Nine Years, One Stage, A Whole Lot of Pride:

There are some evenings that remind you why community matters.

On 12 September 2026, Gay Bombay came together for the 9th Gay Bombay Talent Show — an evening of music, dance, drag, fashion and, above all, the joy of queer people simply being themselves.

This year’s Talent Show was particularly special. It took place during Gay Bombay’s 28th anniversary month, marking almost three decades of a community that began as a space for gay men and has grown into something much larger: a network of friendships, chosen families, conversations, celebrations, activism and belonging.

And, of course, there was talent. Lots of it.

A stage for every kind of expression

The beauty of the Talent Show has always been that there is no single definition of what talent looks like.

There was Hindustani classical music, with Tarun and Sanket bringing their very different musical journeys to the stage. Sanket’s classical bandish was a particularly beautiful moment of the evening.

There was dance in all its forms — from Tribal Fusion Belly Dance with Abhishek Rana aka ENIGMA, to Bollywood, semi-classical, hip-hop, Latin, jazz, Afro and belly dance with Vishal. Rani Jasmine brought the glamour and attitude of drag, while House of Sway brought together dance, ghungroo and Marathi thaska in their vibrant TAMASHA UNITED.

There was music and storytelling with Simmi, and hip-hop, beatboxing and rap with Emcee Youngmonk.

And then there was fashion.

The Senior Gay Men took over the runway with a walk that was stylish, confident and, frankly, fabulous. They reminded everyone in the room that fashion, self-expression and joy don’t come with an age limit.

The evening also featured performances by Rahul, Anshu, Dhruv, Biswa, Abee and the extraordinary collective Color Positive.

Each performer brought something different. Some were seasoned performers. Some were stepping onto a stage like this for the first time. Some were polished. Some were wonderfully spontaneous.

And that is precisely the point.

The Gay Bombay Talent Show isn’t about creating a competition between performers. It is about creating a space where people feel brave enough to perform.

Celebrating community beyond the stage

This year’s show also included the Gay Bombay Awards 2026, recognising five people whose work and lives have contributed to the LGBTQIA+ community in different ways.

The Mental Health Champion Award went to Umang Sheth, recognising his decades of work providing mental health support and creating psychologically safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ people.

Zainab Patel received the LGBTQIA+ Entrepreneur Award, recognising her work as a social entrepreneur and DEI strategist and her efforts to create dignity and livelihood opportunities for trans people.

The Corporate Changemaker Award went to Parmesh Shahani, recognising his longstanding work advancing LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace and beyond.

Rani Sushant Divgikar received the Mumbai Icon Award, celebrating her contribution to LGBTQIA+ representation in arts, culture and entertainment.

And the Rajshri Khote Guardian of Love Award was presented to Vidya Phadnis, honouring an ally whose journey with Gay Bombay and the wider LGBTQIA+ community has been rooted in love, learning and support.

Two of the recipients — Zainab and Parmesh — could not be present in person, but their connection to the community was very much part of the evening.

The awards were a reminder that community is built in many different ways: through activism, art, workplaces, mental-health support, families, friendship and simply showing up for one another.

Twenty-eight years of Gay Bombay

There was another thread running through the evening: 28 years of Gay Bombay.

Twenty-eight years is a long time in any community’s history.

Since its beginnings, GB has witnessed enormous changes in the lives of LGBTQ+ people in Mumbai and across India. We have seen laws change, conversations evolve, generations grow up with different possibilities, and queer people claim increasingly visible space in public life.

But some things remain just as important as they were at the beginning.

A place to meet.

A place to make friends.

A place to find people who understand.

A place to dance.

A place to perform.

A place to fall in love.

A place to be completely, unapologetically yourself.

The Talent Show is one expression of that continuing need for community.

And then there was the audience

Of course, a Talent Show is nothing without the people watching.

The cheering. The whistles. The laughter. The friends shouting from the audience. The nervous performers looking out into the room and realising that they are among their own people.

That energy is what makes the Gay Bombay Talent Show what it is.

Because the stage belongs to the performers, but the evening belongs to everyone.

It belongs to the people who have been coming to GB events for decades and those who have only just discovered the community. It belongs to the performers who have been practising for years and those who simply decided, Why not?

It belongs to the volunteers backstage, the people who helped put the show together, the people who bought tickets and donor passes, and everyone who stood up and applauded.

Nine Talent Shows — and counting

Nine Talent Shows later, the idea remains remarkably simple:

Give queer people a stage, give them a microphone, give them an audience that wants them to succeed — and see what happens.

What happens is music.

Dance.

Laughter.

Drama.

Fashion.

Drag.

Friendship.

And occasionally a performance that leaves everyone wondering why that person hasn’t been on stage before.

But more importantly, what happens is community.

As Gay Bombay enters its 29th year, we continue to create spaces where queer people can meet, create, celebrate and belong.

The 9th Gay Bombay Talent Show was one more night in that long story.

And what a night it was.

Here’s to the performers. The audience. The volunteers. The organisers. The families. The friends. And to everyone who continues to make Gay Bombay what it has always been — a community that makes space for one another.

🌈 Happy 28th, Gay Bombay.

And see you at the 10th.