Anecdotes, performances and discussions marked this lit fest

Punekars queued up at the Balgandharva Rangmandir in the city to attend the latest edition of the Deccan Literature Festival. This year’s lineup of guests and speakers included prominent names from the film and theatre industry. The first day saw the inauguration take place in the presence of dignitaries, including Commissioner of Pune police Amitabh Gupta, fest organisers Monika Singh, Jairam Kulkarni, Ravi Tomar and Manoj Thakur, theatre person Salim Arif and actor-writer Piyush Mishra. Mishra’s session, the first of the day, opened with thunderous applause as he walked on stage. The Gulaal actor spoke about his journey in the field of theatre and films with candour and obliged the audience with a recital of his popular song Aarambh towards the end of the session. In the next session, actress Sonali Kulkarni talked about her roles and her journey in the field of writing. “It feels so good to see a full house after so long,” said the actress, who also stressed on the importance of reading in the time of social media. Actress Mukta Barve performed Priya Bhai. . . Ek Kavita Havi Aahe, on Day 1 at the fest.
The next day saw a session by writer Kamlesh Pandey, who has films like Rang De Basanti, Chaalbaaz, Saudagar and Aks to his credit. Pandey regaled the audience with anecdotes from the shoot of Saudagar, which featured Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar, and also shared how the story of Rang De Basanti, which was originally being written for TV, turned into a film script. Day 2 also saw actors Makrand Deshpande, Aahana Kumra and Sanjay Dadhich present their play 'Sir Sir Sarla'. The fest closed with an energetic performance by the Nooran Sisters — Jyoti and Sultana — who performed songs like 'Mast Kalandar', 'Humein Zinda Rehne Do' and more.