Things to do in Delhi this week

Long before Baroda became synonymous with Indian modern art, K.G. Subramanyan was already pointing to Gujarat’s outsized role in shaping the country’s cultural landscape. There was just one thing missing: an art school. So when the Faculty of Fine Arts at Maharaja Sayajirao University was founded in 1950, it had a rare opportunity to start from scratch. This exhibition traces how that experiment unfolded, and how its ripples travelled far beyond.

Expect a lively mix of paintings, sculptures, mixed-media works, prints and photographs, alongside archival material from the DAG collection. Together, they offer both the big picture and the behind-the-scenes story: the school’s teaching, friendships, debates and everyday shenanigans that made Baroda such a creative hotbed.

Some artists pushed the possibilities of material and form. Others developed abstract languages shaped by surface, landscape and place. Still others turned to figuration, bringing together the intensely personal and the unapologetically political.

When: August 22 to October 24, 2026, 11am to 7pm

Where: 22A Windsor Place, Janpath, New Delhi

Tickets: Free

Consider this your cue to swap yet another dinner-and-drinks plan for ten days of big stories, bold performances and plenty to talk about afterwards.

The IHC stage is set for another round of drama... the good kind. The India Habitat Centre (IHC) Theatre Festival returns this year, taking over its grand Stein Auditorium. Supported by the National School of Drama and Sikkim Repertory Company, this year’s festival brings together 12 critically acclaimed contemporary productions across four languages: Hindi, English, Tamil and Punjabi.

IHC already keeps its theatre calendar busy through the year. But the annual festival is when things get a little more ambitious, bringing a whole bunch of theatrical worlds under one roof, with different languages, forms, ideas, aesthetics and perspectives, all in one packed programme.

And that’s precisely the point. As Prof KG Suresh, director of IHC, puts it, the space has spent years building a reputation for presenting theatre, cinema and talks that is gloriously varied. From established practitioners to newer voices, and from different theatrical forms and sensibilities to stories that refuse to sit neatly in one box.

When: September 18 to 27, 2026, multiple slots

Where: India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Colony, Delhi 

Tickets: ₹200-₹500

Aashish Solanki's solo set feels like someone narrating their life while slowly realising how ridiculous it all is. A former maths teacher, Solanki brings a sense of structure to his storytelling, but don't mistake that for anything rigid. The set moves through first love, fatherhood, gym-life delusions and family dynamics, all filtered through his dry, observational humour.

Solanki is an Indian stand-up comedian and writer known for his sharp take on relationships, social behaviour, pop culture and the absurdities of everyday life. He rose to wider recognition through India's contemporary stand-up circuit, particularly after appearing on comedy talent show: Comicstaan. His sets, if you ask us, rely less on elaborate theatrics and more on clever writing, precise observations and an understated delivery.

When: September 27, 4pm
Where: Kamani Auditorium
Tickets: ₹700

The Yamuna is finally getting the legit spotlight that it deserves with the seventh edition of Nadi Utsav. The three day event is bringing together environmentalists, artists, researchers and river enthusiasts for a celebration centred around rivers (translation of the word ‘Nadi’). Expect panel discussions, cultural performances, storytelling sessions and conversations on river ecology. Before you think it's an event for geeks, the festival has a film and photo exhibition corner too. 

Frankly, living in Delhi itself calls for a little more attention towards its sprawling urban jungles and water bodies. The festival explores how the river is deeply woven into Delhi’s history, culture, food systems and everyday lives. 

When:  September 24-26

Where: IGNCA, Janpath Building, Janpath, New Delhi

Ticket: Entry free

Virasat is a hyperrealist staging of Mahesh Elkunchwar's iconic Wada trilogy. This show is Delhi's big-ticket theatrical offering this September. Move over, tortured antiheroes and cinematic saviours – the lead role here belongs to time. Directed by Anuradha Kapur and presented by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), the production traces the rise and gradual unravelling of the Deshpande family of Dharangaon across multiple generations.

