Tata Steel Literary Meet delivers on promise to celebrate creative pursuits

Bhubaneswar: The Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Festival (TBSLM) 2018 delivered on what the event had set out to do – celebrate literature, theatre, dance, music, cinema, journalism, and politics.

A rich and diverse panel from different areas of literary and creative pursuits were brought together over the past three days to pay homage to the arts.

Beginning with an interesting discussion veteran journalist Barkha Dutt and Editor of Sambad Soumya Ranjan Patnaik around the important role that journalists play in shaping public opinion and the perception of journalists in the public.

This was followed by an engaging session with noted actor and director Nandita Das, who spoke on her latest film ‘Manto’ along with Rasika Dugal, who stars in the movie. Their discussion revolved around how censorship and societal pressures shaped Saadat Hasan Manto and his works, and how these factors continue to affect art even today.

An inspiring conversation between Telugu poet and writer Volga, classical dancer Anita Ratnam and graphic novel writer Samhita Arni retold myths and epics through the eyes of women, highlighting the personalities and roles that Sita, Ahalya and Surpanekha have played.

Ms Dutt returned to the stage to moderate a highly-charged session between seasoned politicians Pinaki Mishra and Manish Tiwari. They were joined by Sambad’s Mr Patnaik.

The session delved into the current political scenario, discussing at length various contentious issues that are affecting the larger society. The three-day extravaganza ended on a magical note with classical dancer Anita Ratnam’s performance ‘A Million Sitas’ that offers a different viewpoint on some key female characters in the Ramayana.

“The response to the third edition of TSBLM has been tremendous, and this encourages us to make future events bigger and better. For decades, we have been supportive of individual talent, free thinking and debate in society. It is to this end that we have been supporting the Literary Meets in this region.

And to receive such positive feedback and response from the people of Bhubaneswar makes it all worthwhile,” said Chanakya Chaudhary, Group Director, Corporate Communications and Regulatory Affairs, Tata Steel.