An initiative by Oaks Management Consultancy Pvt. Ltd (OMCPL), the 2-day Worli Festival aims to celebrate the growth & glory of Worli & all that it symbolizes, i.e. its rich cultural heritage, its potpourri of residents, its breathtaking location, its diversity and most of its place in the hearts of the people of Mumbai. The Festival promises an experience that truly is exciting with activities like art installations, music, food, cinema, and performances play out to create an annual weekend community extravaganza! The Worli Festival 2020 will be held on January 25th and 26th, 2020.
In an exclusive conversation with EVENTFAQS, Rahul Gomes, Managing Director, Oaks Management Consultancy Pvt Ltd (OMCPL) gives an insight on the 6th Edition of Worli Festival, future plans and more!
With Worli Festival 2020 having announced its 6th edition, can you share insights on how the idea of Worli Festival was conceived and what has been the response to the initiative?
The Worli festival was created in 2012 simply with the intent of bringing residents of Worli back to the sea face. As a resident of Worli for more than 35 years, this is a place where I grew up and Sunday evenings were usually with our parents at the sea face promenade with family playing, enjoying hot butta or simply talking while enjoying the view. Today, in the world of electronics and our fast-paced lives we have lost this and a lot of South Mumbai residents have simply stopped visiting this iconic location except when they pass by in their cars with windows rolled up. The idea of the festival was to bring families and residents out to come back and enjoy this beautiful location. Over the years, the Worli Festival receives an average of about 100,000 guests over 2 days.
The idea came up simply based on the need to get families out and away from the television and confines of our homes and with the support of our local MLA at that time Shri Sachin Ahir and his wife Sangeeta Ahir who run Shri Sankalp Prathisthan this idea became a reality. Today we are proud to have Shri Aditya Thakeray who represents this constituency and has quickly taken up the mantle by not only supporting the festival but also being a part of its planning and growth.
How did Oaks Management Consultancy Pvt Ltd (OMCPL) come across this opportunity of doing the Worli Festival? Please share the details.
I do think there is a need of these type of festivals simply because it allows for residents to come together and interact in person rather than only on social media, it allows for people to simply enjoy their surroundings rather than only staring into electronic devices into artificially created surroundings. It has been a tough ride with permissions and a whole lot of stumbling blocks in its initial years but today we have the support of the largest NGOs in the area and we are the only festival that doesn’t even need to advertise because all it takes is the announcement for residents and guests to pour in from all over the city.
Tell us about your experience. How do you think the live event industry has shaped up through the years?
I think the Live industry is today at its lowest simply because of lack of innovation. The idea that Live events can be beyond Music has yet to be understood and with falling revenues, through ticket sales, it won’t be long before Agencies stop building Music Festivals and brands stop partnering them. We have had a lot of brand stakeholders speak about the disappointment with numbers and that’s expected because people want more. Festivals like Social Nation, Spoken Fest, Windmill Festival and the little Flea are today breaking paradigms and that’s the way the industry needs to start thinking.
What other future initiatives are planned through Oaks Management Consultancy Pvt Ltd (OMCPL)?
We are presently proud to have built and produced some of the largest IPs in the Country including the Mumbai Shopping Festival with the Govt of Maharashtra, The Worli Festival, The Urbana Music Festival, The Color Run India and The Sobha Soul Fest. This year OMCPL launches its first international festival which is the Bike Week in the UAE, A very unique and a Kids festival called the Paperboat Festival, the first-ever Beach Festival, A premium Music and Wine Festival called the Valley Wine Festival and a Collaboration with a leading Media house to build 5 large IP’s this year itself. Our vision and plan for OMCPL is to grow the IP space with both self-owned as well as Collaborative innovative IPs as a creative business and lead this space in the year to come and ahead.
