Back of House (BOH) has emerged as one of the most dynamic players in India’s live events ecosystem. In just three years, the New Delhi-based company has built the country’s one of the largest dedicated show running team, working with iconic brands and projects ranging from Zomato Feeding India Concert and YouTube FanFest to the Delhi Premier League Opening Ceremony.
What sets BOH apart is its ability to go beyond flawless execution, redefining the backstage craft of show calling into a new philosophy — “Beyond Show Calling Lies Show Thinking”. At the centre of this shift is Aastha Sharma, Chief Spectacle Director, who has been driving BOH’s evolution from cue managers to show architects.
Here’s an exclusive conversation with her on building BOH, pioneering “show thinking”, and shaping the future of Indian live event storytelling.
Q. In a short span of three years, BOH has established a strong presence in the showcalling space, operating out of New Delhi. How did you build this standing, and what makes your way of working unique?
We started Back of House with a clear vision — to raise the bar for showcalling in India. In our industry, flawless execution is often seen as the finish line, but for me, it’s always been the starting point.
I’ve spent most of my career as a project manager, and one of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt is to think in storylines — making sure every step has a purpose and ties back to the bigger picture. A lot of that learning came from working in events, where the narrative really drives the experience.
From day one at BOH, we wanted to combine that international-level precision with a real focus on the emotional and visual journey for the audience. In just three years, we’ve built a strong, dedicated team and have been fortunate to work with some of the country’s most respected brands.
The way we work is simple — we don’t just call the cues; we understand why each one exists and make sure the entire arc of the show connects seamlessly from start to finish.
Q. You’ve been part of some of the country’s most high-profile productions. Could you share a few standout projects that have been particularly pivotal in shaping BOH’s journey?
Of course. Each key project has been a building block in our evolution from ‘show callers’ to ‘show thinkers’.
You can start with the foundation: absolute technical mastery. A show like the Zomato Feeding India Concert featuring Dua Lipa and NAV, among others, is the ultimate test of that. It’s a world of immense pressure where there is zero room for error. It forged our reputation for being the calm in the storm, the team that guarantees technical flawlessness.
But flawless isn’t enough. The next block was learning adaptability. YouTube Fanfest in 2024 threw the traditional script out the window. It taught us how to manage a dynamic, multi-headed show with dozens of independent creators, moving from high-energy chaos to emotional moments in a heartbeat. It’s where we learnt to be fluid and responsive.
With those two blocks in place—mastery and adaptability—we could start building bigger. The Delhi Premier League T20 Opening Ceremonies in both 2024 and 2025 were pivotal. This is where we moved from executing a brief to co-creating the vision. We weren’t just managing the show; we were helping shape the narrative, working on the strategic and directional side to create an event with cultural resonance. This was the birth of BOH as true ‘show thinkers’.
Finally, projects like the Kho Kho World Cup Opening Ceremony and the demanding YYHS Millionaire 10-City Tour represent the complete structure. They require us to be creative partners, flawless executors, and strategic thinkers all at once, on a national or even international scale. So you see, these aren’t just highlights on a list; they are the very experiences that shaped our philosophy and built BOH into what it is today.
Q. “Beyond Show Calling Lies Show Thinking” — it’s a bold idea. Can you unpack this philosophy for us? What sparked this shift in mindset from doing to thinking in the Indian event space?
Beyond Show Calling Lies Show Thinking
At BOH, we’ve always believed that a flawless show is more than perfect cues and smooth execution — it’s about vision.
Showcalling ensures things happen on time.
Showthinking ensures the story unfolds exactly as intended.
This shift began when we realised something crucial — in many productions, creative intent gets diluted somewhere between concept and execution. We decided to bridge that gap. To not just run the show, but to design its emotional and visual arc.
After three years at BOH, our mastery over every cue of light, sound, LED, and staging gives us a unique edge: we integrate technical precision with storytelling artistry.
You can bring us in at conception — as the creative mind shaping the narrative and blueprint — or midway, translating an existing vision into light, sound, and AV cues that deliver maximum impact with flawless on-ground execution.
Q. Can you give us an example of a show where BOH was there from day one — building the concept, directing the experience, and running it on the day — and really got to own the journey from start to finish? What did that look like in action?
The Delhi Premier League Opening Ceremony at Arun Jaitley Stadium was a real milestone for us. This wasn’t just another project where we came in to run cues — we were trusted with the whole journey: imagining it, directing it, and bringing it to life from start to finish.
Stadium shows can easily become all about the big, flashy moments, but for us, size means nothing if it doesn’t serve the story. We kept reminding ourselves — a stadium is a 360-degree space, and everyone, from the front row to the farthest seat, deserves to feel part of the same heartbeat.
From the first beat of the opening performance to the energy of the finale, every moment was designed to reflect DPL T20’s belief that sport brings people together. We made sure every act spoke to that spirit, weaving the league’s values into the flow of the show.
With over 150 artists on stage — including Sunanda Sharma, Raftaar, Seedhe Maut, and KR$NA — plus a huge team behind the scenes, it was a true collective effort. Everyone — technical crews, performers, brand teams — moved in sync to make sure that while the scale was massive, the soul of the event stayed front and centre.
Q. Aastha, BOH has transitioned from being the industry’s go-to ‘showcaller’ to its ‘show thinker’. Looking at the Indian entertainment sector—which is outpacing many global markets—what systemic challenges do you see, and how is your new approach not just a business model but a solution to elevate the entire industry?
That’s the fundamental question we’re tackling. The incredible growth in India’s entertainment sector has exposed a critical vulnerability: the chasm between the grand vision and the on-ground execution. In major concerts, IPs, or even large-scale corporate gigs, there’s often a ‘lost in translation’ moment between the creative dream and the technical reality. The result? Compromise. The magic gets diluted.
The industry has a desperate need for a specific skill set that we see in global productions: the Show Director or Show Charter. This isn’t just a manager; this is a bilingual leader who understands the artistic soul of a concept and has the deep technical knowledge to bring it to life in its purest form.
This is where BOH is planting its flag. My personal focus for some time has been to cultivate this exact capability. Our work on the DPL T20 Opening Ceremony & YouTube Fanfest is a prime example. We intentionally blurred the lines, acting as both the conceptual partner and the directorial lead. The outcome was an experience where the narrative and the execution were one and the same.
So, the next frontier for us isn’t just about exploring new formats. It’s about institutionalizing this ‘Show Architect’ role in India. We are building a collective of thinkers who can close that gap, raise the bar from a national standard to a new global benchmark, and ensure that the final product on stage is exactly what was imagined in that very first spark of an idea.
In just three years, BOH has moved from calling cues to crafting cultural moments. With Aastha Sharma leading the charge, the company is not only reshaping the backstage role in Indian live entertainment but also pushing the industry toward a new benchmark of creativity and precision. If showcalling is about execution, BOH’s “showthinking” is about vision — and together, they’re setting the stage for India to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s biggest productions.
