Sunburn to set Vagator ablaze from todays
27 December, 2013

Come Friday, all roads will lead to Vagator, which has burst into a psychedelic blur of colour. A carnival-like atmosphere has settled over the usually-sleepy coastal village, now buzzing with creative energy. A massive ferris wheel in neon pink and green, christened the 'Sunburn Eye', towers over the 25,000 sq m slope. One crane piles up speakers and woofers on either side of a stage, and another crane is being tested for a bungee-jumping platform. A stunt artist revs up his motorbike, practicing riding over a tightrope suspended at least 20 ft above the ground. Different genres of music blare out from the seven event stages, and Percept Joint MD, Shailendra Singh seems already high on the tunes of his 'new baby'-Sunburn at Vagator. Leading a tour of the venue, Singh starts with the 'box office', a one-acre stretch just outside the venue, where guests can pick up their tickets. "We have installed a beverage bar and a stage outside the main venue, where budding DJs from across the country will perform. This entertainment will be free, and there's plenty of space to dance out here. When our guests arrive, they can take a ride in the hot air balloon, scout out the festival from up in the air, and if they like what they see, they can buy tickets to enter," Singh quips. Each stage, located at different corners of the venue, carries a different theme-a gigantic Nataraj smiles over the 'dance music' stage, the 'love stage' screams 'peace out' with hearts and war-torn tanks, the underground and techno music stage is all metal and the 'eco-friendly' stage is surrounded by little lotus ponds and has animal figurines made of grass. "We want to be a festival with something for everybody-but health and safety is just as important to us. We are strictly a drug-free zone, and there are sniffer-dogs, plainclothes narcotics officers and drug detection kits at the venue. Every inch of the site is under CCTV surveillance; there are 175 cameras, with night-vision installed all over," he adds. At the highest point of the sloping venue, cut off from all the madness, is Singh's favourite place-a viewing gallery from where guests can just laze around and watch the sun set off the picturesque Vagator coast. "The best things in life are often free," he says. Tickets for Sunburn are priced from 4,891 to 16,848. The festival has a parking space that can accommodate 4,000 cars and several thousand two-wheelers.