The day 2 of the 10th edition of the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet or KaLam was held at the GD Birla Sabhaghar. The day began with art critic Samik Bandopadhyay’s personal reading of cinema maestro Satyajit Ray, whose birth centenary year is being, celebrated the world over. This was followed by an engaging discussion on legendary cartoonist RK Laxman, whose birth centenary year is also being celebrated this year. In a session aptly titled “An Uncommon Man” renowned Indian political cartoonist EP Unny celebrated Laxman’s legacy along with President’s Swarna Kamal Award winner, Balaji Vittal and head of Amul topical advertisements Rahul Dacunha.
The evening session saw Vir Sanghvi, Ritu Dalmiya and Mita Kapur sharing their experience of joy of writing and reading food. This was followed by an engrossing discussion on Balaji Vittal’s latest book ‘Pure Evil and the Bad Men of Hindi Cinema” with none other than Javed Akhtar – the man who coined the famous phrase “Kitne Aadmi The”. Seema Goswami was next on stage sharing her insights on her famous thriller series Race Course Road.
Next, the Queen of Indian Pop music who has been relentlessly lending her voice for nearly 50 years – Usha Uthup spoke about her long musical journey, her experience in working with legendary music directors and also on her biography.
The day ended with live performance by stand-up comedy artists Cyrus Broacha and Anuvab Pal.
Day 3 (24 March) will witness Javed Akhtar through his shayari will remember poet and film song lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi, whose birth centenary also falls in 2022. Javed sa’ab will also present an interpretation of his famous poem Waqt. Apart from the much awaited “Remo Unplugged” where Remo Fernandes will be in conversation with Arka Das, S Hussain Zaidi will take us through the journey of Dongri Dons to Mafia Queens. Later, the audience will be enthralled by Mallika Sarabhai and Jim Sarbh when they speak about the Real and Reel stories of Rocket Boys. At the end of Day 3, Kolkata will witness one of the rare live jugalbandi of poetry and classical music by Srijato and legendary classical musician Ustad Rashid Khan.
