Attend this futuristic festival that combines the best of art, music and tech design in Mumbai

This year, the theme of the festival can be seen in on-ground designs and their communication posters on social media

This festival's venue last year introduced us to a new location in the central suburbs - The Trees at Vikhroli Social. This year, Sauce by SOCIAL, curated with the help of sub-culture think tank 4/4 Experiences and in association with Walkers & Co, will overlook the city's sky and sea line by settling at Bayview Lawns.

"Many people say that their festival is unlike any other festival but this [Sauce] is actually unlike any other festival," declares Aaquib Wani, Sauce's designer and art director, "mainly because all festivals have a generic template, with plenty of colour, applied to everything. We are not using that here."

Besides a varied music line-up of different genres, photo ops and a bar, art is at the forefront - be it through the posters on social media or the array of things available to experience such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) or the Art Garden that will hold work by young artists.

Wani, who has helped birth cultural festivals such as Lollapalooza, Joytown and the debut edition of Sauce last year, says the theme this year is retro-futurism. "Back in the ‘60s," he explains, "the future was promised to look a certain way with tall towers and flying cars. That was our blueprint - something which is retro, but also futuristic. We are saying, ‘Welcome to the future from the past'."

Aaquib Wani and Manu Chao. PIC/KLELIA RENESI

This is manifested not only in on-ground designs such as a spaceship gate and an alien-looking bar but also the communication on social media. This architectural theme is inspired by what Wani calls ‘Googie architecture', influenced by car culture, jets and space age. "We have also taken bits and pieces of Indian architecture such as a spaceship with domes," he says.

The music line-up comprises Hindi pop band The Yellow Diary, hip-hop duo Seedhe Maut, electronic act Sandunes, singer-songwriter Osho Jain, pop singer-songwriter Mali, and others. The highlight has to be French-Spanish singer Manu Chao who can sing in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, Greek and other languages too!

This year the festival has been to Delhi before coming to Mumbai and heading on to Bengaluru on April 8. Design-wise, they have stuck to the theme, but each city has a special colour. Delhi is blue, Mumbai is pink and Bengaluru is purple.

WHAT: Sauce Festival
WHERE: Bayview Lawns, Princess Docks, Mazagaon
WHEN: March 25-26
PRICE: Rs 1,500 onwards
TO BUY: insider.in