Day 2 of JLF packed with conversations beyond convention

Jaipur: On the sunny second day of the on-ground Jaipur Literature Festival 2022, there was expectedly the characteristic diversity in sessions, speakers, and themes in the programming that audiences look forward to each year.  

The second day of Jaipur Literature Festival started rather 'wicked' with a discussion of the book ' Pure Evil: The Bad Men Of Bollywood' with the author Balaji Vittal and Actor Manoj Bajpayee. In pure evil, Vittal examines, in delicious details, the misdeeds of gangster, the sly relative, the corrupt policeman, and the psycho killer!
Talking about his character of Sardar Khan, the immoral womanizer in the movie Gangs of Wasseypur, Bajpayee said, "I decided I'm not going to make him just a killer, but a person who is addicted to sex. A villain so hyper-sexual,  he can give up kill for sex. A reluctant mafia guy."

Another session featured Odia writer Paramita Satpathy discussing writing, its process, the writers’ journeys and motivations, along with the author of Daura and Bhaunri, Anukriti Upadhyay, and author of The Psychology of a Patriot, Saket Suman.

Actor Neena Gupta graced the festival and talked about her biography 'Sach Kahun Toh' in which she dismantles her conventional image, talks about her personal and professional journey.
"The book is very close to my heart and it took me a lot of courage to pen it down. Especially the stuff with my mother, father, and brother at the end of the book," stated Neena Gupta.
She also talked about her role in various films and web series like Panchayat, Masaba Masaba, Badhai Do.
"I like that I am breaking stereotypes with movies and web series. I have a connection with all kinds of women. It just clicks off. And that helps me adapt it to my acting," said Neena.

A session on Love, Longing, Loss in Urdu Poetry was graced by the iconic founder of Rekhta, the largest, most fascinating online repository for Urdu poetry and literature in the world, Sanjiv Saraf, along with the best-selling author, politician, and diplomat Pavan K Varma. During the conversation, Saraf and Varma spoke of the captivating nuances of love, and the revival of the appreciation of Urdu poetry in India. Saraf began the session by talking about love. He said that there are so many ‘pahlus’ that it needed and deserved a sincere investigation into the different aspects and layers.