To commemorate hundred years of Indian Cinema, National Book Trust, India organised a special theme pavilion on Indian cinema and literature - POINT OF VIEW: An International Rights Exhibition of Books on Indian Cinema (towards hundred years of Indian cinema). This special pavilion aimed at showcasing and documenting publications on cinema in India by bringing out an Annotated Rights Catalogue. It also highlighted the role of the publishing industry and contribution of the cinematic medium towards popular culture. Smita Dwivedi brings an update of cinematic nine days at New Delhi World Book Fair. The 20th edition of New Delhi World Book Fair, which celebrated 100 years of Indian Cinema drew a large number of book lovers and cine buffs. Many film and theatre personalities like Javed Akhtar, Farooq Sheikh, Amol Palekar, Satish Kaushik, Sushma Seth, Muzaffar Ali, Shahbaz Khan participated in panel discussions and other literary activities at the pavilion.

NBT, in association with National Film Archive of India, Pune, under the section ‘Literature that Walks, Talks and Sings’ screened some of the classic, black & white and colour movies like Devdas, Pather Panchali, Umrao Jaan, Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda, etc. On the concluding day, three movies - Charulata (directed by Satyajit Ray), Uski Roti (directed by Mani Kaul) and Athithi (directed by Tapan Sinha) were also screened.

Books & cinema…for a noble cause

“Cinema has a lot of power. Indian cinema is unique for two of its important attributes, first its great unifying power in a country as diverse as ours and second, its immense contribution in promoting the country abroad,” said SY Quareshi, chief election commissioner at a programme titled ‘The Legends of Cinema who Fought with Cancer.’ On the occasion, Quareshi released a poster and a Pink Ribbon Book Tag as Corporate Social Responsibility of the book industry to contribute one rupee for every single book sold. He also handed a cheque from the publishing fraternity to Dr Lal, representative of Indian Cancer Society.

Speaking on the occasion, Sandeep Marwah, director of Asian Academy of Film & Television and the founder of Noida Film City said, “There has been a tendency to separate cinema from serious literature. I am happy that this book fair has demolished that myth.”

Sushma’s stageplay

Eminent theatre and film personality, Sushma Seth who has worked in famous television serial Hum Log and several films read out passages from her book titled Stageplay: The Journey of an Actor. During the session, she shared her experience as a theatre and film actor and interacted with people. She said that her thirty years in cinema had been wonderful.

Blurred Images

A panel discussion titled ‘Blurred Images: Representation of the Marginalized in Contemporary Indian Cinema and Literature’ was also organised in which Prof Satish Kumar Verma, film critic from Punjab; Mangesh Dabral, eminent poet, editor and film observer; Asghar Wajahat, noted playwright and scriptwriter; Asad Zaidi, acknowledged poet, critic and publisher and S Anand, editor and founder of Navayana participated. The panelists discussed in length about the politics of representation in mainstream media, arts, literature and cinema in the post-colonial India.

Javed Akhtar released ‘The Company Red’

Javed Akhtar, renowned lyricist released a book titled The Company Red, authored by Shantanu Dhar. Satish Kaushik, famous actor and director and Dipa Chaudhary were also present on the occasion.

Lights, Camera, Rights

A panel discussion on the topic ‘Lights, Camera, Rights!’ was organized in which Amarnath Verma, CMD, Star Publishers; VK Karthika, publisher, HarperCollins; Mitadru Basu, commissioning editor, Oxford University Press and Dipa Chaudhary, chief editor, Om Books International participated.

All the panelists in the discussion were of the view that our books have great potential. Like films, our books are also ambassadors of India and introduce our country to the world. Indian books are popular in the world. Selling their rights in the international market may be difficult but still possible.

Muzaffar Ali revisits Awadh

Muzaffar Ali, renowned film-maker of the movie Umrao Jaan released the book Representation of Awadh Culture in Indian Cinema, authored by Muntazir Qaimi. Prof Imtiaz Ahmad from Jawaharlal Nehru University was also present on the occasion.

