Day 2 Session 1, Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: Shrayana Bhattacharya in conversation with Nandini Krishnan
Shrayana Bhattacharya in conversation with Nandini Krishnan at the Hindu Lit For Life Festival. | Photo Credit: R. Ragu
“For many migrants in Delhi, there is a link, a sort of attachment from first-generation people, who have moved away from their roots. They are drawn towards Shah Rukh as he too left Delhi to make it big. It has a lot to do with the idea of uprootedness and economic journey,” said author Shrayana Bhattacharya. She added: “What unites all the women in the book is that they want to be independent and just buy a Shah Rukh movie ticket by themselves, without depending on their father/husband/brother.”
Day 2, Session 2: Nostalgia for the future: Avijit Mukul
Avjiit Mukul, film maker addressing at The Hindu Lit For Life Festival. | Photo Credit: R. Ragu
When did modernity really begin? “In 1947? No. It began in the late 19th century with reformist movements, of people coming home after studying abroad, and from the adopting of ideas from the west in India. Essentially, what this film looks at is the entire idea of cinematic memory in films made on citizen’s housing and architecture,” said film maker Avijit Mukul.
Day 2 Session 3: This Kind of Child: The ‘Disability’ Story: K. Srilata in conversation with Ramya Kannan
K. Srilata in conversation with Ramya Kannan (not in picture) at The Hindu Lit For Life Literature Festival at Kasturi Srinivasan Hall, Music Academy in Chennai. | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
Speaking about the differently-abled, author K. Srilata explained, “We struggle to accept disability because there is always a fear or discomfort about anyone different from us, and we quickly label them in a box. In the course of writing this book, I met different people who defined disability differently, and one person told me that disability is largely attitudinal. When a mobility-challenged person encounters a staircase, they are disabled because of a barrier — attitudinal or infrastructure, or lack of empathy, and lack of thinking through public image, and not because someone doesn’t have a limb or eyesight.”
Day 2, Session 5: O.V. Vijayan’s Khasak: A Theatrical Journey : Deepan Sivaraman and Abhilash Pillai in conversation
Deepan Sivaraman and Abhilash Pillai in conversation at The Hindu Lit For Life literature Festival at Kasturi Srinivasan Hall in Music Academy in Chennai. | Photo Credit: Velankanni Raj B
How did he manage to make a literary piece come alive? Deepan Sivaraman said, “In Khasak’s case, for instance, I did not write a play. I usually go to the space, work with actors, listen to the kind of music and lullabies they listen to, hear stories from the village, and then bring the story into the process. Here, I worked with actors in the real time and space. I rehearsed in real houses. In fact, I worked in a real house, where a man’s wife was making biriyani in real-time. We worked in a real paddy field!”
Day 2, Session 6: Linguistic Challenges: Editing and Marketing Translations: Mini Krishnan, Prabha Sridevan and D.I. Aravindan in conversation with Kavitha Muralidharan
Mini Krishnan, Prabha Sridevan, and D.I. Aravindan in conversation with Kavitha Muralidharan at The Hindu Lit For Life literature Festival at Kasturi Srinivasan Hall in Music Academy in Chennai. | Photo Credit: Velankanni Raj B
According to Mini Krishnan, co-ordinating editor of the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation, “Translation is emotionally important for not just our country but for literatures of the world, and that cross-fertilisation would stop in a day if there was no translation.”
Translator and journalist D.I. Aravindan added that apart from getting the meaning right, the soul of the translation lies in getting the soul of the author into Tamil. In other words, it should read like the author’s writing, and not the translator’s.
Day 2, Session 7: Dear Omana: Notes on How to be a Literary Sensation: A play by Krishna Shastri Devulapalli directed by Nikhila Kesavan. Cast: Nikhila Kesavan and Sarvesh Sridhar
Nikhila Kesavan and Sarvesh Sridhar at The Hindu Lit For Life literature Festival at Kasturi Srinivasan Hall in Music Academy in Chennai. | Photo Credit: Velankanni Raj B
Dear Omana, by Madras Players, is a humorous, tongue-in-cheek play on the journey of a writer who undergoes several travails on his quest to get published and become famous. The play starts with struggling writer Krishna writing to Omana, an acclaimed author, about the difficulties he faces in getting his work published. Omana cleverly tells him to write a trilogy and sell the idea to the publishing house, as it would buy him time and give him a sure-shot contract and royalties. What follows is a series of exchanges that trace an aspiring writer’s journey — from selling rights to a publishing house, getting the editor to take the book forwards, attending lit-fests, being recognised at them, becoming slightly more famous, being nominated for awards, albeit not too famous…. Directed by Nikhila Kesavan and starring Nikhila herself as Omana, along with V. Sarvesh Sridhar, the play by Krishna Shastri Devulapalli is a satire on the publishing industry and the extreme stops that aspiring writers have to pull to get published.
