalist imagery.
Artist Atul Dodiya and Siddharth Bhatia discussed Dodiya’s current show, “Radio Ceylon Paintings: Vol I,” a nostalgic tribute to Hindi film music maestros of the 40s, 50s, and 60s, comprising 125 artworks.
Also, on the 30th, a panel discussion on “Public Access of Heritage Landmarks” featured architects Adil Dholakia, Sheetal Gandhi, and Vikas Dhilawari, moderated by Fiona Fernandez, at Elphistone College Quadrangle.
The day concluded with “5×5 Intersections in Design: Celebrating 25 Years of KGAF,” where five designers—including conservation architect Abha Lambah Narain, graphic designer Divika Mehta, furniture designer Arthur Duff, fashion designer Nachiket Barve, and urban designer Ritu Mohanty Padora—discussed their work and intersecting fields, led by Mrudul Pathak Kundu of Elle Décor.
January 31st began with a guided visit to the recently restored Afghan Church in Navy Nagar, Colaba, led by Ar. Kirtida Unwalla. On February 1st, architect and restorer Nikhil Mahashur led a morning walk through Kala Ghoda, sharing stories and insights, ending with coffee and snacks at Bombay Sweetshop.
Art installations by students and artists offered thought-provoking reflections on Mumbaikars’ daily lives, struggles, resilience, and the spirit of Kala Ghoda. Notable mentions include “Parallel Lives,” “KAVAAD,” “Naal,” “PRECIOUS KAL-AAJ-AUR KAL,” and “Evolution of Kala Ghoda Arts Festival from 1999-2024.”
Numerous workshops engaged attendees in hands-on creative activities. These included metal bottle painting, terracotta pottery painting, batik print-making, crochet, and saree styling.
This year’s festival also introduced an anthem composed by Shantanu Moitra with lyrics by Aalok Shrivastav and featured musical performances by Shamali Kholgade, Mame Khan, Usha Uthup, and others. The 25th Kala Ghoda Festival proved a memorable event in Mumbai’s cultural calendar.
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