Jashn-e-Rekhta Is Back In Delhi With Fourth Season: Here's What To Expect From The 'Biggest Urdu Festival'

New Delhi: Touted to be Urdu's biggest festival in the world, Jashn-e-Rekhta is back in Delhi with its fourth season. For the uninitiated, the word Rekhta means Urdu, a language that has born and evolved in the Indian sub-continent, and Jashn-e-Rekhta is a 'celebration of Urdu'. The three day festival will begin on December 8, Friday, and will continue till the weekend, December 10, Sunday. It will be held at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium near India Gate. For the love of Urdu, its beauty and versatility, the lovers of the language will express a range of emotions through poetry, prose, drama, art, cinema and popular culture. What more? This is a free-for-all event!

Here's What To Expect At Delhi's Jashn-e-Rekhta

Four parallel events will be held at mehfil-khana, bazm-e-khayal, dayaar-e-izhaar and kunj-e-sukhan, the four event locations within the stadium complex. This will include performances, recitations, mushairas, panel discussions, debates, conversation on films, calligraphy workshop and musical evenings.

On Day 1, December 8, the festival will be inaugurated by Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj and legendary actress Waheeda Rehman at 6 PM. This will be followed by an evening of music with Ustad Rashid Khan.

On Day 2, December 9, the events will begin at 11 am and continue till 9 pm. Celebrities like Imtiaz Ali, Nandita Das, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shabana Azmi, Neelesh Misra  among others will participate in various discussions ranging from the works of author Saadat Hasan Manto, forgotten beauty of Urdu poetry, depiction of Urdu in films among others. There will also be an open house of poetry recitation and any one can come and present the poetry on stage.

On Day 3, December 10, as well, events are lined up from 11am to 9m. Notable ones are Dastangoi, an ancient Urdu oral storytelling art form, presented by Nadeem Shah and Shankar Musafir, a conversation with famous lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar, author Amish Tripathi, a ghazal shayari performance by playback singer Shilpa Rao, a discussion on 'Urdu ka sureela safar'by Annu Kapoor and Richa Anirudh and revisiting the works of celebrated poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz. The festival will end with a qawalli performance by Nizami Bandhu, of the song Kun Faya Kun fame from the movie Rockstar.

Apart from stimulating discussions, the festival has also thoughtfully curated Rekhta Bazaar for shoppers, book exhibition for bibliophiles and 'Aiwan-e-Zaiqa' for food lovers.