How many times have time, distance and traffic scuttled your plans to catch a show in the city? The upcoming Linear festival will take place at venues along Bengaluru’s Green Metro Line, making it easy for audiences to hop on and off at events they would like to attend.
“We wanted to build something that would accessible for all and keeping that in mind, we found venues within a 20-minute walking distance of the Green Metro Line,” says Vishruti Bindal, festival director, who conceptualised the show with Bharavi. Together, the duo founded Linear Festivals in September 2024.
Vishruti says the six shows that are part of the Festival have been planned in such a manner that audiences can attend all of them without breaking a sweat. “The Festival runs for 24 hours, perhaps the first of its kind in the city, and brings with it a chance to explore Bengaluru,” she says.
“Most festivals are hosted at a single venue, they are then defined and limited by that space. Everything, including the audience, is focussed on the site — getting there and having the event play out,” says Bharavi, adding, “This posed interesting challenges and opportunities to deal with spaces that were not necessarily structured for performances.”
He mentions the Kavade store which has an attic space that lends itself to an intimate concert, or the gazebos and amphitheatre at CV Raman House. “Across the festival, there are varying spaces that show how conducive they can be to the performing arts.”
Vishruti says the metro brings neighbourhoods closer in terms of distance as well as culture. She adds the fact that the Metro “is a predictable mode of transport and offered a simplistic way of beating the traffic” worked in its favour while they were curating the Festival.
Artiste Aseng Borang
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
According to the schedule, Linear begins at 3pm on September 13 and continues till 3pm the next evening. On September 13, the all-nighter is a puppet theatre presented by Gunduraju that will commence at 10pm and conclude at 6am on the morning of September 14. “The act Virata Parva is from the chapter in The Mahabharata that follows the Pandavas’ exile till the wedding of Abhimanyu,” says Bharavi.
According to the festival directors, since the Metro shuts at 11pm, any event would have to wind up at least by 10pm. “However, we found an interesting alternative to run the show through the night. The puppeteer, who hails from Hassan, told us such shows were common at weddings and special occasions, when it would be too late to travel back as well as too many guests to host. The idea resonated with us since we could carry on the Festival without dropping our pace,” he adds.
Bangalore Creative Circus, the venue for this segment, will have its cafe running, “and the festivities will go on through the night. We are hoping the audience will keep up,” says Bharavi.
Talking about their curation for the Festival, Vishruti says they wanted to bring shows from “non-urban centres” in India. “We wanted an edgy and emerging curation for Linear and our goal was to build an audience that would appreciate such an offering.“
A scene from the play Bye Bye Byepass that will be staged at Linear
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
She mentions Bye Bye Byepass, a play from Kerala, that will be debuting in Bengaluru, as well as Zerron and Fat Krrent’s music act. Zerron is from Sikkim and performs in Nepali, Hindi and English, while Fat Kreent from Ajmer raps in English and Hindi.
Aseng Borang with her third iteration of The Chinky Express Comes to Town is also a part of Linear. “Aseng always brings something new and exciting to her show. I am sure if we see it a year and a half later it will be quite different from what we will see this weekend. This will be the first time she will be performing this piece outdoors,” says Bharavi.
The others who will be performing at Linear include Shilpa Mudbi, Khokkhosh and Anohnymuss. Highlights of the festival include a guided walk through Malleshwaram between two shows, from the metro station to the venue, and an open house at Kavade where visitors can try their hand at traditional board games.
Linear Festival begins at 3pm on September 13. Tickets starting from ₹399, as well as full schedule of events available on linearfestivals.in.
Published – September 10, 2025 06:45 pm IST
