Feb 03, 2025 05:59 PM IST
Imtiaz Ali and Mohit Chauhan indulge in the art of oral storytelling, at a recent festival in the Capital. Read on to know some of their interesting narratives.
It was a magical Friday evening at Delhi’s Sunder Nursery as the 18th edition of Kathakar International Storytellers Festival kicked off in grand style. The opening night featured a stellar line-up of storytellers, including Usifu Jalloh from Sierra Leone, Polina Tserkassova from Estonia, and Na’ama Tel Tsur from Israel, who captivated the audience with their spellbinding tales.
That’s not all as adding star power to this celebration of storytelling was filmmaker Imtiaz Ali alongwith singer Mohit Chauhan, the festival’s chief patron. The Bollywood director and singer took to the stage, as part of a session, to share their thoughts on the enduring art of storytelling.
For Imtiaz, the experience was deeply moving. “It is humbling,” says the 53-year-old filmmaker, whose last work Amar Singh Chamkila (2024), has been widely acclaimed. “Especially when you see storytellers whose native language isn’t English, yet they craft such compelling narratives with such mastery… It’s truly inspiring,” he said.
In a world increasingly dominated by digital distractions, Imtiaz found the festival to be a refreshing escape. “The feeling you get from a festival like this is that it is possible to connect with people. In a world which is more and more wired and where everything is not only digitised but somehow cleverly curated for somebody’s interest, here is a chance to earth yourself with interaction and storytelling,” added Ali.
Mohit Chauhan, Ali’s collaborator on the popular film Rockstar (2011), echoed similar sentiments. “It doesn’t matter if there’s the internet or e-this and e-that. A story is a story… Storytelling is one of the oldest art forms,” Chauhan asserted.
The duo, who have shared a successful creative partnership, received an overwhelming response from the audience, especially when Chauhan playfully suggested the idea of a sequel to the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer film Rockstar, sparking cheers and applause from the crowd.
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