Javed Akhtar and Amol Palekar support Urdu literature

Two original titles in Urdu titled Jauhar-E-Adakari, authored by Latafat Hussain Kazi and Urdu aur Bollywood, authored by Suhail Akhtar Warsi were released by Javed Akhtar, renowned lyricist and Amol Palekar, eminent actor and film-maker in a book-release function.

Amol Palekar said that the people of Maharashtra have an obsession for drama and reading as well. He said that a few days back, a book in Marathi was released at a literary function held at Maharashtra and one lakh copies of the book were sold the same day.

Shahbaaz Khan, noted actor mesmerized the audience while delivering the dialogues of the play Amir Khusro to bring into light the significance of the language to convey emotions of a character in a play or cinema. Aneez Azmi, eminent theatre personality and the author of the book also spoke on the occasion.

Adapting Literature

An audio-video presentation on ‘Style and Techniques of Adaptations’ was also given by Santosh Pathare, young film critic. He opined that there is always likelihood of transformations in adaptations and it is not possible to present the literature in similar manner. He said that literature and cinema are two different entities and cannot be compared. He said that a film-maker presents adaptations in his own style. It is necessary to give a new look to a film as an author’s expressions are limited to words only while a film-maker can express his views without a dialogue in a movie. He gave an example of Devdas, which has been adapted differently by different people. For example, one Devdas in which Dilip Kumar acted, later in which Shahrukh Khan acted and most recent one is Dev D in which Abhay Deol acted.

Rajat Barjatya, CEO of Rajshree Media, a sister concern of Rajshree Productions gave a talk on the literary influences of their major films like Uphaar, Nadiya Ke Paar, Hum Apke Hai Kaun, etc. He also gave an audio-visual presentation on their efforts to bring films and other content through new media like internet, mobiles, i-pads etc and interacted with the audience.

Farooq acts reading

Farooq Sheikh, eminent actor in a session on ‘The Act of Reading’ interacted with the audience where he shared his perceptions about books, reading and cinema. The moderator of the session was Avinash Pandey, executive vice president, Star TV.

To familiarize people, particularly young, with works of legendary film-makers like Satyajit Ray, Sheikh said, books on their works should also be written. Talking about the advancement in technology, he said that there is no harm if children use internet to search for good content and information.

Cinema and Literature

Dr Jabbar Patel, eminent theatre and film director discussed about the literary backdrop of his film making with young film critic, Santosh Pathare. He said that he was very happy to see the select books on cinema, posters, camera, etc being exhibited at the pavilion. He also invited NBT to participate in the upcoming Pune Festival to encourage young people towards reading habit. While discussing about representing literary works in the form of a film or drama, he said that adaptations are trans-creations and not transformations. And sometimes it is difficult for a film-maker to present the complete theme of literary adaptations due to technical or other reasons. He also spoke of the creativity of the director who can even turn a small short-story into a beautiful film.

Sahir…Sahir

To commemorate 91st birthday of famous poet Sahir Ludhianvi, a film on the life and work of the poet was screened (Courtesy: Rajya Sabha) in a programme Sahir Ludhianvi Ki Yaad Mein (In Memory of Sahir Ludhianvi). The programme was organized by International Melody Foundation and Star Publications Pvt Ltd. Amarnath Verma, CMD, Star Publishers, an old time close friend of Sahir shared his memoirs with the great poet, he was in tears while remembering his close friend.

Write Film…Right

A workshop on ‘Writing Film Appreciation’ was organized by NBT in association with National Film Archive of India, Pune. While inaugurating the workshop, Vibha Puri Das, secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development, said that this is wonderful that NDWBF has taken the theme on cinema to encourage young people towards reading habit and was hopeful that through this workshop, they will get to know about different flavours of writing on films. Anil Zankar, a media professional with 30 years of experience in film-making discussed about the art of scriptwriting in Indian context. He said that writing for film is specifically a special task. A script is not complete in itself unlike literature. It is always a draft which undergoes many changes as producers and directors of the film decide what will finally go in the film.

