‘ShowFest,’ Featuring Bollywood’s Best, Comes to Stadiums in U.S.

Pooja Hegde and Karl Kalra (Founder & Managing Partner ShowFest) during the launch of ShowFest(Pikture’N’Kraft photo)

By R.M. VIJAYAKAR/Special to India-West

MUMBAI — Film enthusiasts of North America now have a new reason to rejoice: ShowFest introduces an annual calendar of carefully-curated live experiences and music festivals featuring some of the biggest names of Bollywood. The event was held Sept. 26 at Taj Land’s End.

At the onset of the big reveal, the evening began with the founders Karl Karla and Aanand Dawda introducing “ShowFest, a one-of-a-kind lifestyle membership,” which brings South Asian Americans the future of Bollywood Live Experiences with a modern twist, along with a multitude of ongoing benefits throughout the year.

ShowFest offers cutting-edge technology, state-of-the-art venues, and exciting Live Bollywood experiences month after month. A ShowFest member will enjoy 5 Indoor Live Experiences and 2 Outdoor Music Festivals featuring some of the most celebrated Bollywood artistes. Additionally, various experiences such as Live Streaming Events, Movie Nights, Virtual Reality Talent Shows, over 20 Weekly Jackpots, 2 Mega Jackpots in each city and numerous discounts from a multitude of Loyalty Partners are also included with the membership.

ShowFest is a unique platform available both as a website and can be downloaded as a mobile application. (iOS & Android).

ShowFest launched Sept. 26 with a lineup of five Live Experiences like ‘Iconic – Timeless Moments of Bollywood,’ ‘Addiction,’ ‘Rewind,’, ‘Arijit Singh Live,’ and ‘U&We3 – Music.Moments.Memories’ and two Music Festivals including ‘Madness – A Fusion Music Fest,’ and ‘Sufitronix’.

With Season 1 commencing in six major locations, ShowFest has selected some of the top venues of North America like Now Arena in Chicago, Oakland Arena in San Jose, Curtis Culwell Center in Dallas, Eagle Bank Arena in Washington DC, Cure Insurance Arena in New Jersey, and the GAS South Arena in Atlanta for the Indoor Live Experiences and The Boomer Stadium in Chicago, The Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas, Concord Pavilion in San Jose, Prince George’s Stadium in Washington DC, PNC Bank Art Center in New Jersey, and Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in Atlanta for the Music Festivals.

ShowFest Experiences are headlined by some of the biggest names of Bollywood including Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Karisma Kapoor, Govinda, Raveena Tandon Thadani, Chunky Panday, Daler Mehndi, Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon, Nora Fatehi, Pooja Hegde, Maniesh Paul, Arijit Singh, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu, Ananya Birla, Vidya Vox, B. Praak, KK, Shaan, Salim-Sulaiman, Richa Sharma, Harshdeep Kaur, DJ Akbar Sami, Salman Ali, Raj Pandit and many more.

Speaking about the launch, Kalra, founder and managing partner, said, “Having curated innumerable shows with multiple artistes over a decade, I noticed that the world was changing rapidly and therefore the North American Bollywood Live industry needed an upgrade and an organized structure of operations. We were aware of the challenges faced by the artistes, creators, organizers, and most importantly, the audiences. With Showfest, we have tried to amplify the quality of entertainment while addressing the challenges and providing solutions for a better customer experience. Our vision is to create a loyalty-based community for Bollywood enthusiasts in North America.”

Dawda, founder and managing partner, said, “I started my career with Bollywood Live events and have toured across 27 countries and over 60 cities. It’s fair to say that, as creators, we have been through every possible challenge and crisis a live entertainment event could present. Over the years we saw those challenges repeating themselves over and over again, which made us wonder how to provide a solution that was not a temporary fix but a permanent transformation. We curated ShowFest with the aim to create a win-win ecosystem and provide everyone associated with a seamless wonderful experience. Our vision is to become a part of the lifestyle of our customers and provide them with an experience that transcends beyond entertainment.”

Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu, Richa Sharma, Shaan, Salim-Sulaiman, Mohit Chauhan, Harshdeep Kaur, Govinda, Pooja Hegde, Salman Ali and others attended the event.