Crime, faith & films make for an interesting potpourri

DHANACHULI (NAINITAL): Day three of the Kumaon Lit Fest kicked off with a rather fiery session titled ‘When will we have our next Karam Chand?’ Hindi thriller novel writer Surendra Mohan Pathak, one of the panelists for the discussion which focused around the genre of crime novels, claimed in the course of the exchange, that his books sold in lakhs through sheer word-of-mouth publicity, while novels with “great literary merit only sold about 1,000 copies in five years.” This was in response to a quip by a member of the audience saying that Pathak’s books were not quite “conventionally literary.” To this, Pathak retorted that “literary novels” were written by people looking to win awards.“Such writers get their kicks from patting each other’s backs”, he said, adding that “none of them could ever meet household expenses from what they earned as writers.” His comments drew vociferous responses.
Piyush Jha, filmmaker and screenplay writer, who was also on the panel, intervened to ask all those wearing 'SMP fan' (Surender Mohan Pathak fan) badges to stand. About 20 men in the audience stood up, yellow badges gleaming on their shirts.
Finally, after much noisy squabbling, the session had to be forced into closure, as many in the audience still raised their hands seeking to say things even as the time allotted had run out.
The next session was a completely different one from the world of crime. Titled ‘Lucky People: Things positive people do different’, it had author and columnist Vinita Dawra Nangia along with Jerry Almeida, teacher and motivational speaker, holding forth on the benefits of a positive approach to life. A particularly intriguing and interesting session that took place in the evening explored what happens when two authors from different continents writing on the same subject meet. This had Susy Mathew from India in conversation with Sarah Blau from Israel. Both the novelists draw inspiration from the Bible in their work. However, the stark differences with which the two approached their subject, was quite remarkable – while Mathew was steeped in the Christian tradition and spoke from a point of great faith, Blau was questioning, turning accepted dogma on its head.
Another session that saw a lot of interest was the discussion on the glorious period of Hindi cinema when music and poetry ruled. Saif Mehmood, founder of the South Asian Alliance for Literature, Art & Culture, inaugurated the proceedings with a long introduction, going from director Kidar Sharma to lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi. Other panelists included journalist and author Sathya Saran as well as Akshay Manvani, the biographer of Sahir Ludhianvi, and columnist Asif Noorani.
(Kumaon Lit Fest is a sister event of the Times Lit Fest to be held in Delhi on November 28-30)