This year, the Kolkata Literary Festival is not just about books. It includes films, music, theatre and art. And, it also celebrates two legends, Tagore and Faiz.
Rabindranath Tagore will be here. And so will Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. And bringing alive the poetry of Faiz in his deep baritone will be actor Naseeruddin Shah. Known for its penchant for art, literature and music, Kolkata is ringing in the New Year with an international literary festival that will celebrate the two legends of the Indian sub-continent — Tagore, on his 150th birth anniversary, and Faiz, on his birth centenary.
Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, which is in its third year, will be held January 11-15 at various venues across the city, including some heritage sites, and will begin with a tribute to Bengal’s pride. On the inaugural day, the book The Last Harvest: The Paintings of Rabindranath Tagore, edited by art historian R Sivakumar, will be launched followed by a panel discussion on “The Global Language of Tagore’s Paintings.”
The historic Dhaka-based 1958 Urdu film, Jago Hua Savera, for which Faiz wrote the story, dialogue and lyrics, will be screened in India for the first time. The festival also hopes to bring the poet alive through an evening dedicated to his ghazals and poetry — “Lab Azaad Hain”. While Shah will recite Faiz’s poems, Shujaat
Khan will render his ghazals at the heritage building of the Town Hall. Faiz’s daughter, Salima Hashim, who is a Pakistani painter, artist and writer, will be present on the occasion, says the festival’s director Maina Bhagat.
Another event to look out for, on January 14, is a discussion in Bengali on Bengali cinema and literature. The talk, “Tridhara: Charitra o Bhumika — Lekhak, Nirdeshak, Nayak”, will explore how a literary character travels from the author who conceives it, to the director who gives it a form and finally to the actor who brings it alive for the audience. Writers like Sunil Gangopadhyay, film makers like Aparna Sen and Goutam Ghosh, and actors like Prasenjit Chatterjee and Raima Sen will participate in the discussion. “Literary characters were at one time central to any Bengali film,” says Arijit Dutt, managing director of Priya Entertainment which is organising this particular event. “So, the idea to bring all three together was innovative.”
The festival will also cater to the emerging generation of readers. The children’s literary festival, Hooked ’n’ Booked, on Day 1 is designed to promote reading habit among children. It will include participation by children from the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy and the Future Hope School.
Coming back to Tagore, the festival will host an Indo-Chinese literary collaboration and launch the book Tagore and China, a collection of articles on Tagore co-edited by Chinese and Indian scholars. The publication is the first of a series of works to come out following an agreement between Sage Publications India and the Central Compilation and Translation Press, China. “We realised Tagore was deeply interested in Chinese culture and visual arts and promoted links between artists in China and Santiniketan. So we took forward the theme of ‘Global Tagore’ to include this event,” explains publisher and former editor of Seagull, Anjum Katyal who is also the associate director of the festival. Award winning Chinese author and screenwriter Bi Feiyu, on his first trip to India, will discuss his book Three Sisters. And, American writer Deborah Baker's book The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism will form the subject of a discussion with writer Mukul Kesavan.
Another highpoint of the festival is the jazz event that follows the launch of the book Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age by Naresh Fernandes at Roxxy, The Park.
A blend of literature, art, music, films and theatre, the festival has a mascot to depict all this. It’s the image of Durga with distinct Bengali features carrying in each of her hands not the traditional weapons, but a book, pen, palette and paint brush, a camcorder, a microphone and a clipboard, apart from the lotus and the trident. While the Devi brings forth the strong Bengal connection, she also symbolises power, wisdom, and enlightenment, explains graphic artist Shilpi Chakraborty, who is behind the mascot. Taking artistic liberties with the image of the goddess, the National Institute of Design alumnus has replaced the weapons with symbols of knowledge and art “which also bring about change and empowerment.”
As the festival, which is supported by Apeejay Surrendra Group, draws near, the bunch of enthused organisers have stepped up their activities to panting limits. “The idea behind the festival is to engage local thinkers and scholars and bring the literary and cultural community together through our panel discussions, performances and exhibitions,” says Katyal.
The lineup of events, list of celebrities and intellectuals and venues appears to have been designed keeping in mind the people of Kolkata who have grown on adda. And, that is precisely what Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2012 promises to be — a full blown adda.
