An evening dedicated to books

At the age of 14 LK Advani read How To Make Friends And Influence People, Advaita Kala has still not sold the rights of her book Almost Single, Gautam Bhimani has taken a lighter take on cricket in his book and calls himself the light side of the game. Chetan Bhagat is getting ready to pen down another book. For Jaswant Singh books are one's best friend. Writing is Gulzar's lifeline. But why are we discussing books and people? That's because a leading publishing house recently completed 75 years and hosts, RK Mehra, Kapish G Mehra and wife Dr Asheena Mehra, made sure no one missed out on good times.

MY VIEW: Every guest got talking to us and shared their views. Whereas, Advani stressed that authors should be readers too, Chetan taught us how to handle embarrassment, "If you are embarrassed, embarrass others!"

HOST KAUN? In the middle of all the revelry, we saw the surprise guests – Vishal Bhardwaj with Rekha Bhardwaj. But later the duo along with Gulzar vanished from the scene. We heard them discussing, "Let's go and have chicken." And when the host stopped them Vishal said, "Hum mehmaan nahi host hai, aap apne mehmaano ka khayal rakhiye hum apna rakh lenge." What a relief, Mehraji, no?

Full report here Times of India 

Gulzar turns 75

Veteran lyricist and poet Gulzar celebrates his 75th birthday on Wednesday as wishes pour from fans and well wishers across the world.

Among them were melody queen Asha Bhosle and actor Shammi Kapoor, who wished him through micro-blogging site Twitter.

“Gulzar mere bhai janamdin ki badhai. Love” (Gulzar my bother, a very happy birthday! Love), tweeted Kapoor.

The lyricist, who shared an Oscar with composer A R Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire’s ‘Jai Ho’, is often described as one of the last standing legends of Indian cinema, and a writer who brought great respectability to the craft of lyric writing in Hindi music.

Honoured with a bounty of awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award, a heap of Filmfare and National Awards, and even the Padma Bhushan, Gulzar has garnered worldwide praise for his works.

Gulzar, having directed quite a few critically acclaimed movies as well, is characterised by his trademark style of including flashbacks into his films and his portrayal of human relations.

Full report here Indiablooms

Pritish Nandy’s book of poems ‘Again’ launched

India’s leading lifestyle bookstore along with Rupa & Co hosted the official launch, reading and signing of Pritish Nandy’s book of poems‘Again’. Gulzar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shashi Tharoor, Chetan Bhagat & Anupam Kher were in conversation with the author.

Acclaimed as one India’s most exciting poets in English, with a following  to die for, Pritish Nandy suddenly stopped writing poetry one day. None of his 32 books of poems, some of them runaway bestsellers, were permitted to be reissued as he walked away  from his literary pursuits and began his spectacular career in journalism and public life.

This is his first book of poems since then.

Typically, Nandy plays with form, visual, typography to create a world of his own, unique and resonant with images from his past and present. The man who once redefined Indian poetry is back with his unique play of words and metaphors to take you back to the times when poetry ruled, when thousands of Pritish Nandy’s obsessed fans thronged to readings to hear him speak his lines and win over their hearts.

Full report here ISB

For better or verse

The small café on the first floor of a bakery was solemn only in its silence. Else, the smiles on the faces of the people filling up the tables told of a joy that one finds only among like-minded people. The lectern was taken by a young man and as he recited his piece, young and old sat in rapt attention. When the applause came, it was evident it was from the heart. Whoever said no one has time for poetry these days mustn’t have heard of this group.

Sure, it’s still popular  among certain circles but does petry pay? “Reading  your poetry to live audiences, private poetry readings, sale of published poetry, and reading at large Hindustani poetry platforms where it is tradition to pay invited poets,” are some of the ways to earn, says Amit Dahiyabadshah, the founder of Delhi Poetree, under whose aegis regular poetry reading sessions are held. He is also a well-known poet, who has collections such as Last Will of the Tiger, Bhiksha, American Face, Mitti, Chidiya and Script Arabic to his credit.

He adds that earnings can range from just travel expenses plus Rs 1,000, to Rs 2.5 lakh per reading. Poets have been known to make decent money by writing for cinema and television too, Javed Akhtar and Gulzar, for example.