Anupam Siddhartha of SIMC, through an audio-video presentation discussed about various aspects on ‘How to Read a Film.’

Urdu & Cinema

A panel discussion on ‘Urdu Language and Indian Cinema’ was organized for the promotion of Urdu language. The speakers in the discussion were Farooq Sheikh, eminent film actor; Sagar Sarhadi, noted film-writer and director; Javed Siddiqui, noted screen writer and playwright; Salim Arif, eminet theatre activist; Basharat Ahmad Farooq, well-known critic and Prof Aziz Siddiqi, well-known writer and critic. The speakers discussed about the significance of Urdu as a language of communication for common people, print and electronic media. They also discussed about its role in enriching Indian Cinema by providing it with unique idiom, audio-visual form and grammar.

All in all, it was a treat for all book lovers and people who appreciate and love good cinema!

successful beyond controversies

Asia’s biggest five-day literary event of the year, the Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 was successfully held from January 20-24, 2012. As expected, it was an intellectual paradise, with writers swarming not only from India but abroad as well. Though the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie attending the festival loomed the event, but the event was as successful as ever. The much-awaited Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 was held in the pink city of Jaipur from January 20-24, 2012 at the lush locales of Diggi Palace. The fair has grown significantly over the last five years. This year, the show attracted over 1.27 lakh visitors, almost 100 percent increase over that of the last year.

The inaugural session started with poetry readings from translations of Kabir and Tukaram. The keynote address was given by Purushottam Agarwal and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. There was a session on little magazines, whose editors talked about casting aside the commercial aspect in order to ensure more freedom of expression in the magazines. Ashok Chakradhar’s humorous and satirical Hindi poetry dazzled audiences and so did Gulzar’s rendition of his latest poems.

Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif was an audience favourite with his witty one-liners, through all the five days, at various sessions. So was Girish Karnad, as he read some interesting passages from his autobiography. Michael Ondaatje read from his latest book and spoke on the importance of keeping the scene incomplete after a sentence.

There was a little commotion when Jeet Thayil, Hari Kunzru, Ruchir Joshi and Amitava Kumar, were asked to leave the festival after they read extracts from Salman Rushdie’s banned book, The Satanic Verses. But, the festival gained its normalcy soon after that.

Hindi literature was well represented with the likes of Ashok Vajpeyi, Ramkumar Singh, Yatindra Mishra and Chandrakanta, who regaled the audiences with their readings. Malayalam poet K Satchidanandan, Tamil writers Charu Nivedita and Bama Faustina, Cheran, were among those who represented southern literature.

Best-selling authors like Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi attracted huge crowds. Writers like Kunal Basu, Rahul Bhattacharya, Lionel Shriver, Romesh Gunesekara added to the mix. So did social activists and conservationists like Valmik Thapar, Anuradha Roy and Aruna Roy.

If at one session there were readings of Mirabai, the other one had Richard Dawkins comparing religion to a computer virus. The gay writing community was represented by Hoshang Merchant and R Raja Rao.

Some of the interesting topics of discussion included Inglish, Amlish, Hinglish: the Chutneyfication of English; Creativity, Censorship and Dissent; Kavita Kosh: the Rhymopaedia; The Return of the Rishis; Thugs, Emperors and Convicts: the art of Historical Fiction; Journalism as Literature; Writing and Resistance; to name a few.

In all, the festival was a writers’ paradise, where they could meet and interact with the most important people in their life – their readers (though some people commented as where were they?).

Whistling in the Dark: Writing Gender

So what was happening at the Jaipur Literature Festival before the gallant four distracted everybody with their readings from Rushdie’s Satanic Verses?

The festival really began with remarkable observations on shifting attitudes towards various genres today and, of course, discussions on the latest trends in writing and publishing (as usual) – one of them being perceptions and perspectives on writing gender (as usual), except that they weren’t talking feminism here (perhaps not so usual).

