A Star-Studded Celebration of the Stage: ‘The Drama Utsav Mumbai 2026’ Set to Be India’s Largest Multilingual Theatre Festival!
Theatre aficionados, clear your calendars. In a massive milestone for the performing arts, Ideas Entertainment has officially announced The Drama Utsav Mumbai 2026—India’s first large-scale, premium multilingual signature theatre festival. Bringing the absolute best of Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, English, and Bengali theatre under one grand roof, this cultural extravaganza will take over St. Andrew’s Auditorium from November 13th to 29th, 2026, featuring an elite line-up of icons including Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shabana Azmi, and Anupam Kher.
Scheduled from 13th to 29th November 2026 at St. Andrew’s Auditorium, Mumbai, the festival will feature 22 premium commercial plays across 17 days, including acclaimed productions, celebrated theatre icons, contemporary voices, masterclasses, an inter-collegiate theatre conclave and a grand awards night honouring the stalwarts of Indian theatre.
The official poster of The Drama Utsav was inaugurated by Hon’ble Union Minister of Culture & Tourism, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat ji, on 22nd June in Delhi. The occasion was attended by Paritosh Painter and his team, along with Hemant Madhvani from BookMyShow.
Conceived and curated by Paritosh Painter, The Drama Utsav aims to create a permanent annual cultural institution for Mumbai – one that celebrates the diversity, scale and spirit of Indian theatre while bringing different language audiences together under one roof.The festival will be supported by an illustrious set of brand ambassadors including Boman Irani, Jim Sarbh, Neena Gupta, Kalki Koechlin and Mithila Palkar.
The programming will include major Hindi and English productions such as Naqaab featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Broken Images with Shabana Azmi, Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta hai with Anupam Kher and acclaimed English theatre productions featuring names such as Shernaz Patel, Rajit Kapur and Vinay Pathak & Lilltte Dubey.
The Marathi theatre showcase will bring together some of the biggest names from the industry, including Sayaji Shinde, Sachin Khedekar, Swapnil Joshi, Prashant Damle, Dilip Prabhavalkar and Vijay Kenkare, along with celebrated Marathi productions that represent both classic and contemporary theatre.
Speaking about the festival, Paritosh Painter said, “Theatre is more than performance. It is connection, reflection and the celebration of our times. The Drama Utsav is our attempt to bring India’s finest theatre voices together and create a festival that Mumbai can proudly call its own.”
The Drama Utsav Mumbai 2026 will also include masterclasses by leading industry names, an inter-collegiate theatre platform for young talent, a special inclusive performance spotlight, and a grand finale awards night on 1st December 2026 at JW Marriott, Mumbai, celebrating legends and contributors across Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali and English theatre.
About The Drama Utsav:
The Drama Utsav is a multilingual theatre festival curated by Ideas Entertainment, designed to celebrate India’s theatrical diversity through premier productions, cultural exchange, youth engagement and industry recognition. The 2026 edition will be held in Mumbai from 13th to 29th November 2026.
By Keerti Kadam