A shared journey

A one-day festival that promises to be a deep personal experience as it brings together offbeat artistes from the realms of performing arts, music and film

A one-day festival in Mumbai hopes to inspire people by introducing them to motley artists, including a legendary British rock band, an American sci-fi filmmaker and a South African puppetry group. The idea behind The Journey, an undertaking by Johnnie Walker whiskey, is to showcase the success stories of offbeat talents from across the globe.

The festival, which is in its first edition, has been divided into categories of performing arts, music and film. It plans to pack interactive sessions, live acts and film screenings into seven hours on a single day that will culminate with a gig by The Alan Parsons Live Project. The participants were picked because they have rousing journeys to share, says Bhavesh Somaya, marketing director, Diageo India. "People won't just watch and walk away. The interactive sessions during the day will be in the form of intimate, personal conversations."

The names in the festival are not big crowd-pullers, but Somaya says they will appeal to those seeking something out of the ordinary. "Indian consumers are increasingly looking at chasing passion points, things which enhance the inner person and are deep in philosophy."

Alan Parsons, the record producer behind popular albums like The Beatles' Abbey Road and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, originally formed his band in 1975 with Scottish musician Eric Woolfson. The primarily studio-based band - known for hits such as Eye in the Sky and Games People Play - split in the late 1990s and was later relaunched by Parsons as a group that began touring too. The songs are heavily instrumental, soft and melancholic. The set list will feature many of the proverbial hits and just one new single called Fragile. "Our songs from 1976 to 1987 are cherished and loved by the audiences. They still prefer us playing our old material and that is fine," says Parsons.

The festival will also bring in film and theatre producer John N Hart Jr, who produced among other films Boys Don't Cry and Revolutionary Road, young auteur Shane Carruth, and Indian underground director Q aka Qaushiq Mukherjee for screenings and discussions. Carruth shot to fame with his debut Primer (2004), a time-travel film that earned cult status. He will show his latest work Upstream Color (2013), which various critics dubbed as futuristic, visually beautiful, abstract and befuddling. He expects local viewers to receive the film in the same manner as the western audience. "Much of the film tries to communicate in tone rather than dialogue and in universal arch-types rather than contemporary or culturally specific themes," he says.

For the performing arts segment, Cape Town-based Handspring Puppet Company will present its newest production Ouroboros, which draws from the ancient symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail and forming a circle. "The audiences will witness the unfolding drama of their lives from birth to death. Their interactions form a web of relationships, revealing the interdependence of the past, present and future," notes Janni Young, director of Ouroboros. The group, which has regularly collaborated with artist William Kentridge in the past, works with life-sized puppets that are controlled by actors on stage.

For the artistes, Carruth included, partaking in the festival came with an added incentive. "Selfishly, this means I get to travel to India which is something I have wanted for a long time."

Entry is open to those aged 25 and above. Tickets cost Rs 3,000 each.

Date and venue: December 14, 5 pm to 11.30 pm, Mehboob Studios, Bandra (W), Mumbai