Afsana 2026 Art Festival Celebrates Storytelling Traditions and Cultural Voices

In an era defined by rapid digital consumption and shrinking attention spans, Somaiya Vidyavihar University placed the spotlight on the enduring power of listening through Afsana 2026 – The Somaiya Storytelling Festival, a multi-disciplinary celebration that brought together traditional and contemporary storytelling practices.

The festival featured more than 30 storytellers, performers, educators, and artists, alongside over ten workshops, participatory sessions, and student-led installations. Designed as an immersive learning environment rather than a conventional performance event, Afsana 2026 positioned storytelling as a tool for education, empathy, and cultural engagement.

This year’s edition placed a special focus on the storytelling traditions of Central India, particularly Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, showcasing regional folklore, Pandwani performance traditions, Bharthari narratives, satire, and tribal storytelling forms. The programming highlighted voices and traditions that often remain underrepresented in mainstream cultural spaces, reinforcing the University’s commitment to cultural plurality and experiential learning.

One of the festival’s key highlights was “Maati,” an immersive eco-narrative that blended puppetry, Gond painting, folk music, and oral storytelling to explore the relationship between land, community, and memory. Interactive workshops and installations further encouraged audience participation, allowing students and visitors to engage directly with storytelling as a collaborative and reflective practice.

The festival opened with performances by first-grade students from The Somaiya School, symbolically underscoring the idea that storytelling begins early in life and evolves alongside learning. The opening moment set the tone for the event, framing stories not merely as performances but as foundational experiences that shape imagination and emotional understanding.

Renowned filmmaker Nikhil Advani, the Chief Guest, spoke about storytelling across mediums, highlighting how oral traditions continue to influence cinema and digital narratives. He emphasised that regardless of the platform, the essence of storytelling lies in clarity, emotional connection, and the strength of the central idea.

University leadership reiterated the institution’s vision of integrating storytelling into academic and cultural ecosystems. Festival organisers noted that initiatives like Afsana aim to nurture creativity, critical thinking, and cultural literacy while building meaningful connections between tradition and contemporary expression.

By bringing together artists, students, educators, and audiences in a shared participatory space, Afsana 2026 reaffirmed storytelling as a living, evolving practice. The festival concluded with a strong message: in a fast-paced world driven by algorithms and in

stant content, the simple act of listening remains one of the most powerful ways to learn, connect, and understand diverse human experiences.

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The Hans India