IFP returns for Season 16 with a packed creative programme

MUMBAI: Creativity is getting a deadline, and the clock is ticking towards another edition of India’s multidisciplinary creative festival. IFP will return for its 16th season on October 24 and 25, 2026, at Mehboob Studios in Mumbai, bringing together writers, filmmakers, musicians, artists, advertising professionals and performers for two days of conversations, workshops, performances and creative challenges.

From the craft of writing and the improvisation of live performance to the underworld on the page and art in the age of artificial intelligence, the programme spans a wide range of creative disciplines. It brings established practitioners into conversation with emerging voices, while giving participants opportunities to experiment, exchange ideas and turn unfinished concepts into completed work.

Among the headline conversations, screenwriter Juhi Chaturvedi and writer-filmmaker Varun Grover will explore the practice of writing across formats in ‘On Craft, Creativity, & Writing Across Mediums’. Sonam Wangchuk will lead ‘How To Live Simply’, examining ideas around sustainability, everyday choices and the way people engage with the world around them.

Traditional performance will also have a place in the programme. Celebrated performer and performing arts scholar Guru G Venu, along with Manjiri Pupala and Kapila Venu, will lead ‘Navrasa Sadhana 101’, introducing audiences to the ideas and practices behind the traditional performance methodology.

Art and technology will meet in multidisciplinary artist Raghava KK’s Power Talk, ‘Art After The Algorithm & AI’. The session will examine what creative practice looks like when algorithms and artificial intelligence increasingly influence how art is made, experienced and interpreted.

The literary line-up moves between personal narratives, investigative storytelling and questions of conflict. Actor Shefali Shah will be in conversation with Saurabh Dwivedi for ‘Pustakalay Ft. The Audacity of Being’, while author Hussain Zaidi will join Bilal Siddiqi for ‘Penning India’s Underworld’.

Kamlesh Singh will join Kuldeep Mishra and Alif Khan for ‘Yuddh Aur Shanti | What Is Worth Fighting For?’, in conversation with Atul Tiwari. The session adds another dimension to the festival’s literary programme, turning the spotlight towards the questions and ideas that shape how stories about conflict, peace and human choices are told.

The written word will also cross into film and lived experience through ‘Anurag Minus Verma Podcast Live’, featuring photographer and filmmaker Sooni Taraporevala in conversation with Anurag Minus Verma. Meanwhile, graphic novelists Sarnath Banerjee and Appupen will come together for ‘Between Two Worlds’, exploring visual storytelling, illustration and design.

Music will have its own platform through the ‘Indie Musicians Roundtable | On Reclaiming The Roots’. Aneesh Poojari, Banjaare, Swara Oza and Utpal Udit will join David Britto to discuss independent music and the relationship between contemporary sounds and their cultural roots.

For those looking to sharpen their performance skills, filmmaker and improv practitioner Saad Khan will present ‘Hacks To Improve Your Improv Game’. The festival will also host ‘Collab Room With Curtain Blue’, featuring Curtain Blue, adding a hands-on element to the programme.

Advertising and creative strategy will get their share of the spotlight, too. Prakash Verma and Amit Sharma will discuss ‘What Makes a Good Ad?’, while Anurag Tiwari will be part of ‘Building an IP with AI Ft. Prakash Bharati Ep.’, examining the process of developing original intellectual property in a creative landscape increasingly shaped by technology.

Beyond the sessions, IFP’s creative challenges remain a central part of the festival. The competitions are built around a simple premise: give creators a deadline, a platform and a reason to move an idea from the back of their mind to the finished-work pile.

The Music Challenge jury brings together Khalid Ahamed, Kanishk Seth, Kavita Seth, Uday Benegal, Nucleya and Dabzee, representing a broad mix of independent, contemporary and popular music. The Writing Challenge will be judged by Karan Anshuman, Abhay Koranne, Sumit Roy, Rashmi Bansal, Tara Khandelwal, Chiki Sarkar and Prayaag Akbar, whose work spans screenwriting, literature, publishing and storytelling.

The Design Challenge jury comprises Muhammed Sajid, Amrit Pal Singh, Omkar Patil, Shayak Sen and Mira F. Malhotra. For the Photography Challenge, the panel includes Joseph Radhik, Vineet Vohra, Rid Burman and Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo.

The Performing Arts Challenge will be judged by Tess Joseph, Akarsh Khurana, Aalok Shrivastav, Kena Shree and Aleena, bringing perspectives from casting, theatre, poetry, writing and performance. The Filmmaking Challenge jury features Raam Reddy, Pushkar-Gayatri, Karthik Subbaraj and Anusha Rizvi, with experience spanning cinema and streaming.

The challenge format has been part of IFP since its early days. What began as a 50-hour filmmaking challenge in 2011 has grown into a multidisciplinary creative platform, expanding into several fields while retaining its focus on getting people to make something rather than simply talk about making it.

For founder Ritam Bhatnagar, the festival’s growth has been closely tied to the community that has developed around it. Reflecting on its 16th season, he said IFP began with the belief that talented people needed a reason, a deadline and a platform to create.

“What has stayed with me through all these years is watching people who first came to IFP as participants return as professionals, collaborators, speakers and sometimes even jury members,” Bhatnagar said. He added that the festival had, in many ways, grown up alongside its community.

Bhatnagar also said the underlying excitement of creating and sharing work had remained unchanged despite the festival’s expansion. Season 16, he said, was particularly personal because that original impulse continued to hold the community together.

Singer Kavita Seth, who will serve on the Music Challenge jury, also highlighted the role of creative exchange. “It brings together young minds, fresh ideas and so many different artistic voices on one platform, and that in itself is very heartening to see,” she said.

Seth added that music and storytelling could connect people deeply, describing festivals such as IFP as spaces where artists and audiences could exchange ideas and perspectives.

The programme reflects the increasingly porous boundaries between creative disciplines. Writing can feed into filmmaking, illustration can reshape a narrative, traditional performance can inform contemporary practice, and AI can open new possibilities for art and advertising. By placing these conversations alongside practical challenges, IFP is looking to connect discussion with the act of making.

The festival’s two-day format will bring together established practitioners and aspiring creators at Mehboob Studios on October 24 and 25, 2026. With sessions spanning literature, music, design, photography, filmmaking, advertising and performing arts, the programme offers multiple routes into the creative process.

From its beginnings as a 50-hour filmmaking challenge in 2011 to its 16th season as a cross-disciplinary festival, IFP has expanded its reach without losing sight of its central idea: creativity needs more than inspiration. Sometimes, it needs a deadline, a community and the courage to put the work out into the world.