Growing up in Kolkata is synonymous with growing up around books. Be it the often-dusty covers peering at you through every shop on College Street, or the new-book smell that greets you when you walk into an iconic Park Street bookstore, it’s hard not to love literature here. To reinforce this, SPK Jain Futuristic Academy organised the inaugural Kolkata Children’s Literature Festival on January 13 and 14, on its New Town campus. My Kolkata was there.
The event was inaugurated on January 12 by NKDA chairman Debashis Sen, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Sen has been known to encourage reading at the elementary level with several projects, including the New Town library. “The teachings of Swami Vivekananda deeply resonate with this festival’s purpose. I strongly believe that children should be encouraged to write for children, and events like this give a platform to both young authors and readers,” he said.
Children found themselves drawn to the (left) Harry Potter corner, when they weren’t playing word and art games.
The event began on January 13 with a marquee session by Mumbai-based mythologist and writer Devdutt Pattanaik, who drew from the philosophy in ancient shastras to provide valuable insights about violence. Pattanaik reflected on how every contemporary kids’ story, including Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Superman, glorifies war, insinuating that the winner is a ‘victor’, while the loser is a ‘martyr’. “Stories like these teach kids that they must wage war to get ahead. Even the Ramayana and Mahabharata have war, but both Ram and Krishna are cursed for employing violence. Irrespective of how noble their motivations are, they always have to deal with the consequences of using violence,” he explained.
He also beckoned people to exercise empathy while talking to people and try to understand the other’s perspective. “Today’s debate culture is very violent and hinges on proving someone wrong. We must keep our pride aside, and believe that we don’t know everything. If there are 200 people in this room, there are also 200 truths,” he added.
The event was inaugurated by NKDA chairman Debashis Sen.
The second marquee session involved a panel discussion on ‘Children’s Literature in Bangla Cinema’ with Abir Chatterjee, Sudeshna Roy and Abhijit Guha as the speakers. Roy cited how Satyajit Ray adapted his grandfather Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury’s story into the 1969 film Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, adding that it was the gold standard of transitioning literature into cinema. “When Feluda was written, the mobile wasn’t invented, but today even he uses a smartphone. A children’s film should go beyond the text and adapt to the demands of the time and form. You can’t just rely on the story, and cut corners in presentation. Literature must be made attractive for kids,” she said.
Chatterjee drew from his own experiences in playing both Feluda and Byomkesh, and incorporated feedback he had received from children. “A child today isn’t experiencing childhood the way we used to. I feel like filmmakers often thump their sense of childhood on today’s children. Time has evolved, and we need to incorporate the unique experience of growing up today while making cinema for children,” he said.
While (L-R) Monica Santos enthralled kids with a clowning show, Kunal Motling left everyone speechless with his mime act.
Guha beckoned the audience to find the child within themselves, arguing that children’s cinema wasn’t just meant for people under 18. “The emotions children feel are present within all of us. While making a film centred around kids, a filmmaker must treat the subject with maturity and innocence without looking down upon them. Only then will it stir the emotions within viewers,” Guha explained.
The two days were packed with unique workshops for children of all ages. These pertained to storytelling, news reporting, clowning, creative writing, miming and comics.
“We believe that every child is born with a special skill. In order to bring it out, we must ignite them with freedom, and fuel them with the right environment. This festival is our way of fuelling the thirst children have for knowledge, where everyone can learn and have fun,” said Jaideep Patwa, honorary secretary, SPK Jain Futuristic Academy.
