After two years of low-key festival, the Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF) took place on a large scale this year and saw thousands attend. While the last two editions took place in a hybrid mode, this year, literature enthusiasts took part in over 100 events that were organised on the lawns of Lalit Ashok over the weekend.
Among many others, Booker prize winner Shehan Karunatilaka, Jananpith awardee Damodar Mauzo, International Booker prize winner Geetanajali Shree, film personalities Kabir Bedi and Farhan Akhtar, and sportspersons Sunil Chhetri V.V.S. Laxman were some popular personalities who took to the stage at BLF, this year.
Football captain Sunil Chhetri at the Bangalore Literature Festival on December 4. | Photo Credit: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.
The programming was spread out across four stages where panels were held simultaneously, spoiling enthusiasts for choice. This, apart from a Children’s Literature Festival at two stages. The stages at the Festival were named Gandhadagudi, Yuvarathna and Raajakumara, after popular films by the late actor Puneeth Rajkumar to mark his memory.
On Sunday, author A. S. Prabhakar who has edited a memorial volume on the actor said Puneeth Rajkumar inherited the aura of his father matinee idol Dr. Rajkumar and continued his legacy. “It is rare that a popular hero like him in this day and age, is recognised for his individual personality rather than his roles and films he did, which is why he has become sort of immortal and will be remembered for a long time to come,” he said.
On the second day of BLF, author Manoranjan Byapari recalled his journey of being at refugee camps and his time in prison, where too there were caste atrocities, he recalled. Speaking on why he started to write, he said a great leader once said that pen is mightier then sword and that is when I wanted to try it.
“But today seeing it in a different perspective, I think sword is being wielded more than the pen in the society. But I wrote the book “How I became a writer” an autobiography translated by Anurima Chanda which describes the struggles, humiliations encountered as a writer,” he said.
Kabir Bedi at the Bangalore Literature Festival on December 4. | Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR
Films and sports also had their share at BLF, this year. Shobu Yarlagadda, the producer of the blockbuster Baahubali franchise, films like RRR were opening new vistas and recognition for Indian cinema globally. “RRR is in the league of the Marvel universe and that is how it is received as well by critics and filmmakers. This will pave way for Indian cinema to be seen for what it is globally,” he said.
Talking of the recent crisis in Bollywood, Malayalam filmmaker Kamal K.M, said earlier Bollywood had a historical duty to present cinema as a national art form, but from the 90s it started to cater to the aspirations of the diaspora, essentially erasing its own culture. Noted film actor Ramesh Arvind spoke about his film career and presented his book on “simple techniques to achieve success”.
Sunil Chhetri, captain of the Indian Football team, made an impassioned appeal for including sports in the curriculum and made a case for taking to sports. “Not to compete, to earn medals but to learn real holistic values of life, sports is the best institute to learn that. Just like academics, sports also play a vital role in the overall development of a human being,” he said.
