From February 16 to 18, the suburb will get an art and culture festival of its own

If South Mumbai can have the popular Kala Ghoda Arts festival, and Bandra its annual Celebrate Bandra Festival, why can't Andheri? Well, that anomaly will be corrected this Friday, when Wassup!

Andheri gets underway. Organised by F5 Advertainment, a Mumbai-based event management company, this three-day festival at Lokhandwala Garden will celebrate the socio- cultural spirit of the suburb.

Supported by the well heeled and well known, there are a number of art and culture workshops and exhibitions lined up. Among others, there are sections like painting, photography, theatre, literature, fashion, culinary, music and dance.

According to Ajay Modgil, the CEO of F5 Advertainment, the idea of such a festival was born when he along with a number of friends started wondering why Andheri, the suburb where much of Bollywood is based, does not have an art and culture festival.

He says, "We were going to have this festival a month ago. But so many individuals were keen to participate in it, that we had to make it larger and wait for another month to organise it better."

Among those who are supporting the festival are well-known directors like Imtiaz Ali and Anurag Kashyap, choreographers Bosco & Caesar, music director Pritam, ace photographer Subi Samuel and hair stylist Aalim Hakim, among others. Apparently most of the festival will have art-related shows, which will include installations and painting exhibitions among others.

Modgil claims that the festival has something for everyone. "We have a workshop titled Humaramovie.com, where Anurag Kashyap and Imtiaz Ali will mentor amateur filmmakers to make their short films.

We also have sessions with bestselling authors like Sathya Saran and Kiran Manral. Apart from these, we have interactive sessions with chefs, hairstylists, etc, where they will share tips."

To attend the festival and workshops, however, people will have to log on to the website and register. To register, log on to wassupandheri.com