In the lead-up to The Hindu Lit for Life Literature Festival scheduled for January 18 and 19, 2025, in Chennai, The Hindu, on Friday, hosted its ‘Lit for Life Dialogue’ at Christ (Deemed to be University), Koramangala, Bengaluru.
The Dialogue provided a platform to engage with prominent voices in culture, creating anticipation for the upcoming festival. In a video message, Nirmala Lakshman, Chairperson of The Hindu Group of publications and Founder & Chair of The Hindu Lit for Life expressed, “It’s an exciting chapter for us as we build on our relationship with the people of the Bengaluru, bringing distinguished writers, creative thinkers, and inspiring intellectuals to interact with an engaged audience.”
As part of the panels were acclaimed crime novelist Anita Nair in conversation with Jayapriya Vasudevan, G. Reghu, a renowned sculptor, in conversation with Ina Puri, and Amol Palekar, a celebrated actor and filmmaker, in conversation with Balaji Vittal.
Nair spoke to Vasudevan about her new book, Hot Stage, the third in her crime fiction series on Bangalore detective Borei Gowda.
“I thought of myself as a literary fiction writer and didn’t know how a crime novel has to be plotted. At the back of my mind, I knew there was a crime and the book would be about how the crime would be solved, how the inspector would find the murderer, and how he gets to the destination -- the end. . I structured the book by using everything I use when I write literary fiction,” she said.
Nair continued that as she researched, she understood that what she had been unable to do as a literary fiction writer was to make social commentary about the worlds the characters inhabit and why they become those characters. “Noir was a great platform for social commentary.”
Anmol Palekar of the 1974 blockbuster Gol Maal fame described himself as an “accidental actor,” having stumbled into acting through a series of events. He shared, “I was initially just accompanying someone to their play rehearsals. After a few visits, the Director, Dubey, asked if I’d like to act in his next play. Before I could respond, he quickly added, ‘It’s not because I see any potential in you as an actor, but because I’ve noticed you have a lot of free time and seem to be wasting it. Why not use it more productively?’ That’s how I became an actor. There was no illusion of hidden talent, either from him or from me.”
G. Reghu, talked about how he brings life to his sculptures, said his art is largely inspired by his own experiences. “If I am satisfied with the sculpture I have created, it means it has some life to it,” he explained. He added, “Some sculptures work, and some don’t.”