Imtiaz Ali speaks at the closing ceremony of the 6th edition of the Dehradun Literature Festival held at Doon International School, Curzon Road
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“Like every love story, a good literature festival does not end,” said film director, producer and screenwriter Imtiaz Ali at the closing ceremony of the 6th edition of the Dehradun Literature Festival held at Doon International School, Curzon Road.
Ali, a mentor and festival patron of the three-day-long festival, which ran from November 8-10, also commented on the range of panels and diversity of the speakers, which included Jerry Pinto, William Dalrymple, Shabana Azmi, Rajit Kapur, Trinetra, Namita Dubey, Dr Tanaya Narendra and Abhinav Bindra, among many others.
Some of the highlights of the event were Young, Fit and Strong – The Elements of Holistic Growth, a conversation between Abhinav Bindra and Jyotika Bedi; Scrubs To Scripts – The Trinetra Story, which had Trinetra in conversation with Namita Dubey; From Love to Madness-The Fate of Laila Majnu helmed by Preety Ali, Sajid Ali and Avinash Tiwary and the book launch of Sandhya Mridul’s Untamed, which saw the actor discussing her debut poetry anthology with Shabana Azmi, Leena Yadav and Maria Goretti. “I was really encouraged to be here this time because I feel that the range of panellists, the kind of panels that happened…all of it that I could and could not see was really wonderful,” said Ali.
He congratulated the team behind the festival before briefly talking about Laila Majnu, a contemporary take on the ancient folklore written by him, directed by Sajid Ali and co-produced by Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor and Preety Ali. “Definitely, one film came out of the grave and showed itself because the audience wanted it like that,” he says, alluding to the fact that the film, first released in September 2018, was re-released this year. “This is the power of democracy; this is the power of people,” says Ali.
He also waxes eloquent on the raison d’etre behind the making of his films. “Film and literature are permanent things,” he says. “We will die, but our stories will live. Film is permanent; life is temporary. Literature is permanent; pain is temporary,” he reiterates before expanding on the irrationality and love that fuels storytelling and art. “Everything rational; in five years, AI will be doing it,” he says. “Sometimes you have got to believe in something that is beyond the rational, which is why you do a literature festival.”
Published – November 12, 2024 12:53 pm IST