Lit-O-Fest witnesses a host of celebrities gathered in Mumbai

One of India’s premier literature, arts and music fests, the two-day Lit-O-Fest witnessed a host of celebrities come together to talk about things close to their hearts. Said to be the only literature festival of Maharashtra supported by MTDC, it provides a platform for deserving authors who can sign publishing contracts on the spot. “This year, approximately eight out of 120 manuscripts received were awarded contracts on the spot at the festival,” shares Smita Parikh (Festival Director, Lit-O-Fest and Co-Founder, E-Bizz

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Babul Supriyo (Minister of State for Urban Development, and for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation) declared the festival open by reciting a Tagore poem, and was joined by Smita and founder Saurabh Daftary. Some of the eminent speakers included names like Anup Jalota, Ashwin Sanghi, Dr Radhakrishnan Pillai, Flavia Agnes, Aditi Maheshwari, Anand Neelakantan, Kiran Manral, Shailesh Lodha, Suryabala, Brijesh Singh and Quaiser Khalid. The Lit-O-Fest Living Legend awards were given to Narendra Kohli, Kiran Nagarkar and Dr Radhakrishnan Pillai for their literary contribution. The book launches of Smita, Salim Arif, Abhay Kumar Dubey, Pankaj Dubey, Seema Sonik Alimchand and Zaara Khader were appreciated by the audience. They also enjoyed the discussions on ‘Money Laundering’ by Ram Jethmalani, ‘Kamasutra and Modern India’ by Abhay Kumar Dubey and Dr Mahinder Watsa, ‘Mujhe Jeene do — Homophobia’ by Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Tuhin Sinha and Harish Iyer, and ‘Mathadheeshi Aur Sahitya’ by Anant Vijay, Vishwanath Sachdev, Suryabala, Rajni Kulshreshtha, Prabhat Ranjan, Arun Maheshwari and Vijay Kumar.

The students and professors of St. Xavier’s College added warmth to the fest. The students even came up with an impromptu flash mob. The event concluded with a power-packed performance by Leslie Lewis and his band. Hariharan’s ghazal rendition and Irshad Kamil’s poetry recitation left the audience mesmerised.