Exit Falguni Pathak,enter Rahul Vaidya

Pathak will perform in Ankleshwar,also known for its Navaratras. “Gujarat has completed 50 years and this is the right opportunity for me to perform in my native state,” Pathak says. “I am excited and nervous as well. I have performed in Gujarat earlier,but never for 10 days in a row.”

But there is good news for her Mumbai fans,she will conclude her Navratri run by performing in Ghatkopar on October 18.

At Sankalp,singer Rahul Vaidya of Indian Idol fame will replace her this year,taking the stage with Sangeeta Labadia and Yashita Sharma. “It’s a challenging experience as Gujarati is not my mother tongue,but I am looking forward to it. I will primarily perform Gujarati folk with some Bollywood music,” says Vaidya. The event is from October 8 to October 16.

For almost 16 years,Pathak has been the crowdpuller at Sankalp Dandiya,one of the city’s most popular Dandiya spots. “Half the people go to Sankalp Dandiya only for Pathak. We can’t predict how Vaidya’s performance will be,but it could be a nice change,” said Namrata Parekh,21,of MumbaiUniversity.

Others,like Vile Parle-based fashion designer Khushbu Mulani,are less optimistic. “Till last year,I used to stitch at least 50 ghagras. But because Falguni Pathak is not performing this year,my orders have almost halved.”