- Lit-O-Fest Living Legend’ awards to eminent veterens
- Spotlight discussions on hard-hitting subjects
Mumbai, 21st Feb 2015: Lit-O-Fest is a one of its type initiative with a difference with a philanthropic perspective as this is an only platform where one-the-spot publishing contracts are signed with deserving authors. Last year, total 8 books were selected by the jury and were published by Vani Prakashan, Harper Collin, Jaico and more for free publishing. This year we are going to be increasing the number to 20, out of which 8 books were awarded contracts on-the-spot at the festival”, shares Smita Parikh, Festival Director, Lit-O-Fest and Co-Founder E-Bizz Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd at the event.
The 2–day festival saw discussions and participation by eminent personalities like Narendra Kohli, Kiran Nagarkar, Ram Jethmalani, Irshad Kamil, Kiran Manral, Ashwin Sanghi , Dr Radhakrishnan Pillai, Flavia Agnes, Smita Parikh among a host of others taking part. Lit-O-Fest also saw added attractions like live performances by talented students and young artists performing live music, singing, dance, painting, mime, theatre, etc. The finale evening was made grand by Xaverites who did a flashmob for the esteemed guests. ‘Nazme Intezaar Ke’, a book on poems by Smita Parikh, ‘Tera Bayan Ghalib’ by Salim Arif, ‘Footpath Pe KaamSutra by Abhay Kumar Dubey amongst others were the books that were launched at the festival.
“Lit-O-Fest, this year had conducted a manuscript contest which was held on the social media platform, which has got almost 120 manuscripts from all across the globe including places like United Kingdom, UAE and United States. These manuscripts will be shortlisted and finally be taken up for publishing contracts by the publishing partners all through the year as Lit-O-Fest is a persistent effort”, explains Saurabh Daftary, Founder, Ebizz Entertainment Pvt Ltd. He further adds, “The goal is to also help the budding writers understand the technical aspects of writing and publishing through several seminars”. This year the Lit-O-Fest Living Legend’ awards were bestowed on the legendary Shri. Narendra Kohli, Shri. Kiran Nagarkar, Shri Pankaj Dubey for Creative Leadership and Shri. Radhakrishnan Pillai for the Education field.
The event was inaugurated by held Mr. Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Urban Development & Noted Singer and Literary Legends like Prof. Narendra Kohli & Dr. Kiran Nagarkar, Dr. Shravan Kumar, CEO, Childrens Film Society Of India (CFSI), Dr. Agnelo Menezes, Principal – St. Xavier's College and Mr. Saurabh Daftary, Founder of E Bizz Entertainment Pvt Ltd. This year the fest was held at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, on February 20 & 21, 2016. In addition to arts and literature, Lit-O-Fest also showcased various forms of music and dance.
The inaugural day also witnessed ‘Conversation with Shatrughan Singh’ on the launch of his, Biography – Anything but, ‘Khamosh’. The actor candidly shared few moments and anecdotes from the book with his Biographer Bharti Pradhan and the moderator Smita Parikh, Co-Founder, Ebizz.
The Day 2 saw a Seminar on Hindi-Urdu, How Cool with Manish Gupta and actors Manoj Bajpayee and Silpa Shukla. The session threw light on using Hindi or one’s own Mother tongue as your primary language as opposed to English to connect you to your Country. Another highlight of the day was a session on Child Abuse & Teenage Tantrums with Kiran Manral, Equal Rights Activist Harish Iyer and Sonali Shroff. The discussion was more about how parents should deal with kids in today’s scenario.
The highlight of the day was the session, ‘Mujhe Jeene Do’ with Manoj Bajpayee, Harish Iyer, Rajkumar Rao and Tuhin Sinha. All the panelists stressed on the point that one’s need to come out of his shell and accept the facts of his life. The panel also spoke about their upcoming movie, ‘Aligarh’ and how hopeful they are about the SC decision for section 377.
The event concluded on a high note with a power-packed live band by Leslie Lewis after a long time in Mumbai.
The Children film society of India (CFSI) is also associated with Lit-O-Fest this year. On Day 1A very interesting session on ‘Children’s Films going International’ was held in the presence of panelists Dr. Shravan Kumar, CEO, CFSI, Mr. Satish Kaushik, Actor/Director and Actress Shilpa Shukla of Chak De movie fame. They stressed on the point that a govt law needs to be passed for theatres to show children's films. Mainstream filmmakers need to come on the race. Budgets need to be big. And the distribution and release of the films should be very aggressive. Schools also should take a step forward. We need to relay it in schools as well. Like last year, this year’s festival has country’s leading authors, artists, singers, filmmakers, bureaucrats and dignitaries as guests and panelists, and will host insightful discussions and delightful cultural events to engage and entertain audiences. This two day festival focussed on offering every writer an equal opportunity and space to be seen, heard and published.
Another interesting session on ‘Modern Indian and Kamasutra’ was hosted where the book ‘Footpath Pe Kamasutra’, a book written by renowned author Mr. Abhay Kumar Dubey was launched by the hands of noted Indian Sexpert Dr. Mahindra Watsa.
The two day fest will unfolded several spotlight sessions and workshops on Hindi language like, The Tagore Legacy, Terrorism and its effects on the society, Is music losing its melody due to the technology driven compositions, Journey of a book-From Paper to the celluloid, Poetry -its nuances in Urdu language, the Chanakya Secrets, Shakespeare is forever, The Rape Prone zone - Attitude and Law, Has the idea of feminism lost its glory and more, Roast Session with Tuhin Sinha as an expert, Money Laundering by Ram Jethmalani etc. Also a session on Contemporary Poetry with the legend Irshad Kamil. The Day 2 witnessed food talk on Indian Food Gone Global with Maria Goretti.
For complete schedule visit: http://www.lit-o-fest.
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