Jashn-e-Rekhta Popularizes Urdu Through Singing, Poetry, And Much More

 As Jashn-e-Rekhta, the annual festival celebrating the Urdu language, opened its doors to the city’s young and old alike, its Founder Sanjiv Saraf says if it were “a strictly literary programme”, it wouldn’t have made the language regain its popularity among the masses.

The festival centred around Urdu, its literature and the associated culture took off from the limited space of India International Centre (IIC) in 2015. Over the years, it has grown to be hosted at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to accommodate the ever-increasing crowds that walk through its doors.

“Jashn-e-Rekhta was never a purely literary event, from the beginning it was a mix of literature and popular content. We see pure literary events and seminars but there are maybe 20 or 50 listeners,” Saraf told PTI in a telephonic conversation.

He added that Urdu has been “unfortunate in being confined to scholarly discussions”.

“Some credit of taking Urdu to the masses goes to Rekhta. Literary programmes are limited to scholars, researchers, and professors. Urdu is a language of common people. Our films, songs and gazals made it popular. How many people are interested in attending seminars and conferences?” he asked.

The grand celebration of Urdu language and Hindustani culture is known for hosting eclectic art forms including ghazals, sufi music, qawwali, dastangoi, panel discussions, mushaira, poetry recitations, masterclasses, and a curated food festival (Aiwan-e-Zaiqa).

When it was started by Rekhta Foundation in 2015 at IIC, its programming looked similar to what it does today – a mix of poetry, music, theatre, dastangoi and rich literary discussions on the language, its history and influences.

“We are presenting high quality Urdu content in an entertaining and popular manner. Scholars may ignore this factor but a language doesn’t become popular through lectures and discussions. A language becomes popular when people, who have nothing to do with it, are attracted towards it,” the entrepreneur-author said.

Over time, Jashn-e-Rekhta has featured artistes like Piyush Mishra, Kailash Kher, Papon, Rekha and Vishal Bhardwaj, Ustad Shujaat Khan, Sabri Brothers, Javed Ali, and Swanand Kirkire, poets such as Wasim Barelvi, Rahat Indori, Ashok Chakradhar, Javed Akhtar, Farhat Ehsas and Kumar Vishwas.

The festival also invited writers and scholars for discussions, including William Dalrymple, Mahmood Farooqui, Navtej Sarna, Najeeb Jung, Gopi Chand Narang, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, Rana Safvi, Khalid Jawed as well as popular actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Shabana Azmi, Vijay Varma, Swara Bhaskar, Kumud Mishra, Vipin Sharma, and Taapsee Pannu.

Given its rising popularity, the festival has continued to move to larger spaces from IIC to Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts, then Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium and now to JLN Stadium.