Celebrating the Festival of Lights

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Bollywood comes to Newtown A BOLLYWOOD street party, featuring Lotus FM DJs, will rock Newtown during the Diwali Festival. October 18, 2005 By Tshepiso Seopa PUT on your glitziest dancing shoes and head off to the Bollywood street party, part of the Diwali Festival, in Newtown on 22 October. Starting at 8.40pm, the night will belong to party animals, who can dance to bhangra music until midnight. Named after the Indian film industry based in Mumbai, the street bash will feature DJs from Lotus FM. The Diwali Festival is hosted by the City of Johannesburg in partnership with the Johannesburg Housing Company, the Gauteng Indian Dance Alliance, the Johannesburg Development Agency, the arts and culture department, the Newtown cultural precinct, the High Commission of India and the Consulate-General of India. Steven Sack, the City's director of arts, culture and heritage services, says time and effort have been spent ensuring that the Newtown cultural precinct and Mary Fitzgerald Square become places with which everyone can identify. "We feel it is wonderful that the Diwali festival of lights takes place here, as it highlights the rich cultural diversity of our city." A variety of activities have been lined up for the Diwali Festival, the Hindu new year, which is celebrated by millions of people worldwide and brings messages of joy, peace, happiness, splendour and brightness. Kicking off the festivities are performances by community and cultural groups, from 10am. Jack Devnarain, who plays Rajash Kumar on the SABC television soapie Isidingo, will put in an appearance. Devnarain says his fondest childhood memories of Diwali are of family and friends sharing sweetmeats, wearing their finest clothes and lighting up the summer night skies with fireworks. "The charm of the Newtown Diwali Festival is that its message is universal. I will be celebrating Diwali at the festival - come and join me." Nisha Moodley, the festival's project manager, says the involvement of Lotus FM in the street party will bring "a whole new vibe" to Newtown. "It could change the way people party in the city." Entrance to the festival is free. The full programme is on the Diwali Festival website. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za