Stars of literary sky descend on Bangalore Lit Fest

The 2-day extravaganza at Lalit Ashok featured the likes of Booker Prize winner Geetanjali Shree, actors Farhan Akhtar, Ramesh Aravind and Kabir Bedi, author of Sacred Games Vikram Chandra, and former Indian international cricketer VVS Laxman

Falah Faisal

The atmosphere at the Bangalore Lit Fest was electric. You could run into Manu Joseph checking into his hotel or grab a coffee with Jerry Pinto and hear him rant about menstruation or watch Jeet Thayil perform a poem about the Delhi Pogrom of Feb 2020.

The twoday festival at Lalit Ashok allowed readers to meet their favourite authors and interact with them, getting insights into the minds of people who have wooed us with tales and yarns over the years. There was also a surprise appearance by film actor Farhan Akhtar and a musical performance by Sufi singer Mukhtiyar Ali and his group.

Concurrently, there was Children’s Lit Fest with interactive fun sessions that had people of all ages engaged.

281 & beyond

Everyone knows VVS Laxman as a wizard with the bat, and his innings against Australia where he scored 281 is unforgettable. But few know about the back injury he was carrying when he played that innings. He speaks about all that and more in the book he has co-authored with R. Kaushik, who has followed his career trajectory right from the beginning.

“When I started in the early 90s cricket was still considered an amateur sport. Sandip Patil who coached the Indian Under-19 team suggested that I should play in the Bradford League in England, which was the first time I was living away from my family. While I was there I worked the night shift at a gas station and that taught me the value of hard work,” said Laxman speaking about the early days of his career.

Laxman was best known for performing under pressure, partnering with number 10 and 11 batsmen to win a test in Mohali in 2010. When asked how he remains so calm he said “The first thing you do is accept the situation you are in. Neither optimism nor panic helps, because then you stop thinking. The result is immaterial and communication with your partner is key to executing the strategy.”

Heroes and villains

At the Yuvaratna stage on the Tennis Court, two very different sessions gave people varied perspectives on the world of Bollywood. One was Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh with Shrayana Bhattacharya and Shrabonti Bagchi and the other was Pure Evil: The Bad Men of Bollywood with Balaji Vittal in conversation with Kaveree Bamzai.

Shrayana’s book started when she was working on a survey of women workers in Ahmedabad in 2006 and she noticed how their faces lit up when she asked them who their favourite actor was. So she used their love for Shah Rukh as a framing device to talk about women’s place in the workforce but in a fun manner. “Many of them don’t even have the time to watch his films and know him through his songs.

They complain about the men in their lives never paying attention to their necks the way Shah Rukh does. Another thing they like about him is he listens to women and spends time in the kitchen in his films. That he is comfortable with the feminine with the masculine,” said Shrayana who also mentioned that the toxic behavior of some of his characters could not be ignored.

Soon after, Balaji Vittal shared his journey of watching 300 movies and meeting Bollywood’s worst villains in the process of writing his book. “The hero always has to follow rules and has a moral compass while the villain doesn’t and that’s what enamors us about them. The bigger and worse the villain, the better the hero looks when he beats them,” said Vittal who has documented the changing face of villains in Hindi films for over a century.

The reason he gives for why the likes of Gabbar Singh and Mogambo have disappeared is that the films have matured and things are more subtle now and many who played villains on screen are gentlemen in real life.

Dr Kafeel Khan gets standing ovation

One of the most awaited sessions of the Lit Fest was The Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy where Kafeel Khan was in conversation with Ravi Joshi, where he shared his story of struggle when the BRD Hospital ran out of oxygen in August 2017 and the plight that followed after when Yogi Adityanath made him a scapegoat which led to him spending over 500 days in jail.

“For 2 days the media had made me a hero, then finally on the 14th, I was summoned by the Chief Minister, I expected a pat on the back but the moment I walked in I knew something was off. He looked at me seething and said ‘So you’re Kafeel? How many lives did you save? Do you think you will become a hero? See, what I do to you,” s