Jajpur Mahotsav 2023 - a Celebration Extraordinaire in Odisha

Jajpur is a district in Odisha that often gets confused with the better-known capital of Rajasthan, Jaipur. However, it’s when you dig deeper and learn about this beautiful part of India you realise that the history of Jajpur goes back thousands of years. Not just history, Jajpur is also home to bustling art and crafts, including Tussar Silk, pottery, golden grass and much much more.

Jajpur Mahotsav 2023

While the state is seeped in history, and I did explore all of that, today’s story is about a festival that the district celebrates every year called Jajpur Mahotsav. This year it was a five days event with an absolutely fantastic lineup of artists including Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghosal, Ayushman Khurana, Sona Mohapatra and many many more. It was inaugurated on 8th February by the Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, via video conferencing. 

You can watch the video on the festival here on my Youtube channel as well.

Frankly, I’d never heard of the festival till I was invited to participate in it, and I’m sure you’ve never heard of it either. However, the scale of the festival is such that it can even rival the likes of Filmfare awards. I attended the festival for three evenings and each day was better than the last. Kudos to the local legislator fondly known as Bobby Das who was recently ranked as one of the Best 50 Legislators in India. I met him too and was absolutely inspired by his love for the constituency as well as making sure that the stories from Jajpur spread far and wide.

Fantastic light show at Jajpur Mahotsav

The Jajpur Mahotsav had two parts - a fair that started every evening and went on till late in the night, and evening musical performances with artists from Odisha and across India. The fair was the fun part with a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, numerous shops where you could busy crafts and food from Odisha, and a huge food court to try local as well as global foods. My friend Nivedith and I walked around there for a long and absolutely loved the experience. If I had more space in my carry bag, I would’ve bought so many products that evening. 

Sunidhi Chauhan live at the festival

Soulful Sunidhi

However, it was the musical performances which truly took the cake. Each evening started with performances by local artists which I really appreciated as they got a fantastic platform to showcase their art. At about 8 pm every evening as the crowd finished eating great food at the food court and settled down, we were treated with world-class performances by some of the best artists from India. The first evening it was Sunidhi Chauhan and she was absolutely mind-blowing. She’s a fantastic performer who knows how to engage the audience and keep them singing along! She was on stage till 10.30 and I have no clue how she has so much energy to perform the way she does!

You can watch her video below:

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The second evening was perhaps the best. It started with Sona Mohapatra, who’s actually from Odisha, weaving magic on stage. Loved the fact that she sang a mix of Odia, Hindi and Punjabi songs, and I think the crowd loved it too. She has an aura on stage that’s really special and hard to match. The second performance on Day 2 was by Amit Trivedi and boy he is a master magician! I knew Amit as a composer and a singer, and that day I discovered the performer in him. Frankly, I’ve rarely seen a stage performance as perfect as Amit’s. He sang, played, danced, and we all danced along with him. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a performance so much - everything he did, we all loved. Reached back to my hotel after midnight.

Amit Trivedi's performance at Jajpur Mahotsav

Party at Amit's performance!

Brilliance on stage!

The last evening at the festival was a fantastic performance by Ayushman Khurana and that was a perfect end to the festival for us. I went back to thinking about all the great experiences at the Mahotsav and making plans already for coming back again next year.

Though Jajpur Mahotsav is the biggest festival in the Jajpur district, it’s not the only one. There are numerous festivals in the district and the one coming up next is during Holi which is celebrated with much fanfare here. 

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