Telling Delhi’s Story: One Layer at a time

Conceptualised by Indophile with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the curators call Kahaani: Dilli Ki more than a festival. “It is a panoramic understanding and celebration of the innumerable microcosms that reside within the great macrocosm of our capital city,” they add.

The venue is key to the vision of attempting to map Delhi through performances, conversations, exhibitions, a crafts bazaar, featuring kalai practitioners, embroiderers, terracotta artists and food installations. The curators add that Travancore Palace offers the perfect setting with its open spaces and central location.

The first edition’s, performance highlights include a street play on Phoolwalon Ki Sair by Priyanka Sharma and troupe, Deveshi Sahgal’s vocal performance titled Songs for the Divine Beloved on the first day, Sonam Kalra’s Sufi set, and a closing evening with a performance by the band Indian Ocean. The programming also honours the Dilli gharana with sitarist Saeed Zafar Khan, and features Ishq-e-Dilli: Poetry Through Kathak by Gauri Diwakar.

For Sharma, adapting Phoolwalon Ki Sair felt urgent. “It is a beautiful and truly authentic festival of Delhi, with deep historical and cultural importance. In today’s times, its relevance has only increased, which inspired us to bring it to people through street theatre,” she says. Her production draws from what she calls Delhi’s “Ganga–Jamuni tehzeeb – harmony, colours, and inclusiveness.” The challenge, she admits, was the scale. “Condensing such a grand and historically rich festival into a short performance and helping actors understand its depth was challenging. We addressed this through research, discussions, and focused rehearsals,” she adds.

The conversation panel also promises equal depth. On February 14, historians Wiliam Dalrymple and Swapna Liddle will join journalist Barkha Dutt for a session titled Many Cities, Many Histories. Liddle, who has also written extensively on Delhi’s architectural and urban past, says what makes Delhi exceptional is its enduring link to power and visible historical layers. Most importantly, she describes Delhi as the “city of migrants.” Asking who the “real Dilliwala” is, she argues, a meaningless question, “People have come from different places and contributed to its culture.”

For younger audiences, she hopes the event encourages deeper engagement. “Just being able to sit down and listen to a conversation that is developing and evolving… that would be a very nice exercise,” she says, contrasting it with today’s consumption of very short form media.

Food forms another narrative thread. In collaboration with Edible Archives, Chef Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar curates a spice installation inspired by Khari Baoli. “Food is so intrinsically linked to memory, to culture, to family,” the curators say, explaining why culinary traditions are central to the festival’s storytelling.

Visual history also finds a place through Mahatta Studio’s archival exhibition. Founded in 1915 and relocated to Delhi after Partition, the studio has documented the city for over a century. “Our archive is a visual biography of the city,” says Arjun Mehta of Mahatta and Co. Among the photographs are 1950s–60s royal processions, including Queen Elizabeth II’s motorcade through Connaught Place. Such images, he says, reveal how Delhi has shifted from a contained imperial capital to a sprawling metropolis where space itself has become a contested resource.

In a city “being remade at such a rapid pace,” Mehta believes events like this are essential. “They anchor people to a shared visual memory of what Delhi once looked and felt like and help younger audiences understand how urban life and public space have fundamentally changed in a single lifetime,” he says.