R Raj Rao (professor of English and Queer Theory at the University of Pune) and Hoshang Merchant (professor of Poetry and Surrealism at Hyderabad University), both recognised as leading writers of gay fiction in India, came together to discuss gay fiction, queer theory, and the business of being a writer.

Interestingly, some significant points were thrown up by both the speakers during the session: that what used to be gay writing earlier is now queer literature; that there is a difference between queer and queer theory (studies challenging social constructs regarding sexual identity); that gay writers do not find the same place in the writing circles or the society as other writers.

Essentially, the term ‘gay’ was changed to ‘queer’ since ‘gay’ was considered restrictive and left out the three significant others – LBT. According to the speakers, over time, there’s been a shift in Literature reflecting these changes in trends. There has also been a de-centring of normativity (largely heteronormativity or the belief that heterosexuality is ‘normal’ while homosexuality is not). Queer theorists the world over have challenged those assumptions.

Given the current trends, India’s own pride parade – and a rather vibrant one at that post Section 377 repeal, it was interesting that Raj Rao should say the gay movement and gay writing are moving in opposite directions – the former towards acceptance, the latter away from it.

Both the writers agreed that gay writers still do not find the same place in the society as other writers. Merchant said, ‘It’s difficult to be noticed when you’re on the margins. I’m a writer. Why am I a gay writer?’

Rao said, ‘The fact that you’re a writer is overlooked. We’re literary scholars.’ Yet, a dilemma does exist – to assert one’s identity while, at the same time, trying to meld into the conventional stream. It was obvious from his next sentence. ‘If I say that I aspire to be a mainstream writer, I’m denying I’m a gay writer, which is also not the case.’

Rao offered the example of Vikram Seth and said that, as a writer, one should try one’s hand at everything. His statement was immediately and vehemently opposed by Merchant who declared Seth as ‘an enemy in my camp’ because he believed/believes Seth shouldn’t be writing mainstream fiction. That was an interesting moment at the venue since a woman from the audience was up in arms immediately, and more comrade hydra heads would have popped up within seconds had the moderator not put an end to the ‘comments’ from the audience and diverted attention right away.

Regarding ‘self on the page versus self lived’, the authors confessed that it was difficult to say which was more authentic. ‘There’s no “authentic”. There’s been enough platinising. We’re also playing roles,’ said Merchant. ‘Genres are foisted upon the author.’

Addressing the same question, Rao brought back the issue of queer theory. He explained that is precisely what it is about – insincerity, projection, and skirting the core issues.

Both writers also admitted that there has been a constant element of fear in their writerly lives. It is unsurprising in those who have lived under the cloud of Section 377 for several years, first grappling with their own sexuality, and then grappling with talking about it through the medium of their script. Merchant described sitting and weaving together a coherent text as an act of heroism. ‘When I started, there were no gay presses, so mainstream publishers had to take up my writing,’ he said. ‘My autobiography was more open … I was afraid to write.’

"Whatever has to be said has to be said in the writing," said Rao. He mentioned that his first short story appeared in Debonair in 1986, when he was starting out his career, and the first question he faced from a friend was, ‘Aren’t you afraid?’

Merchant referred to himself a fascist homosexual and a high-class Parsi communist, with a laugh. He maintains that globalisation is blurring the lines between heterosexual and homosexual everywhere but in bed. He was categorical about the fact that he is what he is and will remain that way.

It is good to see more writers speaking up in the same vein that we witnessed as publishers of Mahesh Natarajan’s Pink Sheep, a collection of short stories (gay fiction) published sometime ago. One of the reviewers wrote, Pink Sheep may remind you a little of RK Narayan’s Malgudi, except that the protagonists are homosexual.’ It’s indeed not their extraordinariness but ordinariness that is striking in these works. Hopefully, these writers will not be left whistling in the dark in the times to come.

–Divya Dubey, publisher, Gyaana Books