Tanvi Chakravarty

If you thought Mumbai might exhale after Valentine’s Day, think again. The rest of February is less wind-down, more second wind. And whether your idea of a good time is screaming yourself hoarse at cricket in tricolour face paint, sitting rapt as Beethoven swells through a dark concert hall – or both – there’s plenty vying for your week. On deck: a spoken word poetry takeover paired with flea markets, a DJ duo flirting with liftoff into stardom, world-class batons at the NCPA including the country’s longest running play, a whirl of dance in all its glory, and a theatre milestone clocking three-and-a-half decades. Translation? Cancel your plans of bedrot. Charge your phone, please. Scroll on for everything worth braving the traffic for, and get cracking on the tickets. You might just forget that it’s somehow already almost March. Editor's note: We auto-delete events from this list that've already happened to make sure you don't feel the fear of having missed out. 

February’s usually when the productivity panic starts to kick in. After all, it’s time for the post-January festive blues to come to an end. Never mind about the New Year resolutions that never made it past the 30-day trial run. Year after year, Mumbai runs on high-speed autopilot through January, what with Lollapalooza, but February is just as action-packed this year, and here’s everything worth checking out. It’s perhaps one of the best months for music: we have the Symphony Orchestra of India’s Spring 2026 season for western classical music lovers; John Mayer performing live; not one but TWO jazz festivals, among other really cool DJ sets, folk recitals, and of course, the Mahindra Blues Fest returning to Mumbai. Tickets are selling out faster than Labubus, but fear not if you don’t get ‘em – there’s plenty of other live music that Mumbai has on offer through the year. It’s also a big time for the artsy-fartsy. We’re kicking off the month with the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival from January 31 to February, followed by the annual All India Arts Exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery and exciting exhibits coming to NGMA, CSMVS and the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum.Theatre’s alive and kicking: a slew of shows are scheduled, from the Primetime Theatre Company to Spoken Fest 2026. Stand-up comedy shows through the month, of course, and how could I mention stand-up without talking about the BIG TICKET ITEM! Gianmarco Soresi’s touring India for the first time! Another big event to top it all of

If you’re worried the new year is already flying by, don’t. It’s actually just starting, and the hub for the Lunar New Year celebrations are at Mumbai’s oldest and only Chinese temple, the Kwan Kung Temple.  Located in Mazgaon, home to remnants of a once thriving China Town, the 150-year-old temple is celebrating Lunar New Year this year from February 17 to March 15. Late at night is when the real celebrations start – around 10pm or so. You can celebrate the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new lunar year with a lively community, fireworks, candle burning and traditional dragon dances. While the celebrations are free, for a small fee of ₹80-100, you can burn some incense and last year’s negative energy away. You can also pick out your fortune to see what the year of the fire horse (the first one in 60 years) will bring you. Don’t forget to ring the bell and hit the drum three times for good luck! Date: February 17-March 3, 10pm onwards Address: Kwan Kung Temple, Bramhadev Khot Marg, Dockyard, Wadi Bandar, Mazgaon, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400010

Your valentine isn’t the only one being spoiled this weekend - so is Mumbai, with a ton of concerts, festivals, stand-up shows and more. For music lovers especially, your toughest V-Day conversation with your loved one should be ‘which concert should we attend?’  There’s the obviously romantic stuff, and then there are experiences that warrant sharing with a loved one. Who doesn’t love canoodling during a movie screening? Anuv Jain | Dastakhat India tour Mumbai’s the only city on the Anuv Jain tour that’s getting special treatment – an actual Valentine’s Day show. This one really IS for the situationship era. Tickets for the Dastakhat World Tour India Leg are selling out fast so be sure to grab tickets while you can. Live serenades of his hits, like Baarishein, Jo Tum Mere Ho and Husn are perfect gifts for the occasion.  Date: February 14 Price: ₹2,500 onwards Address: The Dome NSCI, SVP Stadium, Lala Lajpatrai Marg, Lotus Colony, Worli, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400018 Sanam | India tour ANOTHER Valentine’s Day treat? Known for their pop-rock hits and renditions of Bollywood classics, Indian band Sanam are making their way to Mumbai. Tickets available but selling like hot cakes. Date: February 14 Price: ₹2,999 onwards Address: South Sky, Jio World Drive, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400051 Mahindra Blues Fest  Fourteen years on, tickets are still filling fast for the Mahindra Blues Fest. It's Asia’s largest Blues festival, held this time at Mehboob Studio

In today’s edition of unexpected news on your 2026 bingo card, a part of the northbound coastal road has been made into an automotive music box of sorts. A 500-metre stretch of South Mumbai’s coastal road between Amarsons Garden and Priyadarshini Park marks India’s first musical road, where cars speeding through are triggering the melody of the hit Slumdog Millionaire song Jai Ho. The technology that does this is called ‘rumble strips’ – not unlike a vinyl record, actually. Cars travelling over the specifically marked intervals at speeds of about 70-80 km/h trigger the melody through friction between the tires and the road. Mumbai’s only the fifth city in the world to do this!  The musical stretch, inaugurated by Devendra Fadnavis at 12.30pm on Wednesday, is now open to the public to drive across. It starts approximately 500m after exiting the northbound Nariman Point-Worli tunnel. 

