Udaipur is set to host the seventh edition of the Udaipur Tales Festival from January 9. Organised by the Maa Mai Anchor Foundation, this three-day event will take place at Park Exotica Resort on Shilpgram Road.
The festival will feature renowned storytellers and Bollywood artists from India and abroad, who will share stories on a variety of themes. On January 9, at 10 am, local storytellers Vilas Janve and Kiran Janve will present a humorous story titled ‘Chhora Mewadi Sabse Agadi’ for children. This will be followed by Gauri Neelakantan’s fictional tale ‘Jadui Bimari’ and Rajesh Shinde’s musical folk story ‘Sankochi Asur aur Ullal ki Sherni’.
In the evening at 5:30 pm, the lineup includes Mayur Kalbag’s mysterious story ‘Aghori’, an African folk song titled ‘Aakash ke Neeche’, contemporary story ‘Jeevan’ by Bollywood artist Divya Nidhi Sharma, Rajit Kapoor’s story ‘Kachre ki Hifazat’, and the satirical play ‘Majnu’. Sanjukta Sinha Dance Company will also present a classical fusion dance titled ‘Badalti Ret’.
On the second day, the morning session will start with Shona Malhotra’s humorous story ‘Kahaniyon ka Pitara’ for children. This will be followed by presentations of folk literature by Maiya Ganatra, Rajesh Shinde’s story ‘Gopi Gain, Upendra Bagha Bain’, and Bengali folk tales by Kishore Ray Chaudhary.
Every day from 3 pm to 5 pm, ‘Jamghat’ will be held, hosting storytelling competitions for housewives, college students, and general audiences. The second day will also see the felicitation of storytellers as part of a school-level storytelling contest.
Theatre director and storyteller Danish Hussain will present ‘Tilism-e-Hoshruba’, Colonel R.K. Sharma will narrate a story on ‘Veerta’, and Bollywood artist Arif Zakaria will share a romantic story ‘Rickshaw’. Actor and singer Mayang Chang will perform independent music.
The final day will commence with a story titled ‘Ek Sainik ki Patni ka Jeevan’ by Geetika Leader, followed by Jyoti Pandey’s classical epic ‘Urmila’ and Mikka Chesron’s Israeli mythological tale ‘Yona aur Whale’. The Jail University Band will perform in the afternoon.
At 5:30 pm, the session ‘Jeevan ka Hissa’ will feature autobiographical storytelling by Divya Dutta, Vijay Kumar’s satirical story ‘Bihar mein Chunav’, and a story on illegal tiger poaching by Indian musician and tiger conservationist Abhishek Ray. The night will conclude with a Sufi Qawwali performance by Aanchal Srivastava. Readmio will be the digital partner of the Udaipur Tales International Storytelling Festival.
