All's well that ends well

There was an air of mixed feelings among the people who were present on the final day of the Pune International Literary Festival (PILF) 2013 on Sunday. 

We emphasise on the word mixed, because the happiness of being among celebrated columnists, screenplay writers, directors and authors like Lord Meghnad Desai, Kiran Nagarkar, Bhawana Somaaya, Ravi Subramanian, Anil Zankar, Sriram Raghavan among others offset the sadness of the fest coming to an end. Here are some highlights of the day.

World of a Bankster 

This session had bestselling author Prakash Iyer take on Desi John Grisham, Ravi Subramanian, in a feisty banter about bankers and their books. He also spoke to Subramanian about his latest book Bankerupt, which released three days ago. Speaking about the importance of publicising books, Subramanian said that marketing a book was equally or perhaps more important than writing it. “An author may have written a fabulous novel but if he/she cannot sell it, then the effort is pointless,” he said. 

He further added that an author has readers and not fans.” The moment the author begins to feel that he is bigger than the book(s) he has written, his fall is inevitable,” he concluded.

Delving into History

An interesting session on delving into  history saw writer Jerry Pinto quiz noted authors Tanushree Poddar (Escape from Harem), Nagarkar (Cuckold) and Vikrant Dutta (Ode to Dignity) about delving into history to craft stories. When asked whether bringing about an element of history into fiction was indirectly lying, Nagarkar said that all story tellers were liars. 

“If it’s in interest with fiction, then lying has to be very specific. I was willing to invent almost everything in Cuckold, but by chance history came into place,” Nagarkar said with a laugh. 

Poddar, who is also a travel journalist, said that travel writing too involves a certain amount of lying. “By lying I mean glorifying. When a writer describes a particular travel destination, he/she tends to glorify every intricate detail inorder to make it sound like a dream. Similarly, in historical fiction, you let your imagination take over to make it more interesting,” she said.

CinemaScope

An interesting session on CinemaScope saw a vibrant panel discussion among Bhawana Somaaya, Anil Zankar and Lord Meghnad Desai on the various aspects of writing about cinema. Calling herself a reluctant author, columnist and journalist, Somaaya traced her  journey over the past 30 years in the industry - from the time her parents were apprehensive about her late hours at work to the moment when she chronicled the life of superstar, Amitabh Bachchan, as her first book. Renowned economist Desai surprised everyone with his love for Hindi movies. “Why can’t we see every kind of movie? Let’s have an appetite for everything that cinema has to offer,” said Desai, who has also penned down books like Pakeezah: An Ode to Bygone World.