How Kalaluha Was Founded: A Doctor, an IITian and an Empty Stage

Kalaluha was founded in 2023 by two siblings whose CVs, read side by side, look like they belong to different industries. Dr. Chethana R S is an Ayurvedic physician, an intuitive therapist with more than a thousand clients, and a performing artist across an almost implausible range of disciplines. Vishal R S is an IIT Roorkee alumnus who started his professional life before turning eighteen and runs a money-management platform with over Rs 30 crore under management. She brings the art. He brings the architecture. The company is what happens when the two refuse to stay in separate rooms.

The artist who became a producer

Chethana's path to production ran through performance itself. Her artistic record covers 57 plus art techniques, more than 350 dance shows across nine forms, and 99 intuition and mentalism performances, alongside 53 plus live TV health programs in four languages. Someone who has stood on that many stages learns what audiences feel from the inside, and also learns exactly where productions fail performers: the sound that was not checked, the run order that dragged, the artwork that undersold the night. As a producer she has staged 20 large-scale concerts in two and a half years, built eight premium Kannada DJ properties, and owns three Kannada celebrity sports reality properties. Kalaluha sits alongside her other ventures, Praana and You in healthcare and Dr. Chethana Arts, but it is the venture where all her stages converge.

The strategist who asks three questions

Vishal heads strategy, finance and operations, and advises companies as a virtual CFO outside Kalaluha. His filter for every decision has become company doctrine: can this be sharper, can this mean more, can this outlive a single night. It is a producer's question set disguised as a finance one. He is not the numbers man standing apart from the art either: he holds a Trinity College London Grade 8 in music theory, and he is the architect behind original IPs like Music from the Valley, a Kashmir-rooted premium live experience planned across ten cities with santoor maestro Pandit Rahul Sharma. The stereotype says creative and commercial pull against each other. In this founding pair, they interrogate each other, and the shows are better for it.

The early proof

A founding story is only as good as its first tests. Within months of founding, in October 2023, Kalaluha staged Padma Shri Kailash Kher and Band Kailasa at Lakeside at Orion Mall with RED FM as radio partner, a night the coverage described plainly: presented to you by Kalaluha, an initiative by Chethana RS. By May 2024 came the Shreya Ghoshal All Hearts Tour at New Horizon College of Engineering, presented with Superhits 93.5 RED FM under RED LIVE in Concert. It sold out. Explocity described Kalaluha as a dynamic event management company led by Dr. Chethana R S and Vishal R S, renowned for creativity and dedication to exceptional musical experiences.

The numbers since founding tell the rest: close to thirty productions, more than 3.5 lakh tickets sold, over Rs 20 crore in combined ticketing and brand-partnership value, all since 2023.

A name chosen as a mission

The founders named the company before the market could name it for them. Kala means art, Luha means blazing fire, and the mission was set from day one: bring India's art forms, music and stories onto bigger stages. The slogan they chose, every unforgettable night begins with an empty stage, reads like a promise from an artist and a plan from a strategist at the same time, which is exactly what the company is. Two siblings, one empty stage, and a bet that Bengaluru wanted its art produced at full scale. The bet keeps paying.

Read the founders' full stories on the pages for Dr. Chethana R S and Vishal R S, and see the first big proof point at Kailash Kher Live.