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Bazm-e-Virasat 2025: Jaideep Ahlawat, Anurag Basu, Anubhav Sinha, Indian Ocean headline Prayagraj's cultural fest
The three-day festival starting on December 19, will have sessions of culture, literature, cinema, sports, Prayagraj's rich heritage and cultural performances.
The land of Sangam is set to witness a grand congregation of actors, directors, performing artistes, and more during the three-day Bazm-e-Virasat, beginning Friday. Organised by Bishop Johnson School in Prayagraj, the event's second edition will feature sessions on film, culture, literature, and sports, alongside musical performances celebrating the city’s rich cultural heritage.
A major highlight will be the film discussion session with filmmakers Leena Yadav, Anurag Basu, Anubhav Sinha, and Tigmanshu Dhulia. The schedule also includes a one-on-one session with actor Jaideep Ahlawat, an ‘Actors Table’ with Neena Gupta, Gajraj Rao, Vineet Kumar, and Mukesh Chhabra, and a ‘Stars of our City’ session featuring Aditya Srivastava, Faisal Malik, Deepraj Rana, Shashwat Singh, and Nidhi Singh.
Organiser Tigmanshu Dhulia says, “This is our second edition, and our endeavour is to revive the cultural scene for which the city has been famous and to remember the legends it has produced.”
A series of cultural performances are scheduled across the three days. These include ‘Dastan-e-Sarfaroshi’, a dastangoi by Himanshu Bajpai, Vedant Bhardwaj, and Ajay Tipanya; a Nirgun recital by Prahlad Tipanya and group; a ghazal recital by Rashmi Agarwal; an Indian Fusion ensemble by Pakshee Band; a musical concert by Indian Ocean; ‘Scintillating Seventies’ by the Voice & Trumpet Band; and the dastangoi ‘Dastan-e-Karn’ by Mahmood Farooqui.
A mushaira and kavi sammelan will also be held, with participation from Shakeel Azmi, Sampat Saral, Rajesh Reddy, Azhar Iqbal, Popular Meeruti, Sonroopa Vishal, Shahid Anjum, and Abhishek Shukla.
“On the sports front, this time we have a ‘Cricket Talk’ session with Mohd Kaif, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Winston Zaidi, and Ayaz Memon,” adds Dhulia.
Several sessions are dedicated exclusively to Prayagraj. These include ‘Saints of Allahabad’ with Badri Narayan, Siraj Ajmali, and NR Farooqui; ‘Story of our City’ with Gopal Chaturvedi, Dhananjay Chopra, and Neelum Saran Gour; and ‘Purane Sheher Ki Baatein aur Kisse’ with Asif Usmani, Prof Dhananjay Chopra, Abhay Awasthi, Yash Malviya, and Anshu Malviya.
The lineup also features a discussion on Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’ with Prof. Awadesh Pradhan, Tarun Kumar, and Pranay Krishna, and ‘Allahabad in Literature’ with Mamta Kalia, Vibhuti Narain Rai, Uday Prakash, Anita Gopesh, Neelam Saran Gour, and Yash Malviya.
