Hyd Litfest a huge success

The organisers of the fest did not limit the festival to literary events. There were plays, art exhibitions, workshop on clay modelling, story-telling and much more. Films have always been an integral part of people’s lives. Keeping this in view, panel discussions were held in which eminent film historians like Amrit Gangar, Nasreen Munni Kabir, Bhaichand Patel and others enthralled the audience. These events saw maximum footfall.

Off late Dalit literature is strongly heard. Recognising this, events were held where eminent Dalit scholars Gogu Shyamala, MM Vinodini, Jilukara Srinivas, Goreti Venkanna and others took part.

The literary fest had a homely function feel to it. All the sponsors strived very hard to engage the guests and audience as well. Attention to minute detail and the passion to make the litfest a great hit was evident in every action. Be it adjusting flexis properly, running from venue to venue to co-ordinating, all this was done by the principal sponsors. Speaking to Hyderabad Hans, one of the organisers said, “We have put in our all-out efforts to make this festival a hit. Organisers and sponsors also worked with passion.”

What was unique to this literary festival was the literary walk that was held from Ashiana to Saptaparni, on the inaugural day of the festival.

As Ireland was the guest nation and Hindi the official language, there was more stress on these events. Though the festival didn’t see celebrity names like William Dalrymple and Amitav Ghosh, the delegates who attended the festival were no less important. “Initially I was disappointed that there were no big names attached. It was with a bit of reluctance that I came in and sat at a panel discussion but the quality of the discussion floored me. Believe me, this litfest offered me new insights on many fronts,” said Anjana, a lawyer.

Echoing the same was Rahul. He said, “I loved all the film related discussions. This litfest had taught me that great English authors like GB Shaw, WB Yeats and James Joyce were all Irish. And the talk by Prof. Edwin Thumboo on how English transformed in every country was simply amazing. This fest was a treat for literature and film history lovers.”

Though there were claims that not much importance was given to Telugu, as it is the language of the city and the entire fest saw only three events, a huge number of Telugu literature fans turned up for the fest. The highlight of this festival was increased participation from youngsters. One of the organisers said, “We are delighted to see participation from youth in huge numbers.”

Recollecting what Amita Desai, one of the organisers, said in the inauguration function, one can say that Hyderabad has arrived and the literary fest is here to stay.