With power-packed performances and frequent interactions with the crowd, music composer-singer Vishal and She-khar duo kept around 10,000 hooked to them throughout their show at the inaugural ceremony of Bhubaneswar City Festival (.Fest) on Saturday.

Bhubaneswar Development Authority and Odisha Tourism are jointly organising the festival at Exhibition Ground here till December 16.

The duo churned out super hit numbers one after another and left the audience craving for more. They often interacted with the audience asking them to raise their hands and sing along with the musicians. The loudest shouts were saved for their blockbuster numbers — Tu Meri, Dhan Te Nan, India Waale.

The .FEST will take visitors on a complete culture trip that will include activities like international street food festival, cultural events, international storytelling festival and adventure trails.

The food festival will include global cuisines from more than 16 countries, cuisines from all states of India and authentic food specialties from Odisha by leading hotels and restaurants of the city.

“The city will see athletes and guests from around the world during this period, making it the perfect occasion to showcase the culture of the city and the state,” said tourism minister Ashok Panda.

Shekhar said: “We never expected such a grand reception from the audience. We had a great time performing here.”

The hotels taking part will have international chefs prep-aring the cuisine. While some chefs are in-house, some are being flown down from other countries like Malaysia and Japan, to make the street food specialty of their country as authentic as they possibly can.

Dhwaneil J. Desai, food and beverages service manager at Trident Bhubaneswar said: “The .FEST is a true amalgamation of flavours and cuisines from all over the world. It also brings together the finest cuisines from across the country and Odisha. We are excited that Bhubaneswar is conducting such an incredible food festival and we are delighted to be part of it.”

Chandra Sarathi Behera, Minister Sports and Youth Services, said: “We believe in atithi devo bhava. We are expecting a record tourist footfall because of the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2018 and .FEST and welcome both locals and tourists to enjoy the festivities.”