Pune: 4th Deccan Lit Fest on Nov 25-26
Pune, November 20, 2023: The fourth edition of the Deccan Literature Festival 2023, organized by the Dakani Adab Foundation will be held at the Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir in Pune on November 25 and November 26. “While the festival is free and open to all, we would like the enthusiasts to make prior registrations on https://deccanlitfest.com/,” informed Jairam Kulkarni; Director of Dakani Adab Foundation.
The two-day festival will witness distinguished authors, and acclaimed actors along with many folk artists performing and interacting with panelists in the festival.
The attendees will also get an opportunity to experience ghazals, Hindustani poetry, and compelling qawwalis by esteemed artists. There will be insightful debates along with dynamic performances of both seasoned and emerging artists in the realm of theatre.
“The inauguration at 11 am on November 25 will see National award-winning actor, screenwriter and film director, Saurabh Shukla, as a guest, with Divisional Commissioner of Pune, IAS Saurabh Rao, Additional Director General (Force One) IPS Krishna Prakash, Indian theatre director & academician, Padma Shri Waman Kendre and former president of Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, Vasant Abaji Dahake, will be gracing the ceremony,” informed Manoj Thakur; Director of Dakani Adab Foundation.
“Pune is widely regarded as the cultural capital of our state. With the aim to celebrate Literature in languages like Marathi, Hindi, and Urdu in the cultural city itself, we have started the Deccan Literature Festival. Like always, this year, we have tried to bring in more colors and flavors to our festival by adding performers, literary people, and artists from different fields of art. The festival will be engaging for people of all age groups, including the youth and senior citizens alike. Also, the increasingly positive response from our audience gives us an immense amount of enthusiasm to host this festival for the fourth time now,” said Monika Singh; Curator of the Deccan Literature Festival.
“To name a few, actor Saurabh Shukla, theatre personalities like Salim Arif, Padma Shri Waman Kendre, authors Devdutt Pattanaik, Sudha Menon along with Marathi writers Pravin Bandekar, Meghana Pethe and Asaram Lomate will throw light on various topics on art and literature during the two days of the festival,” said Jairam Kulkarni.
After the inauguration, the first day of the festival (Saturday, November 25) will begin with a Coffee Table Talk between Saurabh Shukla and Salim Arif followed by a program called ‘Don Shatakanchya Sandhyavaril Marathi Kavita’ including Marathi poets like Vasant Abaji Dahake, Narayan Kulkarni, Mahesh Keluskar, Indrajit Bhalerao, Ramesh Ingle, Mamata Sindhutai Sapkal, Balaji Sutar, Dasoo Vaidya and Chandrashekhar Kamble. After these programs, a Panel Discussion with Tripurari Sharan and Dr. Shobha Jain moderated by Dr. Sunil Deodhar will take place. A folk-art performance ‘Nautanki’ by Padma Shri Pandit Ramdayal Sharma and Poetry of Youngistan by Kushal Dauneria, Saawan Shukla, Amit Jha Rahi, Ankit Maurya, Vinit Shankar, Zeeshan Shahir and Ayush Kashyap will also be counted among the interesting programs that will be held on the first day. An amalgamation of Shayari and Poetry by Wasim Barelvi, Fehmi Badayuni, Iqbal Ashhar, Madan Mohan Danish, Aslam Hassan IRS, Aziz Nabeel, Monika Singh, Aalok Shrivastav, Irfan Shahnoori, Mukesh Aalam, Pragya Sharma, Santush S. Sing and Sandhya Yadav will be witnessed in ‘Rang – Grand Mushaira’ as the closing program of the day.
The second day (Sunday, November 26) will commence with Padma Shri Waman Kendre’s conversation with Mrunmayee Bhajak. It will be followed by a program including Devdutt Pattanaik in conversation with Sudha Menon in ‘Decoding the stories of God’s and Saints.’ Next up will be a round table discussion regarding Marathi literature anchored by Randhir Shinde with Marathi writers like Pravin Bandekar, Meghana Pethe and Aasaram Lomate, followed by a Drama named ‘Humsafar’ by Lubna Salim and Harsh Chhaya. ‘Humava’ – a Mehfil of Poetry and Ghazals by Monika Singh and Vaibhav Joshi will be witnessed. After that, acclaimed veteran poet and stand-up comedian Padma Shri Surender Sharma will recite his humorous poem ‘Mujhse Bhala Na Koi.’ The Grand Finale of this two-day literature festival will be concluded with a Sufi Musical Evening by Ustad Shujat Husain Khan’s Sufi Music.