Those fed up with the long queues outside the Bandra outlet of Benne Dosa will be ecstatic to know that the chain is officially crossing the Sealink and opening a new location in Chowpatty.  Modeled after the classic Karnataka-style darshini (quick service restaurants where people stand and eat), the South Indian chain’s had Bandra in a chokehold for quite a while, and not without reason – the distinct texture of the dosa (the result of slabs of white butter slathered on during the cooking process), and the decision to skip serving sambhar make sure that there’s nothing quite like Benne in the city.  Owners Akhil and Shriya announced the news via their official Instagram page, including a video of the behind-the-scenes renovation work at the new location. The date, though, is still a bit of a mystery – keep your eyes peeled!

Asia’s biggest blues festival is back in Mumbai – and it’s returning right on cue for the Valentine’s Day weekend. The 14th edition of Mahindra Blues Fest takes over Mehboob Studios for two days, bringing with it a larger-than-life celebration of blues, soul, Americana, gospel and rock-n-roll.  Spread across multiple stages, the festival platforms a mix of local acts and international names, making room for both die-hard blues fans and the casually curious. It’s always been a great atmosphere for the Blues community, but you don’t necessarily have to be a loyal fan to have fun here, because the festival’s also known for copious amounts of booze, food, and fun booths that stock loads of records and artist merch. Very much a relaxed, beer-garden energy.  Then there’s the venue itself. Mehboob Studios, the legendary Bandra recording space associated with the golden age of Indian cinema, adds a sense of history to the experience that negates a little bit of that hectic, packed music festival vibe.  Here’s a glimpse of the weekend’s lineup of artists: Saturday, February 14 Altered Five Bands Blues: A Milwaukee quintet known for hard-hitting original blues Grace N’ The Cliches: A local band that won the Mahindra Blues Band Hunt   Matt Schofield: British-born, multi-award-winning guitar virtuoso Shemekia Copeland: Multi Grammy-nominee vocal powerhouse  Sunday 15 February Blackstratblues: India’s favourite Blues band, led by New Zealand-based Warren Mendonsa DK Harrell: An emerging s

For Western Classical music lovers, Mumbai is the best city in the country to catch some of the very best live performances. The Symphony Orchestra of India (or SOI for short) is India's first and only professional orchestra. Founded in 2006, the orchestra typically has two seasons a year, Spring (February) and Autumn (August) with a series of phenomenal concerts, recitals and talks held at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Nariman Point.  For those in with the Western Classical music lore, previous SOI seasons have boasted performances from legendary artists and conductors like Zubin Mehta, Zakir Hussain, Maria João Pires and many more. This spring season, though, will celebrate two decades of SOI’s inception with an incredible lineup of performances throughout the month of February. Here’s a list of the concerts you simply cannot miss.  Martyn Brabbins conducts Mussorgsky, Beethoven and Holst We open the spring season with a presentation of Mussorgsky’s Prelude to Kovanshchina, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, and Holst’s The Planets by British maestro and resident SOI conductor Martyn Brabbins.  Date: Saturday, 7 February, 7pm Martyn Brabbins conducts Mendelssohn, Mahler and Shostakovich It’s a night at the opera with world-renowned mezzo soprano Dame Sarah Connolly’s rendition of Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, which follows the SOI’s performance of Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea And Prosperous Voyage. The evening ends with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. Date: Thursday

February brings with it the biggest street festival in the country, and perhaps even the best. The week-long FREE (yep) celebration of performing arts, cinema culture, heritage, literature and more makes for an action packed week, no matter where your interests align. Specifically: the stalls set up all week are must-sees for rare finds, homemade handicrafts, and other cute knick-knacks. Streets will completely transform into immersive, walking galleries, so keep your eyes peeled for any art you spot at Rampart Row, Cross Maidan and Horniman Circle Garden; it’s from the city’s best. Whether you want to spend your Sunday running a Women’s 5K at 5am or get your portrait at a discounted price from the city’s oldest Hamilton Studios at 8am, the possibilities are endless. But as exciting as the week is, it can tend to get crowded, fast-paced, and overwhelming. The programme itself is longer than a short novel, sitting at a cool 104 pages. Blink and you might miss interacting with some of the most prominent figureheads of the metropolitan’s culture zeitgeist. Luckily for you, I went through every single page of the programme to curate the best and the coolest of the lot for you. We know you’re busy so instead of spending the week figuring out what to do, where to go and who to see, here’s everything worth checking out at this year’s edition of the iconic festival. Some musts, some underrated events slipping through the cracks and some pure fun.  Your KGAF Week At A Glance  Wednesda

If you've driven or walked past Pali Village in recent weeks, you're likely to have been met with a disheartening sight. Longtime Bandra fixtures Pali Village Café and Pali Bhavan have shut their doors, marking another major loss in Mumbai's up-and-down restaurant landscape. There's some good and bad news here: while Pali Bhavan has, very quietly, reopened at Eros Cinema in Churchgate, there's been no official confirmation about a reopening of Pali Village Café, which now appears to be closed indefinitely. Over the years, Pali Village Café had built a reputation as one of Mumbai’s most dependable Italian restaurants – especially for pasta (I'm craving the aglio e olio as I write this), dessert, and seafood. It was a favourite among locals and had survived the city's notoriously unforgiving dining scene for a whopping 15 years (with a previous relocation under its belt, no less). Alas, it served its final meal on December 31, 2025, leaving a Pali Village-shaped hole in our hearts. It's just one of the many beloved restaurants that have shut shop in recent months – though it is the first of 2026. Last year, Mumbai lost The New Yorker in Chowpatty and B. Merwan, a 111-year-old Irani cafè on Grant Road. What made the flatlining of Pali Village Café particularly brutal, though, was how long it had clung on as a local favourite, with a rare dedication to quality that even some top-notch restaurants – great as they are – just can't match. Some consolation can, of course, be found in