 "Firstpost at Jaipur Literature Festival 2025: From Rishi Sunak’s viral namaste to MK Raina walking out to Ila Arun's response, here are the highlights of this year’s event")
The 25th edition of Jaipur Literature Festival was an event to remember for both sincere and shocking reasons. Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak greeted the people of the pink city with a namaste and was seated next to Infosys founder Narayan Murthy.
Also, filmmaker MK Raina walked out as he had kind of a difference of opinion over the issue of Kashmir when Ila Arun was on stage.
The two colleagues were promoting their memoirs – Raina has written Before I Forget and Arun has recently come out with Parde Ke Peechhey – at the session Memories from the Screen and Stage. The two were joined by Anjula Bedi in the session.
At one point during the conversation, Arun was discussing her latest play Peer Ghani, which is adapted from legendary playwright Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and is set in Kashmir.
Raina, who has grown up in Kashmir, then said he has been seeing less and less of the Valley in Indian theatres. “I’m sorry, I see bad films of Kashmir, accusing Kashmir of all kinds of things, lousy films… Kashmir is not being represented at all because they don’t know that state, is my assertion,” he added. A while later, he walked out of the session as Arun was performing a scene from her play Peer Ghani. It caused a flutter with people wondering what had happened.
Ila Arun responds
Someone then told Arun about Raina’s departure from the session. “Albert Pinto ko gussa kyu aya?” Arun responded, a recall of Saeed Mirza’s 1980 film Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai.
Curator Asad Lalljee moderated the session. Raina’s memoir Before I Forget chronicles his life’s highs and lows and his experience of growing up in Kashmir. Arun’s book Parde Ke Peechhey documents her extraordinary life, both onstage and behind the scenes.
Nobel Prize-winning scientist Venki Ramakrishnan Loses His Pen
“Oh, I lost my pen,” he announced, momentarily distracted from the weighty matters of science and philosophy. “It was a nice pen,” he sighed wistfully.
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