Ahmedabad International Literature Festival

12.15 to 1 pm Saturday 12^th Nov. Session 3: Looking For Literature: Is it in words around us?   ( Raghuveer Chaudhari, Sandeep Nath, Abnish Singh Chauhan, Usha Narayanan Moderated by Nigam Dave)     

Brief Synopsis :Generally anything spoken, performed or written to convey a meaningful message with a lasting impression, which can also express the culture, tradition and attitude of that time, is considered ‘literature’. In ancient times, literature was carried forward to the next generation through word of mouth communications and we can find those spoken words around us even today in the form of sayings, proverbs and performances and folklore. Today, literature is available in the most prolific way in myriad forms.

 Moderator’s Line of Discussion: Nigam Dave

a)                  In olden times, when technology was not there, did literature pass on to next generations as effectively as it does today?

b)                  Which form of literature creates a lasting impression in the audiences’ mind?bnish 

c)                  Is today’s literature, published and expressed extensively either electronically or on social media platforms like  twitter , whatsapp, and facebook,                     detrimental to the originality and purity of literature.

d)                 Can jingles, messages, song lines available in plenty be considered as serious literature?  

Raghuveer Chaudhari is a novelist, poet and critic from Gujarat, India. He has also worked as a columnist for numerous newspapers, such as Sandesh, Janmabhumi, Nirikshaka and Divya Bhaskar. He was a teacher at the Gujarat University until his retirement in 1998. His most significant contributions have been in Gujarati language but he has also written Hindi articles. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977, for his novel trilogy Uparvas. He received Jnanpith Award, considered to be India's highest literary award, in 2015.

Sandeep Nath is a Lyricist,Screenwriter, Director and Producer in Bollywood. He started his literary career as a poet at the age of eighteen. He has completed more than two books as namely "Mujhko Kuch Bhi Naam Doh" (a collection of Hindi poetry), "Darpan Ab Bhi Andha Hai" (a collection of Ghazals). He is closely associated with India's fastest growing poetry group "Poets Corner Group" & "Delhi Poetry Festival". One of his poem was featured in Musings : A Mosaic (anthology by Poets' Corner). In his Indian film career he has written lyrics for more than fifty well known Bollywood films, he is most known for his work in films like 'Madhur Bhandarkar's Page 3 (2005), Corporate (2006), Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya (2007), Tigmanshu Dhulia's Paan Singh Tomar (film) (2012)[1] and Bullet Raja, Mohit Suri's Aashiqui 2 (2013) and Rohit Shetty's Singham Returns (2014), Bhushan Patel's ALONE (2015) , Vikramjit Singh’s ROY (2015), Deepak Tijori’s DO LABZON KI KAHANI (2016), and many more to come..... now Sandeep Nath is busy at shooting a feature film called " DNA Mein Gandhiji" written, directed & produced by him.....starring.... Raayo S Bakhirta, Jyoti Sethii, Sanjay Mishra, Rajesh Sharma, Mir Afsar Ali, Neeraj Sood, Sitaram Panchaal & Inammulhaq ...Music By Krsna Solo, film will be release by early 2017 .

Usha Narayanan had a successful career in advertising and media before becoming a full-time writer. She was creative director in advertising agencies like RK Swamy/BBDO, one of India’s top ten, and in Radio City 91.1 FM. Her bestselling novels cut across genres. The Madras Mangler, a suspense thriller, received excellent reviews (read here). Her next, Love, Lies and Layoffs, is a light-hearted office romance from Harlequin, available online on Amazon and Flipkart. Next came the chartbuster Pradyumna: Son of Krishna, a mythological thriller from Penguin, available now in leading bookstores and online on Amazon and Flipkart (also as eBook). Her latest is the powerful sequel to Pradyumna: Son of Krishna. Her latest, The Secret of God’s Son (Penguin, July 2016), continues the saga of Krishna’s son and delivers a potent message that will resonate with readers everywhere.

Dr Nigam Dave