The economic power of Bollywood, one of the largest film industries in the world, has capitulated in front of a display of cultural authoritarianism by a small group, Carnatic musician and Magsaysay award winner T.M.Krishna has said, referring to the recent controversies around the film “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” starring Pakistani Actor Fawad Khan.
He was delivering the K.C.John Memorial lecture at the Kovalam Literary Festival here on Saturday.
In the session titled ‘Longing, belonging and ways of looking,’ Bishwanath Ghosh, author of ‘Chai, chai’ and Binoo.K. John, author of ‘Curry Coast: Travels in Malabar’ had a conversation with journalist Suresh Menon, author of ‘Pataudi: Nawab of cricket.’
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In the session titled ‘War and memory,’ Raghu Karnad, author of ‘Farthest field - An Indian story of the Second World War’ had a conversation with Suresh Menon.
Rohini Mohan, author of ‘The Season of Trouble: Life amid the ruins of Sri Lanka's Civil War’ interacted with art critic Sadanand Menon.
Manoj Mitta, author of ‘When a Tree Shook Delhi’ on the 1984 riots in Delhi and ‘Fiction of Fact-finding’ on the 2002 Gujarat Riots, had a conversation with Rebecca John.
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In the session titled ‘Royalty and Lineage,’ Manu Pillai, author of ‘The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the Travancore Royal Family’ had a conversation with novelist Shreekumar Varma.
The festival closed with a talk on ‘The future of novel’ by writer M.Mukundan.