At its heart, Virasat follows a once-thriving household struggling to keep pace with a country changing faster than it can adapt. Widely regarded as one of India's most important playwrights, Elkunchwar documents this slow collapse with restraint.

Don't expect dramatic entrances, thunderous speeches or a straightforward redemption arc. Instead, the play finds its drama in ordinary people going about their daily routines, cooking, cleaning and negotiating the complexities of family life. Memory, inheritance and the uncomfortable realities of change sit at the heart of this production.

When: September 24-27, 7pm
Where: Sunder Nursery
Tickets: ₹400 onwards

If your fitness goals have started collecting dust, here's your cue to lace up. Led by fitness icon Milind Soman, this half marathon is coming to Noida. And its every stride contributes to a larger cause: fighting hunger.

Whether you're a seasoned runner or someone who's only recently graduated from evening walks, there's a category for each of you. The race begins with a 3km stretch and goes all the way up to the standard 21km half-marathon distance. A portion of every registration fee will be directed towards providing meals to those in need, turning every kilometre into an act of giving.

Fair warning: the 5am start time might be the toughest hurdle of this event!

When: September 27, 5am

Where: JBM Global School, Noida

Tickets: ₹650

This is India through Thomas and William Daniell’s eyes. The exhibition might be a bit colonial in its perspective, but hey, gorgeous scenery is gorgeous scenery. The uncle-and-nephew Daniell duo travelled extensively across India, sketching everything from grand architecture to sweeping landscapes. Back in Britain, they turned those sketches into paintings, drawings and, most famously, a monumental series of aquatint prints. Their work was finally published in pairs between March 1795 and December 1808 as Oriental Scenery.  This one is the single largest and most ambitious project by English artists to depict India’s architecture and landscape. For the truly committed collector, the full set is a serious flex: 144 prints, arranged into six volumes of 24 each. This exhibition just brings together half of that spectacular haul.

The prints are arranged geographically, beginning in Calcutta and heading west across the Gangetic plain to Delhi. From there, it’s uphill into the Garhwal mountains, before doubling back through Lucknow to Calcutta. Next stop: Madras, from where the Daniells make a sweeping loop through what is now Tamil Nadu. Finally, we arrive in Bombay and head into western India to explore its extraordinary rock-cut temples.

When: September 13-24, 11am to 7pm  

Where: Bikaner House, Pandora Road, Delhi

Tickets: Free

Forget the idea that art-making needs a studio or even a plan. The Big Aaaaart Club is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an open-air gathering for anyone who likes getting their hands into something creative, no portfolio required. Sketchbooks, paints, half-finished doodles and fully-formed ideas are all welcome in equal measure, we hear.

There's no curriculum here. Show up to sketch a stranger's dog, paint badly on purpose, or just sit in the grass and talk shop with Delhi's wider creative crowd, which is everyone from illustrators and hobbyists to  people who haven't picked up a pencil since school. The club's whole appeal lies in low stakes and good company, less ‘workshop,’ more ‘park hangout that happens to involve glitter and charcoal. Come with material, or don't. Someone nearby is bound to have a spare brush.

When: September 27, 4-7pm
Where: Priya Park, Vasant Vihar (exact location will be shared on registration)
Price: Free entry, RSVP via @the.art.curry on Instagram

Delhi's own duet, Purple Cassette, is hitting the road for a nationwide tour. The Delhi-based garage-rock/post-punk band is known for its energetic live gigs. And with the release of its new single, Waiting on Nothing, the band is ready to take its sound to a wider audience and onto more diverse stages.

The tour takes the band through four cities before wrapping up with a hometown gig in Delhi. For a band rooted in the city's independent live-music scene, the capital remains an essential stop, of course. You’ve got raw guitars, driving rhythms and the restless energy that defines Purple Cassette's sound.

When: September 4, 9pm
Where: Soho Club Delhi, The Ashok Hotel, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi
Tickets: ₹500