Control Alt Delete: ‘Won’t Scale Down Even if Target of Rs 5 Lakhs Not Achieved’

Poster for Control Alt Delete’s 10th edition. Artwork: Sajid Wajid Shaikh

Before you wonder what happens when gig series Control Alt Delete’s mammoth 10th edition falls short of the Rs 5 lakhs crowdfunding target, co-founder Nikhil Udupa says it won’t affect the scale of the show. “Like with all editions, Himanshu (Vaswani, co-founder) and I will put in the balance if we don’t hit the target.”

For the first time, Control Alt Delete (CAD) will be a two-day festival, hosting 35 artists (check out the full lineup) across genres ”“ with no repeats from previous editions ”“ on five stages. Udupa compares it to the risk they took the last time they scaled up, when they moved from the fairly small B69 gig venue to Sitara Studio in 2012 for their third edition. He adds, “After six years of doing CAD in its earlier formats, we felt that we had reached our comfort zones. We needed to step out into the unknown to see whether it works or it doesn’t. The thing with CAD is that no matter what the collection, the gig will happen.”

Currently past the halfway mark of Rs 2.5 lakhs, Control Alt Delete has had 194 online contributors over six weeks. The amounts vary from a few hundred rupees for entry to the gig to thousands for a package that includes T-shirts and more merch as well a personal gig featuring a band from the gig’s lineup. Udupa says, “These occasional large contributions give us faith that there are people who would like to honestly give back–and give back to make a difference and not look good. They give us confidence to do what we do and how we do it.”

With an open-air event that takes place between 2 PM and 10 PM at Roaring Farm in Malad, CAD 10 is also making room for more stalls, as well as food and beverage counters. Udupa explains the model for anyone setting up a stall, “We take a basic rental from them which covers our basic production and a 20 percent margin that goes to the CAD fund. Along with that 15 percent of all F&B sales goes to the venue directly, so that even they see the economic benefits of this DIY model.”

Contribute to Control Alt Delete 10 here. Check out the stage-wise and day-wise schedule here.