Wall Art India 2026: Khatra brings an urban landscape to life on a wall in Hyderabad

‘Khatra’ translates to danger, but for mural artist Khatra, aka Siddhart Gohli, it signals edge rather than threat. The name mirrors his artistic instinct: bold, disruptive and hard to ignore.

Currently in Hyderabad for the Wall Art India initiative, he is bringing a slice of urban energy to a wall at Alliance Française Hyderabad. The visit is also a homecoming of sorts. He is eager to return to the Maktha Art District, where he painted back in 2016. “I was part of the St+art Foundation then,” he recalls. “I painted an old man with one tooth, holding a toothbrush with a single bristle.”

tryst with mural art

In Khatra’s hands, typography comes alive. He bends letterforms into graffiti, abstraction and the raw textures of the street, blurring the line between text and image.

A Fine Arts graduate from Vadodara, he first encountered large-scale street art at the inaugural St+art Festival in Delhi in 2015, then as a design student. Assisting international artists left a mark. “It was the first time I saw this form up close,” he says. “When I went back to Vadodara, I started painting murals of my own.” He later joined the St+art Foundation as a graphic designer and now collaborates with them on a project basis.

His practice sits at the intersection of design and art, allowing him to channel his grounding in typography into abstract compositions. When he teams up with a close friend, also a street artist, the work moves from abstraction to more figurative murals.

Khatra begins with a digital sketch before scaling it onto a wall. The jump from screen to surface can be tricky—proportions shift and details expand—but he relies on grids to map the composition. “It looks complicated at first,” he says, “but once the grid is in place, it becomes manageable.” At times, he projects the outline directly onto the wall before painting.

He believes street art in India has evolved sharply over the past decade. “Earlier, walls were filled with political posters and ads, just visual noise. Now you see large murals in central Delhi. Festivals have opened doors for Indian and international artists to reshape the urban landscape.”

For Khatra, mural-making is a long-term pursuit. “There’s something powerful about painting your ideas on a large wall and interacting with the community. It’s helped me build my own style.”

The name ‘Khatra’ dates back to design college in Vadodara, where he often stencilled a danger sign with a skull and crossbones. When he paired it with sharp, sarcastic messages, classmates began calling him Khatra. “I kept it,” he says. “It felt desi and cool.”