Corporate city aims to be NCR's new cultural nerve centre

GURGAON: It's been apparent for some time that Gurgaon has grown beyond its industry, real estate and retail roots. It's a city cultivating a cultural core.
Come the first week of December, the inaugural Gurgaon International Film and Literature Festival will be coming to town. Earlier this month, MCG announced plans to build a state-of-the-art cultural centre.Times, then, are good for residents who like a dose of culture in their everyday lives.
The city's cultural scene has grown thanks to private and public endeavour, and a willingness among individuals and groups to create a space for the arts. It also helps that Gurgaon has a population that's something of a melting pot.
Amit Sinha, one of the organizers of the Gurgaon International Film and Literature Festival, said an event such as this can be an answer to the need for a specific cultural window, a certain kind of cultural diversion, which the city lacks.
"There's a very cosmopolitan crowd here, hailing from different parts of the country. But there is nothing for Gurgaonites beyond the pub and the theatre," says Sinha. "Earlier, towns would have kavi sammelans and mushairas, a platform for cultural activities.
"What was needed was to create an intellectual property, something to propagate a culture of 'Indian-ness'." And the film and literature festival, Sinha believes, can revive public engagement with the arts and the artistes.
The choice of the alfresco Cyber Hub as venue is deliberate. "This place has a lot of corporate employees from small towns. What they saw and what they heard in their childhood, we can bring all of it back."
A few years down the road, the MCG's cultural centre might be hosting such gatherings. The MCG, which this year has become keenly involved in cultural activities, is investing Rs 100 crore in a hub that would feature an auditorium with enough room to seat 2,000 people, as well an art gallery, studio space, library and a residential facility for visiting performers. This city's answer to the Delhi's Mandi House quarter, if you like.
The magic of the Gurgaon Utsav, however, lies in its outdoor setting. Hari, one half of the electronica-folk duo of Hari and Sukhmani that recently performed at Utsav, points to the multicultural personality of the city as a reason why artistes always get an appreciative crowd. "We enjoy playing here, and our shows have always been well received," admits Hari.
"The good news is that Gurgaon is home to people from all over the country, and this makes for an interesting audience." There should be more from where that came from, for Gurgaon and culture now go as well together as gin and tonic.