Heritage in Conversation

From 27 to 29 March 2026, Hindi Bhavan will host Dhai Aakhar Sahityotsav, a two-and-a-half-day literary and cultural gathering that brings together some of the most distinguished voices in contemporary Hindi literature, arts and performance. Conceived as a confluence of poetry, dialogue, music, cinema and theatre, the festival offers not simply a sequence of sessions, but an immersive passage through the many living textures of Indian expressive tradition. Its guiding theme, Virasat se Bhavishy tak (“From Heritage to the Future”), sets the tonal register at once: rooted, yet restless.

The festival opens on 27 March with the session Aagaaz, being inaugurated by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Culture and Tourism Minister, and by setting a contemplative yet vibrant note with lyricist and writer Prasoon Joshi in conversation with Rajeev Ranjan. The evening is graced by the celebrated folk artist Prahlad Tipaniya, whose rendition of Kabir weaves together devotion, dissent and artistry in a manner wholly characteristic of the festival’s own spirit.

The second day, 28 March, unfolds as a rich literary tapestry. Its most anticipated session, Bargad ki Chhaon Mein, brings together four towering figures of Hindi poetry, many of them being Sahitya Akademi Awardees: Ashok Vajpeyi, Nandkishore Acharya, Arun Kamal, Uday Prakash and Rameshwar Rai, in an unhurried conversation that anchors the festival in the depth and plurality of poetic tradition. The afternoon poetry session ‘K’ se Kavita extends this spirit further, featuring poets like Babushaa Kohli, Dipak Jaiswal, Satendra Shukla, and Poet-Administrators, Ashutosh Agnihotri and Nishant Jain. A session of particular significance, Aadhi Duniya... Poora Fasana gathers prominent women writers: Mamta Kalia, Anamika, Nirmala Putul, Sudha Singh and Garima Srivastava, offering sustained reflection on gendered experience, literary form and social reality. The day widens to embrace other art forms: cinema finds representation in Bioscope: Cinema ki Kahani, with filmmaker Sudhir Mishra and Gaurav Dwivedi, while theatre takes the stage in Rang-Abhinay-Rang with Actor, Writer, and Director, Saurabh Shukla, Chitaranjan Tripathi, Director of NSD, and Rahul Mittra, Producer of films like Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster, Sarkar 3. The session, Do-Aab: Ek Yatra, features Sanjeev Saraf, the founder of Jashn-e-Rekhta, in a reflective journey through the confluences of language, memory and lived experience. The evening closes with the evocative storytelling tradition of Dastangoi in Dastan-e-Sahir, performed by Himanshu Vajpeyi and Pragya Sharma.

The final day, 29 March, turns its attention toward media, evolving language and the poetics of the contemporary. Sahityik Patrakarita and Chautha Khamba explore the intersections of literature and journalism, with participants including Om Thanvi, Sanjay Sahay, Prem Janmejay, Vyomesh Shukl, Ashish Pande, Rajeev Ranjan and Sanket Upadhyay. Nayi Zabaan Naye Kisse turns to emerging voices and shifting idioms, featuring Divyaprakash Dube, Neelotpal Mrinal, Praveen Kumar and Shailesh Bharatwasi. The lyrical strand continues in Shayari ke Dhanak Rang with Kamna Prasad and Minu Bakshi.

The closing evening is designed to linger. Nazm aur Nagme brings together Piyush Mishra, Amit Siyal and Gaurav Dwivedi in a musical and poetic celebration, and Sudhanshu Trivedi, Member of Parliament, speaks on Hindi in the global context, after which the festival concludes with a staging of Bhikari Thakur’s folk theatre classic Bidesiya, directed by Sanjay Upadhyay and presented by Nirmaan Kala Manch, Patna. It is a fitting close: classical in form, immediate in feeling, and alive in the present moment.

At its heart, Dhai Aakhar understands language not merely as a vehicle of communication, but as a living cultural force, one that binds poetry to politics, devotion to dissent, and memory to becoming. The festival’s carefully held arc, from classical invocation through contemporary discourse to folk theatre, ensures an experience that is at once intellectually serious and humanly warm. Open to all who love literature, art and thoughtful exchange, Dhai Aakhar 2026 invites its audiences into a space where words are not merely read or heard, but deeply felt.