Full report here Hindustan Times

Bhutan Literary Festival: Day 2

The Bhutan Literary Festival had an unexpected visitor today when King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the fifth king, said he wanted to meet writers from India. At a hastily convened tea, that included home-made samosas, at India House, the residence of Indian Ambassador Pavan Varma, the king dressed in a traditional black gho and accompanied by the Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck who is a published author and a patron of the festival, mingled with writers, finally settling down to an impromptu poetry reading by Gulzar in Varma's drawing room.

Gulzar read his poems in Hindustani while Pavan Varma did the translations in English. The smallish crowd included writer and historian Patrick French whose biography of Francis Younghusband apparently impressed the Queen Mother to such a degree that French and his India-born wife, Meru Gokhale were among the few foreign guests she invited to the king's coronation in 2008.

Full report here Hindustan Times

From Superhero to Supremo: A saga of comics

The illustrations of 'Supremo' series were designed by renowned art director Pratap Mullick of Amar Chitra Katha fame. And the surprise of surprises- the script consultant of the Supremo series was none other than noted filmmaker and lyricist Gulzar.

Those were not the days of Internet or play stations, when youngsters grew up among comic books. From the treasure trove of Amar Chitra Katha, the unputdownable ‘Tinkle’, to a plethora of fictional characters - mostly superheroes in the forms of Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Phantom, the magician Mandrake and his constant companion Luthur, the tiny Tintin and his funny gang, Asterix and what not, comic books had a wide range and variety to offer. Not to forget the desi superhero Bahadur and his consort Bela of Indrajal Comics series.

But amidst these, whole lot of varied collections, something unusual made its presence felt. A whole series of comic books on Amitabh Bachchan! I bet today’s youngsters have not even heard of that and will find it hard to believe. Sounds incredible, but it was a reality somewhere in the early eighties. The comic character was name Supremo and was supposed to be the alter ego of Amitabh Bachchan.

Full report here Merinews

Resul Pookutty's autobiography released

“I am a humble cinema boy,” goes the first line of Oscar winner Resul Pookutty's autobiography Sabdatharapadam (The milky way of sound), which was released by Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan Mumbai on May 13.

The first copy of the sound engineer's autobiography was handed over to music composer A. R. Rahman and eminent lyricist Gulzar.

The event, aptly named ‘Sound of music' was organised by the Malayala Manorama and Penguin, publishers of the book. In his address, Jacob Matthews, Executive Editor of Malayala Manorama described Pookutty as “one of the most creative men of our times.” This was the first time someone had made music the theme of his autobiography.

Full report here Hindu

Handfull of authors in reconstituted NIC

Very few authors have made it to the reconstituted National Integration Council (NIC), chaired by the Prime Minister.

The writers named to the council include Gulzar, Vikram Seth, Mrinal Pande and Sitakanta Mohapatra.

NIC has 147 members, including Union Ministers, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and all Chief Mininisters. The Council includes leaders of political parties, mediapersons, public figures, business leaders and representatives of women's organisations.


The NIC was set up way back in the early 1960s and held its first meeting in 1962. The decision to set up the council, to review all matters pertaining to national integration and to make recommendations thereon, was taken at the National Integration Conference convened by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in September-October, 1961.

Literature in High Places

The list of Asian literature festivals is ever-expanding

Bhutan, as you probably know, is the only country in the world to measure the Gross National Happiness of its citizens. For its book lovers, there’s going to be a spike in the graph, come May, when its capital, Thimphu, plays host to the India-Bhutan Foundation’s Mountain Echoes, the country’s first literary festival.
It joins the ever-expanding list of Asian literature festivals — there were jamborees in Hong Kong, Dubai and Karachi in the past month alone — and features some of the usual suspects: Namita Gokhale is programme consultant, Mita Kapur’s Siyahi is an associate, and Pavan Varma, the writer-diplomat who is currently India’s ambassador to Bhutan, is one of the lead movers behind it.

The procession on stage will be led by the Queen Mother, Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck and the PM, Lyonpo Jigmi Yoser Thinley. Other names on the roster include Urvashi Butalia, Omair Ahmad, Mitali Saran, Bulbul Sharma, Rajkumar Hirani (mandatory Bollywood presence), Chetan Bhagat (alas, not in the same event as Hirani), Gulzar, Sampurna Chattarji, Mamang Dai, Temsula Ao, Patrick French, Sadanand Dhume, Penguin India’s Ravi Singh, Leila Seth and Sarnath Bannerjee.

