Monsoon might be drawing to a close but it’s still raining events in Maxmimum City this October. Get your hands dirty at painting workshops, have your reality altered at a mind-bending new museum, attend a concert, or dance the night away whirling at one of many Navratri dandiya and garba events. Just let our guide of 20 things to do in Mumbai this October lead the way.
1. Say your piece at an open-mic night
Are you a budding poet, singer, comedian or rapper? Dorangos Cafe is hosting an open mic night for fresh talent to make their mark in a non-judgemental space every Wednesday in October. If you manage to garner a round of appreciative snaps and claps, you can bag a spot in the curated line-up at the cafe.
📍: Dorangos, Pali Hill, Bandra
📅: October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
🎟️: Tickets cost INR 100 per person
2. Celebrate Indian dance forms at this dance festival
The NCPA Nakshatra Dance Festival is a three-day festival that honours India’s rich classical dance heritage. Star choreographers and dancers – cultural nakshatras – from around the country take the stage each day, highlighting different art forms like Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Mohinattam and Mayurbhanj Chau. Each show features intricate choreography that tells poignant stories from the Mahabarat to folk tales of female empowerment.
📍: Experimental Theatre, Jamshed Baba Theatre at NCPA, Nariman Point
📅: October 3,6,26
🎟️: Tickets from INR 300 per person
3. Whip up a storm at a Korean cooking class
After all the K-Dramas you’ve binged, it’s time to binge on some dramatically good Korean food and learn how to make it while you’re at it. Culinary Craft is hosting a vegetarian Korean culinary workshop that teaches how to pickle cucumber kimchi, bake cream cheese buns, saute japchae and make braised tofu bowls. Leave with printed recipes to recreate these dishes at home.
📍: Culinary Craft, Powai Plaza
📅: October 5
🎟️: Tickets from INR 3,950 per person
4. Paint with puppies at this adorable art workshop
Move over puppy yoga, we’ve discovered something even cuter – a painting class with puppies! These furballs will be up for adoption and proceeds from every ticket will go towards animal welfare initiatives. Let their zoomies and wagging tails inspire your masterpieces. This is India’s first-ever Paint with Puppies event conducted by Pawasana, a rescue and adoption organisation that gets indie dogs forever homes through fun events.
📍: Stand by Coffee, Worli
📅: October 6
🎟️: Tickets from INR 899 per person
5. Exhale all your worries at a breathwork class
Phoenix Breathwork New Moon Session is a perfect end-of-week destresser. Centre your emotions with the New Moon’s energies of fresh starts. The session combines breathwork to release tension, NLP tools to reprogram limiting beliefs and heal deeply and fascial bodywork to release emotions gently physically. The experience includes silent disco headsets that will flood you with meditative Solfeggio frequencies and binaural beats. A New Moon ritual to set new intentions and manifest your desires concludes the session.
📍: The Yoga House, Bandra
📅: October 5; 8pm onwards
🎟️: Tickets from INR 5,000 per person
6. Spend an evening with Bollywood legend Zeenat Aman
One of Indian cinema’s most maverick actresses, Zeenat Aman, will bring cast celluloid magic IRL at Yeh Shaam Mastani by Saregama Live – a conversational musical event. The yesteryear thespian will let you in on behind-the-scenes anecdotes about her iconic songs and movies. The nostalgia will be turned up a notch with singers Pragati Nagpal and Pranav Chandran’s live renditions of Aman’s evergreen songs like Chura Liya Hai and Dum Maro Dum.
📍: Shanmukhananda Hall, Sion Mumbai
📅: October 5; 7pm onwards
🎟️: Tickets from INR 5,000 per person
7. Get faded at Alan Walker’s Mumbai concert
Norwegian music producer and DJ known for dance anthems like Faded, Alone, Darkside and Feel The Spectre is touring India this year with gigs in multiple cities including Mumbai. Experience the R2 Grounds, MMRDA pulse with the beats of his rhythmic EDM tracks that have been beloved worldwide.
📍: R2 Grounds, MMRDA
📅: October 19; 5pm onwards
🎟️: Tickets from INR 2,000 per person
8. Catch a Candlelight Tribute To Coldplay
Okay, so what if you didn’t get Coldplay tickets? We’ve got the next best thing – an opulent baroque opera house turned Yellow by thousands of glowing LED candles while A Sky Full Of Stars is played on stage by talented pianist Tavan Shah. This Candlelight tribute to Coldplay concert will include instrumental versions of other chart-busters of the British band like Paradise, Fix You, Clocks and others. Get your tickets here
📍: The Royal Opera House Mumbai
📅: October 19; 8pm onwards
🎟️: Tickets from INR 899 per person
9. See mind-bending sights at the Paradox Museum
After mesmerising Miami, Las Vegas, Barcelona and Shanghai, the Paradox Museum has arrived in Mumbai! 50 interactive exhibits at this new experiential museum will defy concepts of physics and challenge your perspective of reality. You’ll float inside the zero-gravity room, snap pictures in spaces where you disappear, appear taller or shorter and attempt to walk without falling through a spinning vortex tunnel that isn’t moving! Get tickets here
📍: Shreeniwas House, 27, H Somani Marg, Azad Maidan, Fort
📅: October 4- December 1
🎟️: Tickets from INR 500 per person
10-19. Celebrate Navratri at these dandiya and garba events
Concerts by famous singers like Falguni Pathak, dance parties that run into the wee hours of the morning, and communal events that have fun contests, delicious food stalls and plenty of spirituality and joy are going to take over Mumbai this Navratri season. Find the full list here.
20. Attend Jubin Nautiyal’s first Mumbai concert
The playback singer who’s given us musical gems like Raataan Lambiya and Zindagi Kuch Toh Bata is making his Mumbai debut later this month. The singer’s first concert in the city promises top-notch production, stunning stage and more.
📍: SVP Stadium, Dome
📅: October 20
🎟️: Tickets from INR 1,180 per person