Sitara Studio co-founders Shubhangi Swarup and Nikhil Hemrajani. Pic/Ashish Raje

In late 2012, the industrial galas of Lower Parel got an unlikely neighbour when journalist couple Nikhil Hemrajani and Shubhangi Swarup decided to give Sitara Studio, a family-run space used for shoots, a new lease of life. Sitara soon acquired the identity of a thriving and much-needed alternative performance venue, a space that the city's art practitioners took to immediately, even as its location and ambience took a while to grow on some of the audience members.