It’s more than just books at this year’s Times Litfest

The festival promises a complete experience which ranges from music to theatre to fun-filled sessions. And, this time, sessions promise a whole lot of showbiz connect too. From Aligarh-fame screenwriter Apurva Asrani helming a discussion on LGBT issues, to filmmakers Anjali Menon and Nikhil Advani talking about the filmmaking process, to Rishi Kapoor talking about his life and his autobiography and Aishwarya Dhanush disussing her biography about her father Rajinikanth, there’s a lot on offer for cinephiles.Similarly, for those with an ear for music, there’s an interesting session on poetry and song in Marwari with Ila Arun and another on democratizing Carnatic music by TM Krishna. There are also shows with a literary connect by Raghu Dixit and Kolkata-based Parekh and Singh. Kirtana Kumar’s theatre troupe is also putting together a special tribute to Shakespeare to mark his 400th birth anniversary.


11.30 am: Thirty-Second Stories: Creators Of Commercials Are Forgotten Authors (Piyush Pandey in conversation with Sonal Dabral on the story and journey of Bengaluru brands. Moderated by Anant Rangaswami)
12.30 pm: Double Bill: The Story Of Stories (Krys Lee with Trisha Das)
1.30 pm: Lost Gem (Bengaluru launch of William Dalrymple’s Kohinoor: The Story of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond. Introduced by Asha Rai)
2 pm: Not Dead Yet: The Noir Hero (Anita Nair, Aditya Sinha and Arjun Raj Gaind Moderated by Ashok Ferrey
3 pm: Food For Thought: The Evolution Of Indian Food (Anoothi Vishal in conversation with Ranveer Brar, Shazia Khan and Mithun Appaiah)
4 pm: Mystic River: Two Countries, Two Narratives (Launch of India edition of The River’s Song. Suchen Christine Lim in conversation with Ryan Lobo. Moderated by Ambika Behal)
5 pm: To Come Out Or Not To Come Out: Talking About Lgbtq Rights In India (Apurva Asrani in conversation with Vasudhendra, Patrick Wilson and Gowthaman Ranganathan)
6 pm: Entertainment: Musical Suits, Dreamy Hipster Indie Band From Kolkata (Parekh and Singh)

11.30 am: Readings
12.30 pm: Kannada Literature: Classics In Translation (Vanamala Viswanatha and CN Ramachandran. Moderated by Rashmi Terdal)
1.30 pm: Readings (Kiran Khalap)
2 pm: Write India: Crowd-Sourcing Short Stories (Vinita Dawra Nangia talks to Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni)
2.30 pm: Of Two Minds: A Conversation About Books, Journeys, Discoveries (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Vinita Dawra Nangia in conversation with Ambika Behal)
3.30 pm: Team Effort: What Ails Sports Administration In India? (Justice Mukul Mudgal, Ashwini Nachappa and Nandan Kamath. Moderated by Sharda Ugra)
4 pm: Internet Commerce: Surviving The Global Giants (Mahesh Murthy, Byju Raveendran, Hari Menon. Moderated by Sujit John)
5 pm: Divine Rock Stars: Love, Gender And Sexuality In The Mythological Cosmos (Krishna Udayasankar and Sandhya Mulchandani. Moderated by Samhita Arni)

11.30 am: Two-Way Street (Sudha Murty talks about her new book, The Serpent’s Revenge: Unusual Tales from the Mahabharata, followed by a reading by Samhita Arni)
1.30 pm: Lightning Moment: Family Secrets From Indian History (Anusha Yadav)
2 pm: Love All: Romance Rules Indian Fiction (Nikita Singh and Anuja Chauhan and Paromita Vohra)
3 pm: In Tandem: Class, Privilege And Loss (Prayaag Akbar and Nandini Sundar)
4 pm: Science In The City (Jyotsna Dhawan, Mukund Thattai and Kartik Shanker Moderated by Indira Chandrashekar)
5 pm: The Bard Abides: A Tribute To Shakespeare To Mark His 400th Anniversary (Kirtana Kumar Theatre Group)