The India Now festival, the biggest Indian festival ever to take place in London, was announced a few months ago. Now the programme is finally out, and it’s huge; workshops, film, food, exhibitions, music and a huge array of special events. Given that there are over 400,000 Londoners of Indian origin, perhaps the vastness of the festival isn’t surprising, but it is still a little overwhelming.
(Picture by Wokka taken at last year’s Diwali.)
The festival kicks off on the morning of the 17th of July with, absurdly, a replica of the Taj Mahal being floated down the Thames (it’ll start off at the South Bank and then follow the river along, so there’s plent of opportunity to get a look). It’s followed by three months of events, finishing off in October with Diwali (there’ll be a special exhibition in Leicester Square explaining Diwali for anyone who wants to learn more).
There’s so much stuff happening, some of it still being announced, that it would be impossible for us to cover all the highlights, but for the museum-goer there’ll be exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert, with their August Friday Late focusing on contemporary Indian design, with plenty of films, art and discussion; while the Museum of London will have an Out of India exhibition focusing on India’s impact on London.
If you want something more active, there’s a Bollywood Extravaganza at More London on the 15th of July, from midday till five in the evening. You can watch dance demonstrations from experts, or join in the workshops and learn to take part yourself.
And if you want… well, more-or-less anything… there’s the Trafalgar Square Festival, from the 2nd to the 19th of August. Between these dates, you can turn up in Trafalgar Square every Thursday from 6 p.m., every Friday from 8 p.m., and every Saturday and Sunday from 3 p.m., and you’ll be able to find something going on: dancers on motor scooters, ballet, a giant poster painted on-site by Mumbai poster-painters, aerial dancers in a “spectacular vertical Bollywood dance extravaganza”. A quick look at photos from 2005 and 2006 confirms that the 2007 festival isn’t one to miss.
India Now: All around London, July to September 2007, assorted prices; but particularly Trafalgar Square, 2-19 August, Thursday at 6, Friday at 8, and weekends at 3, free.
Portobello Film Festival in London | London Blog wrote,
[…] than anyone can keep track of, as far as we can tell. The City of London festival is still running, India Now is just gearing up, and in a week or so the Portobello Film Festival is going to join in, bringing […]
Link | July 29th, 2007 at 3:01 pm