The five-day theatre festival came to an end on Sunday with the promise of opening many more windows of opportunity for upcoming talent in the coming years.

Khidkiyaan ended on a high note on Sunday, with a number of film actors in attendance, cheering as the five-day theatre festival drew to a close. Anurag Kashyap, Nandita Das, Huma Qureshi, Abhishek Kapoor, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Nikhil Advani, Goldie Behl, Elli Avram and the young heartthrobs, Vicky Kaushal and Sooraj Pancholi were among those present.

Ragini Khanna hosted the evening, which began with a soulful performance by Piyush Mishra who read poems from his latest book, Kuch Ishq Kiya Kuch Kaam Kiya to a packed house. He dedicated a few lines to Anurag Kashyap, who was present in the audience. Later, the actor-lyricist-singer-poet enthralled the audience with his popular songs.

Highlights on day five included Ramji Bali’s play Koi Baat Chale, featuring Yashpal Sharma, Ritu Sharma, Ramji Bali and Tarun Bali. It received an overwhelming response from a crowd that packed the auditorium and applauded and whistled at the performances.

Ayushmann Khurrana and Aditi Rao Hydari brought the gala event to a close by ‘shutting the window’— signature prop at the festival and handing over the keys to the producer T.C. Chhabra.

Co-organiser of the festival, Mukesh Chhabra made a promise to continue Khidkiyan and open new windows of opportunities in the coming years. Chhabra thanked the film fraternity, his team, partners, and the audience for making the festival a huge success. He signed off saying, “I hope to keep doing casting work and make some money, so that I can keep doing this festival every year.” Ayushmaan Khurrana, actor “Theatre festivals like Khidkiyaan is promoting young talent and giving them an opportunity to perform in front of stalwarts of the industry, which is a great thing for young aspiring actors. It’s a bright spot in this industry that times are changing. The future is only bright. Khidkiyaan should happen annually and should especially promote young talent; unexplored actors should be given an opportunity.”

Huma Qureshi, actor “I started with theatre and anything related to theatre should be promoted. Khidkiyaan is a good initiative to promote theatre and I wish the best of luck to Mukesh Chhabra’s whole team because it’s very difficult to do what he is doing. I have done theatre for 2- 3 years. Now I don’t get an opportunity but whenever I do, I would definitely like to go to back theatre.”