Going underground has never before been so much fun

On July 12th, venture into the underpasses near Cubbon Park and KR Circle, and witness a celebration of citizen spirit at the Bengaluru Underground Festival.

Subways are typically built so that pedestrians can cross over from one side of the road to the other, without having to risk their lives by meandering their way through traffic. Subways in Namma Bengaluru are another matter altogether. Some of them are used as public toilets and reek of urine. They get waterlogged after a heavy downpour. And being dimly-lit, many people avoid then for their lack of safety. Well, the Bangalore Underground Project looked to changed that.

Last year, Bangalore Rising and BBMP came together to clean six subways near Cubbon Park and KR Circle. And the effort did not stop at cleaning. The maintainence of the subways was handed over Bangalore Rising, through the Namma Bengaluru Nanna Koduge (NBNK) programme. On August 17th 2014, the six subways played host to the first ever edition of the Bangalore Underground Festival – a day-long free public event where citizens utilised the space to showcase a variety of art, ranging from music performances to mural painting to photo exhibitions and more. 

Date: Sunday, July 12th
Venue: Cubbon Park
(near Century Club)
Time: 7 am to 5 pm

And now, the reclaimed KR Circle pedestrian underpasses (subways) have been working well for a year. To celebrate the occasion, Bangalore Rising is organising the second edition of the Bengaluru Underground Festival on July 12th.

It promises to be a fun day with music, dance, food, art, running, heritage walks, theatre and much much more, you can be rest assured, it will be a day of fun, a true celebration on Bengaluru’s citizen spirit!

If you, or anyone you know, wants to perform or exhibit at the festival, you need to send in your request through this form. The last date to send in submssions is July 8th.

For more information on the event, do follow them on Facebook: Bengaluru Underground.

Also read: Bangalore Underground Festival 2014 – A hidden pathway through which one could walk around KR Circle without crossing roads. Some history, some music, some food for the soul – this was what Bangalore Underground Festival was all about. Also check out some videos and pictures from last year’s event.

Related Articles

The Bangalore Underground Project: Dance, sing, paint – right under K R Circle!
2K run, history, song and dance mark Underground Festival at K R Circle

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Story

Music, play, and community action help residents protect and celebrate Mumbai’s parks

Citizens are reclaiming their parks with LYPMumbai, an initiative that encourages the better use of open spaces through art and music.

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot/ With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot. These words of the Joni Mitchell classic Big Yellow Taxi filled a corner of Pushpa Narsee Park in Juhu on a bright Sunday morning in March. Though the song was released in 1970, the words resonate in 2026, especially for this park. There have been several attempts to convert Pushpa Narsee Park into a parking lot, only foiled by the vigilance of the locals, says Anca Florescu Abraham, co-founder of Love Your Parks Mumbai (LYPMumbai). This initiative advocates for the…

Similar Story

Uthandi’s ₹91-crore ‘flood drain’: Is Chennai solving one problem by creating another?

The WRD's flood fix puts Uthandi at risk. Residents flag pollution, CRZ violations, aquifer damage, and threats to nearby fishing livelihoods.

The Straight-cut Flood Escape Channel project at Uthandi in the southern part of Chennai along East Coast Road was conceived by the Water Resources Department (WRD) as a flood mitigation measure, with a budget of ₹91 crores. The plan proposes a cut-and-cover drain through the VGP Layout in Uthandi, to connect the Buckingham Canal to the Bay of Bengal. The drain is supposedly meant to divert excess floodwater in Buckingham Canal during heavy rains, when areas around the Pallikaranai marsh and Okkiyam Madavu face flooding.  Work on the project started immediately after its inauguration in August 2025. However, residents of…