Festa De Diu, touted as Asia’s longest beach festival — lasting 77 days — will open its maiden edition on December 1 and continue all the way up to February 15, 2016. At a press conference organised to unveil the details of the festival, Ashish Kundra, administrator, Union Territory of Daman, Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, announced that it was an exercise to uncover what is possibly a hidden jewel of India and encourage tourism in one of the country’s lesser-explored shores.
Spread across three months, the festival will host more than 140 live musical acts apart from an adventure zone, health and wellness-related activities and cultural experiences. Kailasa, Indian Ocean, Shreya Ghoshal, Benny Dayal, Shubha Mudgal, Ankit Tiwari, Shillong Chamber Choir and Hard Kaur are some of the many indigenous artistes who will perform at the festival.
Shubhra Bhardwaj of Ferriswheel Entertainment said the festival would take place against four different backdrops, namely Nagoa Beach, Nadia Caves, Diu Fort and an amphitheater.
At least 60 luxury beach tents will host the festival revellers apart from accommodations at the city.The tents are priced at 8,000 per night. “It’s not a bad proposition given that they will be put up at the beach,” said Mr Kundra, elaborating that Diu tourism would also be used as a gateway to Gujarat. “Gir forest is not too far and for the religiously inclined, Somnath temple is very close. We want to make it an annual calendar event in the tourist calendar.”
While one pays for the tents, the cultural activities can be experienced free of cost. “As with any festival, for instance, Rann Utsav or Pushkar Fair, the government invests initially until the festival becomes self-sufficient, when the government can step back and allow corporate sponsorships. So cultural events this time will be government sponsored,” he continued.
A running session with Milind Soman and diet class with Malaika Arora Khan are some of the non-musical attractions apart from sculpting and kite-making workshops. Child actor Darsheel Safary will host workshops for children. Since the duration of the festival is long, the big acts will be performed during the weekends.
