Never a Dull De: Shobhaa De and Mahesh Bhatt Unplugged at Spring Fever

Renowned writer and columnist, Shobhaa De’ and ace director, Mahesh Bhat set the mood of Spring Fever in motion by gracing the inaugural day of the literature fiesta with their presence. The session called ‘Never a Dull De’ was a candid conversation between Shobhaa De’ and Mahesh Bhatt. The evening witnessed an interactive tete a tete with both personalities talking about their experience first working together in Swabhiman. The session sparked off further with a chat on what makes people want to get into the art of storytelling and they also delved briefly into the role of sexuality and gender in society and its representation in Indian writing. The overall format of the discussion was an open and friendly chat between two old friends, in which Mahesh Bhatt took on the role of sparking the topic of discussion and Shobhaa De elucidated on the themes with.

Speaking during the session, Ms,Shobhaa De said, ”We all have stories within us, some of us choose to tell it, some of us don’t. The key to the art of storytelling is to know what makes people tick, why they do what they do. The core of it all lies in being passionate about human interests. “The Narrative is key and king to any narrator. It is intuitive as it can’t be gauged, you can’t manipulate the readers. The idea is to communicate your story with sincerity and engage the reader from page one”, she added.

Mahesh Bhatt during the session asked Shobhaa De “what is the secret recipe for creating the right mix of storytelling”. He went on to say “what I love about ‘Sethji’ (Shobhaa De’s new book) is that you can smell the characters in the book”.

Now in its fourth edition, Spring Fever is Delhi’s first-ever literature spring festival, and the only festival of its kind organized by a leading publisher in India. You can browse through Penguin’s remarkable range of books at the open air library at Spring Fever or be a part of a series of literary evenings.
During the day, the open air library at Spring Fever features a complete range of Penguin India books, from landmark fiction and non-fiction titles first published over a decade ago to the latest bestsellers and books that are creating news today, and including the entire collection of Penguin Classics and children’s books. With a spacious layout in a quiet corner away from the bustle of crowds, the open air library is sure to be a browser’s paradise. a

Other star authors such as Vikram Seth, Ramachandra Guha, Mira Nair, Gulzar, Sudha Murthy, Ruskin Bond, Prakash Iyer, Ankit Fadia, Amit Mehra, Vikas Khanna, Restaurateur Monish Gujral, Durjoy Datta and Nikita Singh will also grace the festival.

The ten-day festival is being held at India Habitat Centre from 15th to 24th March (7pm onwards)  and will encompass a wide range of activities including readings, discussions, conversations and other exciting activities along with some excellent musical performances.

Like all its previous editions, this year’s Festival too is open to all.

The Spring Fever continues to be one of the largest literature festivals in Delhi with a footfall of more than 30,000 people visiting the festival each year.