For all the literature maniacs, it’s all at the same place. The Jaipur Literary Fest, which has been described by an international magazine as “the greatest literary show on earth”, is back for the fifth consecutive year and on a much grander scale. The fest has a history of hosting some of the biggest and most well-known names in literature, theatre, art and music such as Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Kiran Desai, Pico Iyer, Nadeem Aslam, Thomas Keneally, Donna Tart, Suketu Mehta, Chetan Bhagat, Vikas Swarup, Hari Kunzru, John Berend, Christopher Hampton, Julia Roberts, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Anoushka Shankar and many others. The five day fest kick starts on the 21st of January at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur.
The fest this year offers the finest mélange of literature, art, theatre and music. Each day will host a variety of events such as thought-provoking and invigorating talks, panel discussions, films, theatre performances, lectures and dramatic readings by renowned personalities. Moreover each day shall culminate in some refined and delightful music. The festival aims at showcasing the best works in Indian languages as well as in English. This year it will host some of the best of literary talent the world has to offer, including a Nobel laureate, a winner of the Samuel Johnson prize, two Booker prize winners, and five winners of the Pulitzer prize for literature. Accompanying them are writers who have won acclaim in the field of travel, literary criticism, history, biography, fiction as well as non-fiction. Some of the eminent writers who will be present at the fest this year include Wole Soyinka, Orhan Pamuk, Haneif Kureishi, Niall Fergusson, Amit Chaudhari, Tina Brown, Vikram Chandra, Claire Tomalin, Mahasveta Devi, Shobhha De, Indira Goswami, Steve Coll, Pavan Varma, Krishna Baldev Vaid, Stephen Frears, Lawrence Wright, Christopher Jaffrelot, Wangmo Wangchuk, Alexander McCall Smith, Krishna Sobti, and many many more.
Some of the most anticipated events are readings from Girish Karnad’s ‘Tughlaq’ by the much acclaimed actor Om Puri, readings by Shabana Azmi from her mother’s memoirs, performances by Titi Robin, Cheb I Sabbah, Susheela Raman, the Baul singers of Bengal, Rajasthan Roots, Djaima and readings and performances from William Darlymple’s Nine Lives.
The fest wraps up on the 25h of January. By the sound of it, there is a lot to look forward to in just five days alone. It’s the perfect way to celebrate the end of exams, especially since its located in the beautiful Pink City!

OLD WORLD THEATRE FEST (NON-COLLEGIATE)
Last week saw the Old World Theatre Festival coming back to Delhi, completing eight years of outstanding productions, direction and genius performances. This year’s festival was held in tribute of the multifaceted Feroz Abbas Khan. With internationally acclaimed plays like ‘Out Of Bounds’ to the multi-award winning ‘Gandhi, My Father’, Feroz Khan has deeply explored the realms of theatrical representation and motion picture. His contribution in bringing Hindi theatre mainstream recognition was highlighted by showcasing some of his finest productions in this year’s theatre festival, including plays like ‘Salesman Ramlal’, ‘Tumhari Amrita’, ‘Out Of Bounds’ and ‘All The Best’. These plays were performed by none other than seasoned artists including Satish Kaushik, Seema Biswas, Shabani Azmi, Farooque Sheikh and the like.

Directed by Feroz Abbas Khan, ‘All The Best’ is a rip roaring comedy inspired from a famous Marathi play directed by Devendra Pem. The story revolves around three young men – one blind, the other deaf and the third mute (played by Iqbal Azaad, Vrajesh Hirjee and Vikas Kadam) – who fall in love with the same girl (Manasi Joshi). One cannot see her, one cannot hear her and the third cannot speak to her. But love her, they all do. The play, apart from the hilarious script, boasts of established actors who give their own personal touch to the characters. Also, Vrajesh Hirjee (of Golmaal fame) as the deaf man gives a fantastic performance, giving the play meaning in all its quirky senselessness. Declared a laugh riot all the way, All the Best is a must watch for every Feroz Khan fan.