Bhubaneshwar: Today at .FEST (Bhubaneswar City Festival), that offers visitors from all over the country the best in terms of Food, Entertainment, Storytelling and Trail saw them grooving to the music of Ankur Tewari & The Ghalat Family. The fun-filled evening also saw an electrifying dance performance by V Dance Company which had everyone in awe of their talent.
The evening began with an opening act by one of the best hip-hop dance troupes in the country – V Dance Company. The group formed by choreographer Vernon Monteiro, is touted as India’s first Mega crew with 25 dancers who shook the stage at .FEST. They performed to some great tracks like Deva Shree Ganesha, Ghumar, Swag Se Karenge Samka Swagat, Khalbali, Malhari, to name a few. V Dance Company is the only Indian group to win many reality shows like Dance Plus, India’s Got Talent, Boogie Woogie and Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega. The hit Bollywood movie ABCD2 is based on this group’s story.
The next highlight of the evening was Ankur Tewari & The Ghalat Family. The brain-child of singer-songwriter Ankur Tewari, this Hindi pop-rock band has been popular since almost a decade. It includes Sidd Coutto on drums, Johan Pais on bass, Gaurav Gupta on guitar and Vivaan Kapoor on percussions. The band’s music is easily digestible pop-rock, and their debut album Jannat was released independently in 2010. The band contributed music to the Bollywood film Raat Gayi Baat Gayi. After the high of opening for Norah Jones, the band performed their crowd pleasing numbers at .FEST such as Yaaron, Chand Chahiye, Teri Yaad, Musafir, Ghalatfehmiyaan, etc. This set the mood for the evening which ended in a high octane note.
.FEST today also saw 250 students from SC & ST Hostel, relish the plethora of cuisines at the food festival and then enjoy both the music and dance performances. Led by Bhubaneswar Development Association (BDA) with the support of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Odisha Tourism, the idea was to include every section of the society during the city-wide celebration. The aim of the Hostel is to empower student from Scheduled Casts and Scheduled Tribe communities studying in urban areas to act as ambassadors for their villages and promote quality education. By inviting them to .FEST they get to experience the best Bhubaneswar has to offer and instil a sense of pride in their city. Ganesh Murmu of Class 7 said “This is a very fun evening out for me with my friends. We ate biryani and enjoyed the show on stage”. Jatin Jena a class 8 student said, “I am very surprised at how big this event is. I have never experienced anything like this and I am having the best time here”. BMC Deputy Commissioner (Social Welfare) Sanghamitra Behera added that the. FEST has been consistently including more and more sections of the society feel welcome and have ensured they have a good time have a big smile on their faces by the time they leave the venue after enjoying the music, dance, entertainment and food.
In order to ensure no one misses out on the on-going Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup 2018, live screening of the matches happen at the .FEST on several big screen located on-ground at the venue.
The International Street Food Festival continued to offer a gastronomical experience for food lovers. Showcasing delicacies from over 16 countries, different states of India and specialties of Odisha, the festival’s food extravaganza is a popular hit with the thousands of visitors coming in every evening.
Tomorrow, 14th December, 2018 audiences will get ready to experience Farhan Akhtar Live in concert at .FEST. Farhan Akhtar needs little to no introduction. A major Bollywood actor, director, writer, singer, songwriter; Farhan dons many hats. But the one closest to his heart is when he is performing live on stage in front of thousands of cheering fans. This is one act you do not want to miss.
Comments are closed.