Farzana Mansoor
ABU DHABI: The UAE’s first Urdu Literature Festival in Abu Dhabi last week. It was nothing short of a milestone in the Urdu literary community where the various aspects of the language and culture were showcased beautifully.
The event was opened by the well known anchor Tarannum Ahmad, while the chief organiser Dr. Sabahat Asim Wasti and the Chief Guest Imad uL Malik inaugurated the event. Dr. Wasti welcomed the guests and shared his vision about the festival.
Muskan Syed Riaz then took over as the anchor and introduced each segment with flair.
The festival began with the comedy sketch Radio Dekho , written and director by Gagan Mudgal and performed by himself, Tarannum Ahmed, Tabsira Suhravardi, Soni and Mohammad Saleem. The play was enjoyed by the audience for its humor and relatable content.
The story telling segment Kahani Hamari Tumhari was so mesmerising that the audience listened to Ehtesham Shahid and Dr. Asad Rabbani in absolute silence. Every sentence was absorbed thoroughly.
A similar sentiment was felt during Syed Sahil Agha’s Dastangoi. The super-talented dastango not only filled the ambience with his charisma and eloquence, he also made the audience indulge in the experience of live dastan that was derived using keywords that came from the audience.
The poetry segment was divided into two, Sukhan Kadah Youth Mushaira and Sukhanwar Bahut Achche.
Sukhan Kadah was presided by Salman Ahmed and conducted by Asif Rasheed Asjad and the participating poets were Hina Abbas, Shahbaz Shamsi, Abrar Umar, Muskan Syed Riaz, Waseem Azmi, Kanwal Malik and Ahmed Jahangeer.
Sukhanwar Bahut Achche was presided by Zahoor ul Islam Javed and conducted by Alok Shrivastav, while the renowned poets from India and Pakistan such as Tauseef Tabish, Zaheer Mushtaq Rana, Ameer Imam, Adil Ahmed, Abbas Tabish, Dr. Sabahat Asim Wasti and Syed Aijaz Shaheen and Yaqoob Tasavvur presented their poetry.
Bazm Ilm-o-Funn International, established in 1952, presented awards to three eminent personalities in our event. Gagan Mudgal was presented the Shaukat Wasti Safeer e Nau Award, Rehan Khan of Bazm e Urdu Dubai was presented the Shaukat Wasti Khadim e Urdu Award and Yaqoob Tasavvur was presented the Shaukat Wasti Lifetime Achievement Award.
The event was concluded with Sufi music where Mueed Hashmi and his band created magic with their voice and music.
The event was a result of the tireless efforts of the Chief Coordinator Syed Sarosh Asif who was assisted by Hina Abbas, Ehtesham Shahid, Amna, Nadeem Shahzad, Musarrat Abbas, Tarannum Ahmad, Abrar Umar, Muskan Syed Riaz, Sanober Sabah, Asif Rasheed Asjad, Khurram Shehzad, Raza Ahmad Raza, Kunwar Saleem, Syed Azharuddin and Prateek Kharbanda.
