Growing up in Maharashtra as a non-Maharashtrian kid, my mother was extremely insistent that I learn Marathi. It didn’t have to be perfect, and it definitely didn’t have to be pure, but I had to know the basics. Because language is power, and language gives you access to corners of your environment that you wouldn’t have otherwise.

And I’m glad I learned it. I could talk to my PMC bus conductors without hesitation about which stop to get off at to reach basketball practice at Deccan Gymkhana, or bargain like a bro with my vegetable vendor tai and go home proudly to my mom to show her the 20 rupees I saved. Some would call these trivial experiences, but they helped me belong. They also helped me discover a corner of pop culture that has often been misrepresented in films as too brash or bold (in a negative way) — as if that is the language itself. In reality, Marathi culture has given us some incredible cinema and has been a breeding ground for some of the most world-renowned singers in both classical and contemporary fields.

To honour this legacy, RADA, which means riot or ruckus in Marathi, is bringing India’s first Marathi pop-culture festival to Pune. Brought together by Bharatiya Digital Party (or BhaDiPa and no, it’s not a political party), the two-day festival taking place on 28 and 29 March aims to celebrate Marathi internet culture over the past decade. RADA is bringing together an entire ecosystem of musicians, creators, comedians, and performers who have built massive audiences online, yet rarely get to share a physical stage together. 

Set to take place at The Orchid Hotel, Balewadi the festival will bring together performances, conversations, comedy sets, and live music under one roof. With the expanding Marathi hip-hop scene, RADA forefronts artists like Shreyas X Vedang and Yung DSA to platform this rising subculture in rap and hip-hop. RADA is also bringing comedians like Fatima Ayesha and Sahil Sheikh, whose sketches and stand ups have highlighted the side of the language that is both bold and funny, without becoming a caricature of itself — authentic but still contemporary. The idea is to create a platform that reflects how Marathi youth culture has evolved, something that is not only proudly regional but also deeply shaped by global internet culture, memes, and contemporary art forms. 

The event is an attempt to showcase that in India, where so many languages coexist at the same time, every language carries its own stories, its own people, and its own world built around it. It’s almost as if the country is made up of many different worlds that constantly shift, adapt, amalgamate, and transform as people move and cultures intersect. At times, this diversity can also become a point of friction, because it’s easy to assume that one culture or language is somehow better than another. But that is perhaps the most un-nuanced takeaway from such richness.

Personally, I think this pluralism is one of the most interesting things about the country; it gives India its personality and allows us the opportunity of having endless ways of seeing and understanding the world depending on where you stand. And that’s precisely why representation like this matters. Platforms such as RADA create space for a community to rediscover itself on its own terms without being filtered through an outsider’s gaze, but celebrated in its evolving identity.

RADA is being held on 28 and 29 March at the Orchid Hotel, Balewadi, Pune. You can book your tickets here, and follow RADA on Instagram for more details and updates here.

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