MUMBAI: The country's financial capital's drive to showcase its commitment towards various forms of rich cultures received another encouraging boost with the opening of The Worli Festival's third edition. The festival's intention to offer Mumbaikars a three-day extravaganza filled with art installations, music, food, cinema and performances through various forms of arts at Worli Sea Face Promenade began with performances and interactions focused on people across age groups, musical tastes and preferences.

As the sun prepared to set, the gates for the festival opened and so did the main stage with a special Meet & Greet with the Chota Bheem gang on the Main Stage. The gang - Kalia, Dholu and Bholu - spent an hour interacting and sharing the Chota Bheem experience with the fans, comprising mostly of children. The Meet & Greet was followed by the young Avanti Nagral who brought her diverse musical repertoire yet again, in the limited time slot. The young Broadway show artist isn't new to live performances and Nagral used her experience to ensure an ideal opening musical set was created.

Shibani Kashyap moved to Mumbai (from Delhi) a few years ago, and over the years learned trades that gradually shaped her into a Mumbaikar's mold. The sensational Bollywood singer has performed across the states, and with instrumentalists and performers from different cultures of the world incorporated into her sound, Kashyap has been adding refreshing elements into her sets. Although Kashyap had only half an hour to enthrall the audience, the singer did not fail to do so.

Day 2 and Day 3 promise an elaborate schedule comprising more electronic music, return of pop icons, and the festival's practice of encouraging classical acts continues with performances from Milind Date, Taufiq Qureshi and others.

Bollywood playback singer Tochi Raina performs on the second day at 8 pm and the singer intends to focus on what he does best, " I will be singing my Bollywood numbers at the Worli Festival. Rest I will just go with the flow. I do not think much before my performances. I just mould myself according to the audience. And the audience usually enjoys my performance. I do not ask my audience to dance or shout like the others. They do it if they enjoy the performance," said Raina. "This will be my first performance at the Worli festival but, I do a lot of stage shows otherwise," added Raina.

The all-girl band Indiva, the headlining band of the three-day festival, curiously look forward to perform at The Worli Festival. "Indiva looks forward to performing their multi lingual original compositions that are catchy, foot tapping and certainly entertaining. Performing live is a trip like no other.. No miming for us. We really feed off each other. Each performance brings something new which keeps the music and the show exciting," the band stated.

Shefali Alvares - now a mother - will return to the stage in Mumbai after a considerable period. The singer will perform with Divya Kumar on the Main Stage on Day 3. “I will be performing on most of my party songs and some of the older Bollywood songs too. Divya and I will also be performing together. We've put a medley together. I will be performing in Mumbai after a very long time as I was on a break post pregnancy. I am really excited about this performance," said Alvares.

Percussion specialist Taufiq Qureshi hopes to release a new track with a video before the end of this year, however first things first. "It feels amazing to be a part of Worli Festival alongside extremely talented associate artistes. I will be showcasing the whole field of percussion, mostly the instrument djembe in Worli Festival and I am venturing rhythm along with Rajasthani folk, Maharashtrian folk, and Gujarati folk music. For me, my father Ustad Alla Rakha has been a great inspiration and creativity comes from everywhere. I have formed an innovative band Mumbai Stamp, where trash material is put to use creatively to explore new rhythmic horizons,” explained Qureshi about his set.

Music festivals allow musicians to connect with the fans in a way corporate or college gigs would not. "Music festivals, like The Worli Festival, is more about music. It's not about people suited up with drinks in the hands and no connection whatsoever. Band of Boys is a culture tribe and we look forward to seeing the happy Mumbaikar faces again," the band said. The band will perform at RWITC - Mahalaxmi Race Course, right before the Indiva band's performance.

The third edition of the festival brought several new elements to its established traditions. A Submerge curated stage for electronic musicians potentially develops and spreads the genre and the sound to a wider audience with a line-up of established DJs (Su Real, DJ NIkhil and others) from across the country. Leading global health guru Mickey Mehta will lead a morning session educating on ways to get healthier and fitter with 'Morning Health Sessions'.