~A befitting curtain raiser to the 4th edition of Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet 2019~

Readings from a book S. D. Burman: The Prince Musician, engaging conversation and snatches of evergreen music were a befitting curtain-raiser to the fourth edition of the Tata Steel Bhubaneshwar Literary Meet (TSBLM) at Bocca Café in the city today.

Authors Balaji Vittal and Anirudha Bhattacharjee talked about their book, S. D. Burman: The Prince Musician, which talks of the life and times of Sachin Dev Burman, the man who gave Hindi film music its grammar and is perhaps the most enigmatic figure in Indian cine history. The book is packed with unmatched insights into SD’s life, work and his astute understanding of Hindi cinema.

Bocca Café was packed full, with both regulars and those who had come in just for the session. Questions from the audience - quite funny of Hindi film music aficionados, made for a lively event that celebrated an enduring genius.

At its fourth edition to be held between January 11-13, 2019, Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet will be hosting an array of authors, thought leaders, opinion makers and performers. Open to all, the festival will be held at a new venue, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.

As a platform where ideas converge, TSBLM will once again explore the worlds of art, music, dance and current affairs. However, at the core of the festival lies literature and how it impacts both our cultural and everyday life.

The festival’s inaugural session in the afternoon of January 11 is on Gandhi at 150 with Sugata Bose and Jatindra Nayak discussing the Mahatma’s relationship with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. This will be followed by a session with legendary actress Waheeda Rehman’s reminisces on how she immortalized literary characters on screen.

Popular writing and comedy would also be part of the festival with best-selling writers Ravinder Singh and Vineet Bajpai as well as well-known stand-up Abijit Ganguly being at the festival. Odia sessions to discuss Gandhi in Odisha, the legacy of Fakir Mohan Senapati a century after his demise, ‘Becoming Odia’, among other issues, will feature prominently in the festival.

Padma Bhushan Ruskin Bond will speak twice at the festival, once to children and once in the concluding session.

The festival will be brought to a melodious close by eminent singer Rekha Bhardwaj on the evening of January 13.

Other speakers of note are Aatish Taseer, Jayant Kripalani, Bikram Grewal, Nicholas James, Nabina Das, Sucheta Mishra, Ileana Citaristi, Mitra Phukan, Kishwar Desai, Charles Assisi, NS Ramnath, Prajwal Parajuly, Debashish Panigrahi, Hussain Haidry, Pritish Acharya, Gourahari Das, Dash Benhur and Ananta Mahapatra, among others.

Festival director Malavika Banerjee said, “The Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet has grown into a three-day celebration of writings, ideas and entertainment. A festival of this nature blossoms in the open freshness of an education campus, and the festival’s partner XIMB will give it a fresh, cosmopolitan and youthful impetus. I hope the book-loving people of Bhubaneshwar will enjoy the festival’s diverse strands.”

Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel, said, “At Tata Steel, we look at building inclusive and sustainable relationships with communities around cultural platforms. The Literary meet at Bhubaneswar is a significant community outreach event which has received tremendous encouragement over the years from the people of Odisha, especially thought leaders and students. It gives us immense satisfaction to host an event that propagates intellectual engagement and cultural expression without barriers in a city that has a rich literary and historical legacy.”

About Tata Steel
Tata Steel Group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 27.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) as on March 31, 2018. It is one of the world's most geographically-diversified steel producers, with operations and commercial presence across the world. The Group recorded a consolidated turnover of US $20.41 billion (INR 133,016 crore) in FY18. Tata Steel Group is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 65,000. Tata Steel retained Industry Leader position in FY18 and ranked second overall in the DJSI assessment, 2017. The Company has been recognised as the Climate Disclosure Leader in ‘Steel category’ by CDP (2017). Besides being a member of the World Steel Climate Action Programme, Tata Steel was felicitated with several awards including the Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best perfrming integrated steel plant for 2014-15 and 2015-16, Best Risk Management by CNBC TV18 (2018) and ‘Corporate Strategy Award’ by Mint (2018). The Company also received the ‘Most Ethical Company’ award from Ethisphere Institute for the sixth time (2018), Steel Sustainability Champions (2017) by the World Steel Association, Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards (2017 & 2018), Golden Peacock HR Excellence Award by Institute of Directors (2017) as well as 'Asia's Best Integrated Report' award by the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards (2017), among several others

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