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Delhi Theatre Festival is back with its fifth season
Mumbai: Alchemist Live is bringing back the Delhi Theatre Festival (DTF) for its fifth season, featuring original live performances, notable casts, and classic stories.
This year, DTF will take place over three days – 20, 21, and 22 September – across four venues in Delhi NCR: Siri Fort Auditorium, Kamani Auditorium, OP Jindal Auditorium, and Orana Convention in Gurugram.
American Express returns as the title sponsor for the fifth year, reinforcing their partnership with Alchemist Live to offer audiences in Delhi NCR exceptional live theatre experiences.
Detailing more about the festival, American Express Banking Corp, India CEO and country manager Sanjay Khanna said, “We are thrilled to sponsor the Delhi Theatre Festival for the fifth consecutive year to bring an extraordinary experience to our Card Members. This collaboration underscores our commitment to offering exclusive and unforgettable cultural experiences. We believe this festival will provide a unique opportunity for our Card Members to immerse themselves in the vibrant world of theatre, creating memories that will last a lifetime.”
This year’s stellar cast includes legendary performers like Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Shabana Azmi, Lillete Dubey, Vinay Pathak to name a few, who will light up the DTF stage.
Sharing his delight on the fifth season of the festival, Alchemist Live COO and co-founder Prabhu Tony said, “The energy and anticipation surrounding the Delhi Theatre Festival is truly inspiring. As we embark on our incredible fifth season, Alchemist Live is determined to raise the bar even higher. Within the realm of theatre, we are trying to introduce new formats every year and this year’s festival promises to be a captivating exploration of theatrical diversity. We envision the Delhi Theatre Festival as a global hub for theatre enthusiasts, and we’re honoured to provide a platform where playwrights, actors, and audiences can come together to celebrate the magic of live performance.
Set to establish new benchmarks in the theatre segment, the 2024 festival will incorporate the following captivating plays:
1 Old World by Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah on 20 September at Siri Fort Auditorium (8 pm), 21 September at Siri Fort Auditorium (1 pm & 6 pm), and 22 September at Orana Conventions, Gurugram (7 pm)
2 Salaam Noni Appa by Lillete Dubey, Yateen Karyekar, Jayati Bhatia, Rishi Khurana, and Gillian Pinto on 21 September at Kamani Auditorium (3:30 pm & 7 pm)
3 Anything but Love by Mandira Bedi and Samir Soni on 20 September at Kamani Auditorium (8 pm)
4 Broken Images by Shabana Azmi on 21 September at Orana Convention, Gurugram (7 pm)
5 One on One Dhamaal by Anu Menon, Ajitesh Gupta, Gagandeep Riar, Rajit Kapur, Shikha Talsania, Sohrab Ardeshir, Sumeet Vyas, and Vrajesh Hirjee on September 21 at OP Jindal Auditorium (7 pm)
6 Jaya – A Rock Musical of the Mahabharata by Megan Murray, 2Blue, Vikrant Chaturvedi, Asif Ali Beg, Sherrin Varghese, Varun Narayan, and more on 22 September at Siri Fort Auditorium (4:30 pm & 8 pm)
7 What’s Done is Done by Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, Waris Ahmed, Chandrachoor Rai, Mantra, Radhika Mehrotra, Mansi Multani, Mallika Singh, Chakori Dwivedi, Munish Bhardwaj & Ravi Kalra on 22 September at OP Jindal Auditorium (7 pm)
‘’Delhi Theatre Festival has always held a special place in my heart. Performing for a Delhi audience is always an invigorating experience. Returning to Delhi to perform “Broken Images” after a couple of years fills me both with excitement and anxiety,’’ said Shabana Azmi.
Resonating with her, Rajat Kapoor added, “This is the third time we are collaborating with Delhi Theatre Festival. We have been there with ‘nothing like Lear’, and this time we are back at the festival with ‘what’s done is done’, which is our adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. A theatre festival like this is a wonderful idea – to work as a bridge between theatre practitioners and audience. More power to you”
Lillete Dubey, who’s retuning to festival said, “I’m thrilled to be part of the Delhi Theatre Festival again, especially in my hometown, Delhi, where I first performed over 50 years ago. This time, we’re bringing two unique shows—Salaam Noni Appa and JAYA, a rock musical of the Mahabharata. I’m excited for Delhi audiences to experience these extraordinary performances and kudos to Alchemist Live, and American Express for making this festival a reality!”
DTF has become a cornerstone of Indian theatre in Delhi NCR since its inception. Each season has showcased a mesmerising curation of plays, electrifying performances by renowned actors, and a vibrant atmosphere that celebrates the magic of live theatre.
iWorld
Bill Ackman makes a $64bn bid for Universal Music Group
The hedge fund boss wants to list the world’s biggest record label in New York and thinks he knows exactly what ails it
NEW YORK: Bill Ackman wants to buy the world’s biggest record label. Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge fund run by the billionaire investor, submitted a non-binding proposal on Tuesday to acquire all outstanding shares of Universal Music Group in a business combination transaction worth roughly $64.4 billion (around 55.8 billion euros).
Under the terms of the offer, UMG shareholders would receive 9.4 billion euros in cash, equivalent to 5.05 euros per share, plus 0.77 shares of a newly created company, dubbed New UMG, for each share held. Pershing Square values the total package at 30.40 euros per share, a 78 per cent premium to UMG’s closing price on April 2.
The deal would see UMG merge with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, with the combined entity incorporating as a Nevada corporation and listing on the New York Stock Exchange. New UMG would publish financial statements under US GAAP and become eligible for S&P 500 index inclusion. Pershing Square says the transaction is expected to close by year-end, with all equity financing backstopped by Ackman’s firm and its affiliates, and all debt financing committed at signing. The transaction would cancel 17 per cent of UMG’s outstanding shares, leaving New UMG with 1.541 billion shares outstanding.
Ackman has a long history with UMG. Pershing Square first bought approximately 10 per cent of the company from Vivendi in the summer of 2021 for around $4 billion, around the time of UMG’s listing on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. He has since trimmed that position, raising around $1.4 billion from the sale of a 2.7 per cent stake in March 2025, and resigned from UMG’s board in May 2025, citing new executive and board obligations arising from recent investments.
His diagnosis of UMG’s troubles is blunt. The company’s stock has fallen around 33 per cent over the past twelve months on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange, and Ackman lays out six reasons why. These include uncertainty around the Bolloré Group’s 18 per cent stake in the company, the postponement of UMG’s US listing, the underutilisation of UMG’s balance sheet, the absence of a publicly disclosed capital allocation plan and earnings algorithm, a failure to reflect UMG’s 2.7 billion euro stake in Spotify in its valuation, and what Ackman calls suboptimal shareholder investor relations, communications and engagement.
The Bolloré stake has long cast a shadow over the company. Cyrille Bolloré stepped down from UMG’s board in July 2025 as the Bolloré Group battled the French financial markets regulator over its stake in Vivendi, which holds a further capital interest in UMG. UMG had confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2025 for a proposed secondary listing in America, but put those plans on hold in March 2026, citing market conditions.
Ackman has kind words for UMG’s management, at least. “Since UMG’s listing, Lucian Grainge and the company’s management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance,” he said. But he made his diagnosis plain: “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.”
In other words, Ackman believes UMG is a great business trapped inside a broken structure. If the board agrees, he intends to fix that, loudly and in New York.
