Muzaffar Ali launches autobiography

LUCKNOW: Filmmaker, artist, fashion designer and social worker, Muzaffar Ali, launched his autobiography at Koshala Literature Festival on Saturday, being held on the grounds of Sangeet Natak Akademi at Gomti Nagar.

The lit fest, which began on Friday, will continue till Sunday and host many cultural performances, book launches, panel discussions and interviews with eminent personalities from the literary field.

The theme for the festival is ‘Celebrating Awadh.’

Ali’s book, ‘Zikr: In the Light and Shade of Time’, was launched at the Gadge Auditorium while parallel events took place at Ganga Lawn. The audience included fans and writers alike, who were eager to hear Ali speak on his life’s work. Jayant Krishna, chief executive officer of Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology (India), was the moderator of the interaction.

“Every moment in life opens up a new world that must be observed,” said Ali about his writing. “I drew inspiration from all the people I met and from whom I learned something... The whole book is like a dialogue with my father.”

Ali also spoke about his films, and the path he adopted to build stories.

He recalled his time working with Air India, and revealed that he had always attempted to write by “understanding and internalising the predicaments of other people”.

The festival also brought 11 books and 600 hours of screenplay, said his approach to writing has always been to tell the well-known stories from unexpected perspectives.

While Sanghi described his method as a more investigative one: “It is not about a particular myth or a region, it is about the overlap.”

The visitors were also able to attend a session with Tigmanshu Dhulia, who has held nearly every role in the Indian film industry, be it that of a producer, director, screenwriter, dialogue writer and even an actor. He spoke of his experience working with Anurag Kashyap in Gangs of Wasseypur. He jokingly said, “After a soldier and a farmer, a filmmaker has the hardest job. Acting is easier in comparison!”

The festival saw over ten sessions on the second day, from 11 am to 5:30 pm, followed by a cultural performance by Himanshu Bajpai and Pragya Sharma.

DEEPAK GUPTA/HT PHOTOS (Left) Muzaffar Ali in conversation with Jayant Krishna at his book launch event and (above) Tigmanshu Dhulia speaks about his work, and experience with acting, at the Koshala Literature Festival in Lucknow on Saturday.

together famous writers of mythology fiction Ashwin Sanghi and Anand Neelakantan, who were interviewed by Malavika Banerjee at Ganga Lawn. Neelakantan, who has authored