Mumbai, Jan 17 (IANS): The Ballard Estate Festival, which will begin later this month, is set to add zing to the already available "mundane options for recreation" here.

Ballard Estate, South Mumbai commercial nucleus known for its British lineage and architectural magnificence, will open up for the first time as an open venue where event companies and corporate bodies will be able to avail the opportunity of organising ground events.

Set to formally commence from January 23, the festival will have Minister Of Road Transport and Highways Of India Nitin Gadkari as the chief guest at the inauguration on January 24 followed by a performance by Sanam band.

"Through this festival, locals as well as tourists will get a whole new experience of entertainment making life in Mumbai more vibrant and adding zing to the already available mundane options for recreation," Mumbai Port Trust chairman Ravi Parmar said in a statement.

The festival will be conducted on every Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., until May 2016.

The festival will be earmarked with five zones dedicated to different forms of experiences: A food court, entertainment including live arena, retail point, kids zone, and silent zone (theatre and after parties).

Factors like sanitation and pollution have been specially taken care of.

Closing its doors to the general public for a span of four months during the monsoon season, the festival will once again gain momentum starting October 2016 till May 2017 and will be standard for three years starting from this year.

Apart from the major gourmet fiesta, it will also include various interactive elements such as musical concerts, movie promotions, exhibitions, performing arts showcase, contemporary art shows, heritage walks, flea markets and a lot more.

The festival will also include special revelry on holidays like Maharashtra Day, Republic Day, Holi, Easter, Gudi Padwa, Shiv Jayanti and Makar Sankranti.

With state of the art production, the festival will see high decibel live performances by Nucleya, Anish Sood, Indus Creed, Raghu Dixit Project, Bombay Bassment, Shaa'ir and Func.

"The crux of the festival is to give the common man an assortment of leisure indulges to choose from that cater to a family audience which are affordable and yet very niche every weekend," Shubhra Bharadwaj, founder and creative director, Ferriswheel Entertainment said.