Urdu takes centre stage in fest amid ghazals and mushairas

NEW DELHI : This weekend, Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu (Hind), an organisation that promotes Urdu language and culture in India, is presenting the Urdu Ghar Literary Festival in collaboration with Ghalib Institute. The festival kicked off at the Ghalib Institute Thursday evening with a ghazal performance by Radhika Chopra. Between today and Sunday, it will feature ghazals, plays, mushairas, dastangoi and qawwali performances apart from panel discussions on various themes centered on the language.

“There was a phase which lasted almost for two decades in which somehow Urdu got associated with Muslims,” said Ather Farouqui, general secretary, Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu.

“Urdu is part of the lingua franca. Hindi and Urdu never left each other. At present, there is a marked awareness not only among Muslims, but in the societal perceptions that the language has a definitive cultural, historical as well as literary lineage.”

The festival has 15 panel discussions. The overarching theme

of these discussions is ‘Two Centuries of Urdu Writings on History, Nation and Culture 19002017.’

“We need a new approach to the concepts of nation, nationalism and culture through literature because existing Indian writings are quite shallow. They hardly go beyond the prism of classroom teaching on colonial model,” Farouqui said.

The panel discussion ‘Hindustani Awami Qissey-urdu Adab Aur Drama’ is a tribute to theatre directors and writers like the late Habib Tanvir and Intizar Hussain. Two sessions, ‘Dilli Jo Ek Sheher Tha’ and ‘1857 Se Pahle Ka Hindustan’ will appeal to people interested in the history of the city. There is a session on the art and technicalities of translation and another titled ‘Kitabein Bolti Hain’ on the challenges faced by publishers. ‘Urdu Mein Jasoosi Adab Ki Riwayat’ is about the lost popular Urdu literature tradition of jasoosi stories. “Critics and a majority of people in the literary world did not take Urdu thriller magazines seriously. I believe, irrespective of their place in literature, those works were crucial for the language and had phenomenal readership,” said Zamarrud Mughal, advisor, Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu.

Film buffs can look forward to the session ‘Hindi Filmon Mein Urdu’. Zafar Anjum, Singaporebased filmmaker said, “Independent filmmaking in the age of crowdfunding presents a great opportunity for filmmakers in India and abroad to embrace Urdu as the language of their films. As long as films are made for mass consumption, Urdu as a basic lingua franca, will maintain its relevance and potency. The age of Internet makes it more borderless, open to be explored, by the 60-70 million native speakers that this beautiful language boasts of.”