The third season of KCC Baithakkhana was held at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity (KCC).

This unique literary gathering, which was organized by Sanchari Mookherjee and Chandril Bhattacharya, was a three-day celebration of Bengali literature and culture through readings, performances, debates, talks, and discussions.

This year’s Baithakkhana, which was held at KCC, examined the theme of borders in popular culture and literature.

“We began organizing the Bengali literary festival, “KCC Baithakkhana,” out of a passion for Bengali culture, and it has since grown into an addiction, especially thanks to a devoted following that equally enjoys seriousness and fun. The theme for this third year is Border. We talk about the division between commercial and art films as well as the 1947 partition. Manto, Ghatak, and the idea of gender in a woke society will all be covered. Whether Gen-Z is beyond our comprehension will be a topic of discussion. This year, we want to go above and beyond expectations,” said curator Chandril Bhattacharya, KCC Baithakkhana Chapter 3.

This year’s program brought together a diverse lineup of writers, filmmakers, actors, musicians, and thinkers after two successful editions.

Chhotoder Baithakkhana, a special section for younger audiences that provided a venue for literary and artistic exchange, kicked off the festival. It featured a creative writing workshop led by Indranil Sanyal, a storytelling session by RJ Agni with Sukumar Ray’s Pagla Dashu and Ha Ja Ba Ra La, and a discussion on the value of mother tongue, judged by Sanchari Mookherjee, one of the curators.

The second and third days of KCC Baithakkhana included a variety of talks, speeches, and performances that addressed the concept of boundaries in literature, movies, and daily life.

Highlights included Anirban Chakraborty, Jojo Mukherjee, Abir Chattopadhyay, and Ishaa Saha discussing crossing social and personal boundaries; Semanti Ghosh and Jayanta Sengupta discussing divided Bengal with Shishir Roy; and Anjan Dutt and Chanchal Chowdhury discussing the blurring lines between art and commercial cinema with Chandril Bhattacharya. Joy Goswami’s keynote speech addressed the boundaries of meaning in poetry, while Srijit Mukherjee, Abdul Kafi, and Yashodhara Ray Chaudhuri revisited borders in Saadat Hasan Manto’s writings.

Talking with Ranjan Bandopadhyay and Srijato, as well as Kamaleshwar Mukherjee and Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay, discussed literary forms that go beyond traditional structures and how Partition is portrayed in Ritwik Ghatak’s films.

A speech by Chandril Bhattacharya, a debate on generational identity with Riddhi Sen, Ushasi Ray, Anusha Viswanathan, Swati Bhattacharya, Pabitra Sarkar, and Anindya Chattopadhyay, and conversations with Joydeep Ghosh and Indranil Roy Chowdhury on topics like Apu’s journey across village and city were all included in the final day’s events.

Other discussions included children’s literature and popular fiction with Pracheta Gupta, Sakyajit Bhattacharya, and Aparajita Dasgupta, as well as gender and identity with Ipshita Halder, Anuttama Banerjee, and Sandip Roy.

Anindya Chattopadhyay, Srijato, and Sanchari Mookherjee led a session on navigating midlife as part of the program. Somak and Deepanjan Ghosh’s storytelling presentation marked the end of Day 2, and Debojyoti Mishra’s instrumental performance, which was inspired by the Apu Trilogy, marked the end of Day 3.

Priyanka Dutta