* All for roars: Jaipur Tiger Festival
Celebrate wildlife through the lens of art and culture as the Jaipur Tiger Festival, organised by the Rajasthan Heritage, Art and Cultural Foundation, returns to the city for its sixth edition. Over four days, a photography exhibition featuring renowned wildlife photographers will be judged by photographers Abhishek Ray and Aparupa Dey, and National Award-winning filmmaker Subbiah Nallamuthu. The idea behind the exhibition is to help people admire a tiger’s life and ecology.
These majestic creatures have left a powerful imprint on hundreds of miniature paintings that depict tales from the Panchatantra; some of these will form another highlight of the festival.
Children can also line up for a Panchatantra storytelling session with Uma Joshi. A coffee-table book, Stripes of Survival, by wildlife photographer Gaurav Nakra, will be launched at the event. Also capturing the awe that tigers evoke is a performance by Jaipur Kathak Kendra and a performance by the Sikar-born musician Rahgir.
When: Until December 14, 9 am to 8 pm
Where: Jawahar Kala Kendra
Entry: Free
* Surround sound: Sanam in Jaipur
Get set for a #feelgood Saturday as India’s YouTube sensations, the pop-rock band Sanam, head to the Pink City. Expect to enjoy live renditions of original songs such as Main Hoon, Hawa Hawa and Behka and sway to acoustic covers of Bollywood melodies such as Lag Jaa Gale, Yeh Raaten Yeh Mausam, O Mere Dil Ke Chain and more. The band features Sanam Puri (lead vocalist), Samar Puri (lead guitar), Venky S (bass guitar) and Keshav Dhanraj (drummer).
When: December 13, 7.30 pm
Where: Zee Studio
Cost: Prices start at ₹999; tickets are available on bookmyshow.com
* Pun-of-a-kind: Jaipur comedy festival
This weekend, Jaipur is set to host a comedy festival with a packed line-up of over 50 artists including Zakir Khan, Harsh Gujral, Ravi Gupta, Akash Gupta, Kanan Gill, Biswa, Azeem, Sapan, Kenny, Sumukhi, Varun Thakur, Aditi Mittal and East India Comedy. Take a break from adulting and head over for coming-out-of-the-closet tales, outrageous small-town quirks, everyday middle-class hang-ups, and enough laughter to leave your face hurting in the best way.
When: December 13 and 14; 6 pm
Where: Hotel Clarks Amer
Entry: Prices start at ₹999; tickets are available on district.in
* A Sonic experiment: Environmental rap performance
Nod your head to an eco-conscious musical mash-up this weekend. Bombay Experience is a collaborative project that brings together rapper Manmeet Kaur and French contemporary jazz artists Alexandre Herer (keyboards), Gaël Petrina (bass) and Pierre Mangeard (drums) for a night of genre-blurring rhythms. Adding a Carnatic pulse is BC Manjunath, whose mridangam and konnakol beats first crossed paths with Herer during a jam session in Dharavi, Mumbai. Herer, fascinated by India’s beatboxing scene, found a natural partner in Manjunath’s mathematical precision, and the collaboration took shape.
Kaur’s hard-hitting lyrics, in Hindi and English, on climate change and hyper-capitalism weave through this soundscape, creating music that feels both ancient and entirely new.
When: December 12, 7 pm to 8.30 pm
Where: Main Auditorium, Rajasthan International Centre
Entry: Prices start at ₹99; tickets are available on bookmyshow.com
* Crazy thing called love: Stand-up by Rajat Sood
Winner of the reality TV show India’s Laughter Champion, Rajat Sood is headed to town to laugh at his own silly love life and many heartbreaks, and invites you to join in as he blends his middle-class struggles with love debacles, a pinch of salt and plenty of mirth.
When: December 14, 6 pm
Where: Strings Cocktail Club
Entry: Prices start at ₹599; tickets are available on bookmyshow.com
* Common roots: Art exhibition
Head to Saptabarni for an art exhibition showcasing Indian and Iranian works by 20 artists who participated in an India-Iran cultural exchange. The exhibition spans diverse Persian folk and indigenous art forms including ghalamkari, bakhtiyari, khushkhati, dastkari, tabachi, meenakari and more, and traces how these traditions have become woven in, over centuries, into Indian practices such as Kashmiri and Kalamkari embroidery and Murshidabadi metalwork.
Twenty artists will be present, 10 from each country. The event will also feature discussions on shared heritage, and live demonstrations, including the creation of a gold-woven tapestry depicting Krishna.
Organised by the Jaipur Art Summit and curated by Amita Khare, the exhibition aims to make folk art more accessible. As Shailendra Bhatt, founder of the Jaipur Art Summit, explains, “We have consciously moved the exhibition to an educational institute as we found people were intimidated by celebrated cultural centres and luxury hotels. We want everyone to feel welcome to engage with folk art forms.”
When: Until December 14, 11 am to 5 pm
Where: Rajasthan School of Art
Entry: Free
