The 17th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival Presents Centennial Tributes to Mahasweta Devi and Filmmaker Raj Khosla
Kolkata, 14 January 2026: The 17th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (AKLF) paid tribute to two towering figures of Indian culture with two centennial sessions honouring the legendary writer and activist Mahasweta Devi and pioneering filmmaker Raj Khosla, celebrating their enduring contributions to literature, social justice, and cinema.
Mahasweta Devi, Living Legacy: A Centennial Tribute
On 9 January 2026 at Oxford Bookstore, Park Street, the festival opened its centennial tribute to Mahasweta Devi with a powerful session moderated by Festival Director Anjum Katyal, featuring Anita Agnihotri, Ratnaboli Ray, and Sudeshna Roy, with dramatised readings by Poulami Chatterjee Bose.
Anjum Katyal opened the session by emphasising that Mahasweta Devi remains powerfully present because of her enduring relevance, particularly her unwavering advocacy for tribal rights and marginalised communities. Poulomi Chatterjee Bose shared personal reflections on how Mahasweta Devi recognised and championed her mother’s work, before delivering a stirring reading from the short story ‘Draupadi’, featuring the rebellious Santhal tribal woman Dopdi Mejhen, who transforms from a victim of violence into a symbol of resistance.
Ratnaboli Ray positioned Mahasweta Devi’s work within philosophical and political frameworks, noting the writer’s understanding of anger as political intelligence and resistance rather than a condition to be managed. “Mahasweta Devi looked at anger as political, intelligence and resistance,” Ray observed, adding that the writer believed healing must come through society taking accountability, not through fixing individuals. Poulomi Chatterjee Bose followed with a reading from “Stanadayini.”
Anita Agnihotri spoke of Mahasweta Devi’s profound impact on her generation, particularly through works like “Aranyer Adhikar” (Rights of the Forest), which was quickly translated into Hindi and widely embraced. Significantly, when the 30th edition of “Aranyer Adhikar” was published in 2006, it coincided with the Forest Rights Act coming into existence, demonstrating her prescient engagement with land acquisition issues. “History doesn’t forget a writer who decides to reconnect to society and its nature,” Agnihotri reflected, noting Mahasweta Devi’s unforgiving observations.
Sudeshna Roy emphasised how Mahasweta Devi lived the life she wrote about, residing among tribal communities as they did. Roy described her as “a feminist but without being a man-hater,” recalling Mahasweta Devi’s self-description.
The session concluded with Agnihotri reflecting on Mahasweta Devi’s distinctive literary style: language without ornamentation, straight and sharp, matching the clarity of her vision and the force of her commitment.
A Centennial Tribute to Filmmaker Raj Khosla
On 11 January 2026 at Galaxy, The Park, AKLF presented a centennial tribute to legendary filmmaker Raj Khosla, featuring Amborish Roychoudhury, author of Raj Khosla’s authorised biography, and GM Kapoor, Director of Raj Khosla Films Pvt Ltd and son-in-law of the filmmaker. The session illuminated the life and legacy of a director who remained largely unsung despite leaving an indelible mark on Hindi cinema, and began with snippets from a docufilm on the life of the legendary director.
Opening the session, Amborish Roychoudhury traced Raj Khosla’s remarkable journey from aspiring playback singer to one of Hindi cinema’s most accomplished directors. He recounted how, around 1950, at a South Bombay coffee house, a cultural nerve centre that attracted poets, writers, filmmakers, and struggling actors, Dev Anand, already a star, encountered Raj Khosla, who hadn’t yet found acceptance in his initial playback singing career in Bollywood. When Dev Anand saw Raj sporting a long face after a disappointment, he suggested, “My friend Guru Dutt is going to direct my next picture. Why don’t you become his assistant?”
Roychoudhury revealed an amusing detail: when Guru Dutt asked if Raj had any experience in assisting and whether he could read and write Hindi, Raj replied affirmatively to both questions, lying through his teeth. He had never assisted any director and couldn’t read Devanagari Hindi as he was proficient only in English, Punjabi, and Urdu. “The first thing Raj Khosla did on his way back from the meeting that day was to pick up a primer on the Hindi alphabet,” Roychoudhury noted.
Six years later, Guru Dutt entrusted him with directing CID while he focused on Pyaasa. Khosla soon emerged from his mentor’s shadow with hits like Kala Pani, Bambai Ka Babu, Solva Saal and Woh Kaun Thi. Though often “unsung,” his films produced enduring music, notably ‘Lag Ja Gale’. Guru Dutt’s death in 1964 deeply scarred him, yet Khosla continued mentoring, famously launching Mahesh Bhatt.
G.M. Kapoor offered intimate insights into commissioning the authorised biography as Raj Khosla’s centenary approached. “He was an unsung hero because a lot of people of this generation, of course, most people don’t know about him at all,” Kapoor observed as he reminisced about how reclusive Raj Khosla was.
The biography reveals aspects of Raj Khosla’s craft that remained hidden during his lifetime, documenting the work of a director whose contributions to Hindi cinema’s golden age deserve wider recognition.
The session continued AKLF’s tradition of honouring cultural icons who have shaped India’s artistic landscape, following the festival’s earlier celebration of Mahasweta Devi’s literary and political legacy. Together, these centennial tributes affirmed the festival’s commitment to preserving and re-examining the lives of those who have profoundly influenced Indian culture.
