New Year 2025: Exciting events and activities that await you this year in Mumbai

City folks can look out for a host of exciting immersive events and activities across the performing arts, to the environment, and even a city-themed video game

Pink carpet welcome
Coming in: April 
AT: TS Chanakya Wetlands, Navi Mumbai

The Flamingo Festival is all set to take flight once again this year after a hiatus owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The festival had become a crowd-puller with naturalists, birders and families converging to celebrate the winged guests. We’re ready to put on an even better festival in April this year,” confirmed 
Shardul Bajikar, education officer, BNHS Conservation Education Centre. 

With the first batch (also known as a flamboyance) of the migratory birds landing in the city last month for their winter retreat, Bajikar revealed that the festival will be timed to coincide with the juvenile birds maturing into adults and their feathers turning the signature shade of pink. 

The edition of the two-day festival will include a sighting session at the TS Chanakya Wetlands followed by activities, talks, discussions and games centred on flamingos. “We’re introducing a series of talks by experts and a roundtable of NGOs and communities working towards the conservation and wellbeing of the flamingos,” Bajikar revealed.

Japanese groove in the city
Coming in: February  
AT: To be decided

Pic courtesy/Instagram

Can a solo guitarist keep Mumbaikars on the edge of their seats? We’ll find out when Japanese guitarist Ichika Nito (right) takes the stage in the city next month. Representing a genre that fits somewhere between math rock (don’t fret, it’s not as complex as it sounds) and jazz, Nito’s style might strike just the right chord with music geeks who are looking for out-of-the box sounds this year. On the back of support from icons like John Petrucci of Dream Theatre and Pete Townshend of The Who, the tour marks the neo-classical guitarist’s debut in the country.

Dharavi to the world
Coming in: January 23 
AT: NCPA, Nariman Point

The Dharavi Dream Project’s young artistes have stayed true to their 2024 New Year’s resolution. After months of working with director Neha Singh under the mentorship of Dolly Rateshwar, Dharavi Dreams, their debut musical production, will tour the city with its troupe of dancers, rappers and b-boys. The first show will take the stage at the NCPA. “The play is Dharavi’s success story of transforming from a hub of the vices to a melting pot of artistic talent. It’s their story, told through their experiences, in their style,” Singh informed us. 

Music to our ears
Coming in: First half of 2025

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia in performance at an IMG event 

To celebrate 50 years of nurturing Indian classical music alongside stalwarts like Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and late Ustad Zakir Hussain, the Indian Music Group of St Xavier’s College, Dhobi Talao, will publish its first-ever book with inputs from young and veteran musicians.

Newsy chuckles
Coming in: February
AT: Sophia Bhabha Auditorium

UK-based comedian Russel Howard, widely recognised for his TV shows Russel Howard’s Good News and The Russel Howard Hour, will test how well his signature British humour fares with Mumbai’s audience at his debut solo show in the city.

Bringing the cavalry
Coming in: August 
At: to be decided

Come August and Sunil Shanbag will be ready with the horses, quite literally. The theatremaker will premiere his adaptation of Hungarian playwright Julius Hays’ iconic production Horse at the Aadyam Theatre Festival this year. “It is set in the times of the Roman Empire ruled by Caligula. The play is a take on how authoritarian systems function and benefit by misleading the masses using entertainment. It is resonant to the environment of the day,” shared Shanbag.

Lion’s roar
Coming in: First half of 2025
AT: Mumbai Zoo, Byculla

Visitors at Mumbai Zoo pose with a statue of an Asiatic lion. File pic

After multiple attempts to find big cats for its vacant lion enclosure that is fit only for a king (and queen), the Mumbai Zoo is now hopeful of bringing in two Asiatic lions from Gujarat in the first half of 2025. Confirming that Mumbai will soon welcome a royal pair after more than a decade of efforts, Dr Sanjay Kumar Tripathi, director, Mumbai Zoo said, “We are pulling all strings to ensure the lions arrive as soon as possible. The immediate goal is to ensure it happens in the first half of the year. We are in talks with two possible organisations in Gujarat currently.” Tripathi further revealed that an ongoing plan to build an enclosure for exotic animals and birds at the zoo will gain speed this year.

Zubin will be back
Coming in: January 
AT: Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, National Centre for the performing arts, Nariman Point

Maestro Zubin Mehta (centre) conducts a concert with the Symphony Orchestra of India at the NCPA

Begin the New Year on a magnificent note as the Symphony Orchestra of India returns to stage for its spring concert. With an opening act by maestro Zubin 
Mehta, who will join renowned Slovenian classical pianist Alexander Gadjiev to perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto no. 2, the line-up promises a number of classical and operatic masterpieces to the audience.

Also Read: Zubin Mehta in Mumbai: My life conducting orchestra is like a molten lava, it never stops

Sounds from Italy
Coming in: March
AT: to be decided

Giorgia Anguili in performance. PICS COURTESY/INSTAGRAM

Puglia-born musician Giorgia Anguili will bring her unique style of techno music powered by ethereal vocals and experimental digital instruments. Anguili will take the stage as part of the ZAMNA Music Festival in the city alongside South American artiste Shall Ocin.

Hit the rewind button for Mumbai
Coming in: March
AT: To be decided

A new collective called Memory Keepers Collective led by author Shormistha Mukherjee is gearing to launch their new series of immersive audio-visual exhibitions centred on landmark events like The Bombay Plague of 1896 and its impact on the present-day suburbs of Mumbai.   “If you look closely, there are visible signs of the impact the plague had on Bandra all around us. Through the collective, we aim to use oral history, lived memories, records, documents and photographs to mix art, performance and writing to create experiential glimpses about this forgotten history 
that shaped Bandra,” said 
Mukherjee (below).

Mere gully mein
Coming in: January (test version)
Available: Steam Store

A still from the gameplay video

While the wait for the much-awaited, speculated and anticipated GTA 6 title by Rockstar Games continues in 2025, things are moving much faster closer to home. Mumbai’s own version of the game titled Mumbai Gullies will be ready for a grand release this year. With developer Nikhil Malankar currently working on finalising the in-game voice-overs and sound library, expect the first test version to be out anytime this month. In addition to realistic maps and a fully desi open-world experience, we’ve learnt that a supernatural twist to the Maximum City is 
on the cards.

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