Urdu festival Jashn-e-Rekhta begins in Delhi

The third edition of Urdu festival Jashn-e-Rekhta (JeR) unveiled yesterday. The festival will be going on over the weekend, scholars, writers, poets, singers, artists and admirers of the language will gather at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts in Delhi to celebrate Urdu in all its forms.

The schedule of the two-and-a-half-day festival includes panel discussions, , mushairas,dastangoi (storytelling) sessions, ghazals, qawwalis ,baitbaazi, street plays to be held simultaneously across four venues – as well as a book exhibition, a calligraphy workshop, the Urdu Bazaar (presenting the antiquities and handicrafts of Old Delhi), a food festival, and more.

The festival will host over a 100 eminent speakers from the world of cinema, arts and culture, including lyricist-poet Gulzar, screenwriter and playwright Javed Siddiqui, journalist Saeed Naqvi ,adman and lyricist Prasoon Joshi, Urdu poet Wasim Barelvi, actor-director Saurabh Shukla, actor Nadira Babbar, food critic and historian Pushpesh Pant, poet-politician Kumar Vishwas, advocate-littérateur Saif Mahmood and actor-radio host Annu Kapoor, actor Sharmila Tagore.