Anupam Kher steals the show at Khushwant Singh Lit Fest

Parbina Rashid

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Tribune News Service

Kasauli, October 8 

The road to Kasauli may have looked a little deserted, considering it was a Sunday, but definitely not The Kasauli Club.

Not even the Karwa Chauth fast deterred the crowd from attending the concluding session of much-loved literary festival of this region—Khushwant Singh Lit Fest, which concluded on with a power-packed presentation.

Delighted & Proud to meet these young airforce officers on in Kasauli. ये हैं, तो हम हैं। भारत माता की जय।🇮🇳

— Anupam Kher (@AnupamPkher)

The star attraction of the day was actor par excellence Anupam Kher. Actor par excellence, not because of his screen performances, but the way he held the audience all by himself, making them laugh with his childhood stories and Hindi-medium background, sometimes throwing words of wisdom and at times engaging the audience even by walking up to them.

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Anupam Kher recalled his journey from his first play Prithvi Raj Chauhan to Hollywood, meeting the likes of Robert De Niro, Woody Allen via his famous fight with Mahesh Bhatt for the lead role in Saransh.

It indeed was a long journey, but at no point of time, the actor let the audience’s attention waver, even for a bit.  The six-month treat of the actor of a mutton-samosa, pineapple pastry and coffee at an upscale restaurant at the Mall in Shimla smelt fresh.  

“When I failed in Class X, my father took me to a posh restaurant at the Mall in Shimla and treated me to my favourite mutton samosa, pineapple pastry and coffee. With this action, he taught me to overcome the fear of failure,” said Anupam Kher

The day started on an adventurous note with The True Story of The Most Remarkable Indian Spy of World War II by Mihir Bose and Sumantra Bose.

The session, which was moderated by Sir Mark Tully and Anand Sethi, set the tone and tenor of the day with amazing adventures of Bhagat Ram Talwar, the spy who doubled crossed the Germans with the Italians and then allied with the Russians.

The tempo continued with the session titled Battleground Chhamb by Gen AJS Sandhu, the author of the book, who explained the reasons for the 1971 war and Pakistan’s fixation with this geo-politically important strategic area.

Best selling writer Ashwin Sanghi’s interaction with Ranjana Sengupta on Making of a Best Seller: 70 Secrets Condensed, brought a few light moments with Sanghi describing his background as a ‘Baniya’ whose vocabulary was limited to just two words—credit and debit.

Well, a lot many words have enriched his vocabulary ever since and Sanghi, as a bestselling writer, parts with his secrets with the audience as how to become one.

“When you are writing a story, just don the cap of a storyteller and once the writing process comes to an end, then don the cap of a bookseller. Then forget that you are a writer,” he says.

Well, all you budding writers if you are planning to heed Sanghi’s advice and come up with your debut book, here is an incentive—Anupam Kher has just announced an award of Rs 1 lakh for the best debut novel.