Full report here Moneycontrol.com

Green letter days

More than 150 writers, many of them leading names, from the eight SAARC nations have converged in Delhi for the 33 rd SAARC Festival of Literature. Over the next three days, there will be outpourings of writings from the likes of fiction writers Selina Hossain of Bangladesh, Tahira Iqbal of Pakistan, AK Rashid from Afghanistan, Abhi Subedi from Nepal, Kunzang Choden from Bhutan and poet Lakshanta Athukorala from Sri Lanka.

India is represented by a large contingent comprising Malayalam writer MT Vasudevan Nair, Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi and poet-lyricist Gulzar among others. “For the writers, the event dissolves borders as they discuss issues that concern all of us. For readers, it’s a time to meet the people with whose words they have become familiar,” says poet K Satchidanandan, who recited from his works That is all on Friday, the first day of the festival.

Every year, the festival focuses on a pressing issue, and the present edition is highlighting environment degradation. Hence, the list of awardees included not only Pakistani media person Hamid Mir (who won the SAARC Lifetime Achievement Award), Indian writer and journalist MarkTully and Subedi (who won the SAARC Literary Awards), but also environmentalists Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal and Baba Sewa Singh from Punjab and archaeologist KK Muhammad. Each day is divided into two parts — academic discussions followed by reading sessions.

Full report here Indian Express

Thriving on metaphors

Everyone who walked out of Bandra Fort on Sunday after interacting with Gulzar and Intezar Hussain took those metaphors home. The foremost writers of India and Pakistan shared a stage for two hours but the experience will last for long.

A line-up of recognisable faces had occupied the front row. There was Vidya Balan, Javed Siddiqi, theatre director Salim Arif, Deepti Naval and singer Mitali Singh. Balan was there as a "huge fan of Gulzar Saab" and narrated a verse in his honour that had been written by "another fan", producer-director Vishal Bhardwaj.

Right at the start, the event served to remind people that folktales and legends have for generations inspired writers of all nations and cultures. Gulzar, who admits to feeling besieged for having used a half-line of 'Ibn-E-Batoota' by Sarveshwar Dayal for a film song, must have been relieved to see Intizar Hussain tell his version of a Panchatantra story to his Indian listeners.

Full report here Times of India

FTII hosts seminar on literature and cinema

The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), in association with the Film Writers Association (FWA), Mumbai, will organise a seminar ‘Cinema and literature: The question of adaptation’ on adaptation of literature in Hindi cinema on March 21, Saturday.

The seminar will deliberate on various facets of cinema and literature in sessions titled ‘turning novels into films,’ ‘folklore for folk cinema,’ ‘making long films of short stories,’ ‘mythology and Indian films’ and ‘drama in our films.’

Prominent film-personalities including Gulzar, Javed Akthar, Kamal Hassan, Govind Nihlani, Dr Jabbar Patel, Kamlesh Pandey, Vishnu Khare, Shama Zaidi, Vishal Bharadwaj and Anurag Kashyap will participate in the deliberations.

Report on the seminar in The Indian Express

Agra to host SAARC lit fest

The city of the Taj will host about 60 writers, poets and scholars from all the eight south Asian countries at the SAARC Festival of Literature, to be held in the city from March 13-16.

Besides literature, considerable attention is expected to be on terrorism, ethnic angst and popular culture. "The focus this year is on terrorism. The foundation is organising the festival at a time when expectations from the creative fraternity and peace activists have soared in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and sensitivities of the creative fraternity across the SAARC region, particularly in Pakistan and India, are shaken and bruised," festival founder Ajeet Caur said.

Caur set up the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature in 1997, which received the government seal in 1999.

13 writers from Pakistan and 8 from Afghanistan are to attend the festival. Afghanistan and Myanmar are participating at this annual festival for the first time.

Expected participants include Jayant Mahapatra, who will inaugurate the festival, Mahashweta Devi, Kapila Vatsyayan, Gulzar, Abid Hussain, M J Akbar, Mushirul Hasan, Seema Mustafa and Indira Goswami.