Jaipur Literary Festival has commenced under tight security as protests rages on against the controversial movie, Padmaavat, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. Karni Sena, a fringe group that has been holding out violent protests against the movie have warned Prasoon Joshi, the chief of the censor board, that they won’t let him enter the city. This is because of his decision to pass the movie without any cuts. However, Joshi is still scheduled to attend the festival and the authorities have confirmed that they will provide full security to the writer. If he attends the festival, Joshi will be having a conversation with director Anu Singh Choudhury on Sunday, January 28, in a session that has been titled ‘Main Aur Woh: Conversations with Myself’.
The festival will be attended by many eminent writers and personalities like Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai, writers Michael Ondaatje, Amy Tan, Philip Norman, Helen Fielding, Sujatha Gidla, Shashi Tharoor, Julia Donaldson and Tom Stoppard. Shiela Dixit, the ex chief minister of Delhi, is going to launch her autobiography, Citizen Delhi: My Times, My Life, in the festival January 27. Philip Norman will have a talk about Beatles, Zakir Husain in conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir, Sagarika Ghose and Sheela Reddy will speak about Indira Gandhi and Jinnah.
The Literary festival is going to be more scrutiny from the media, as it is beginning in the time that is stressed and tension filled for everyone, and people, even children are not safe from the wrath of the goons from the fringe groups. The festival especially draws interest from the younger , and that’s why the scheduling for the various programmers is done in a way that is more attractive to them and others too.
Leave a Comment