A walkthrough India’s rich history and culture at the second season of Arth

MUMBAI: After a successful season 1 in Kolkata and Delhi, Arth: A Culture Fest by ZEE is back with a grand second season in the “City of Joy” and the “National Capital Region”. The second season will kickstart with a Regional edition in Kolkata on January 04 and 05, 2020 at Swabhumi- The Heritage followed by a National edition in New Delhi from February 07 to 09, 2020 at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. 

India’s intangible cultural heritage and civilization has deeply affected the cultural life of most of Asia and has also, directly and indirectly, influenced other parts of the world. India is also one of the most ethnically diverse nations in the world, with some of the most deeply religious societies and cultures. It is no surprise that India's diversity has also inspired many writers to pen differing perceptions of the country's culture. As you walk through India’s history, her geography, her linguistic, scientific and artistic contributions, your individual interpretation becomes your discovery, your meaning, your ARTH. 

Arth – A Culture Fest is a first of its kind festival that aims to Rediscover, Reconnect with and Revisit India through art, culture, literature, politics and society. The second season of the festival aims to celebrate the essence of Indian thought and philosophy, as well as make it a journey of discovery by bringing together a wide array of thinkers, scholars, philosophers, Indologists, artists, artisans, poets and authors. The second season will have close to 200 scholars, writers, artists and artisans from across India and the globe as participants. It will include varied activities, including cultural performances, workshops, visual art installations, live art, etc. Exclusive sessions have been curated for children, which will comprise creative workshops, theatre, history, philosophy, puppet performances, and masterclasses. 

Among the prominent Indian names speaking at the Kolkata edition of the festival includes economist Subramanian Swamy, Anik Dutta, Babul Supriyo, Baudhayan Mukherji, Kunal Basu, Manoj Muntashir, Nikhil Singh Rajputt, Pradeep Sarkar, Rituparna Sengupta. Sonal Mansingh, Suman Ghosh, Supriya Newar, and Vikram Sampath. 

Speakers for the Delhi edition includes Abhijit Iyer Mitra, Abhinav Prakash, Anand Ranganathan, Ashwin Sanghi, Anuraag Saxena, Audrey E Kitagawa, D.K Hari, David Frawley, Dushyanth Sridhar, Gautam Desiraju, Hari Kiran Vadlamani, Hema Hari, Lakshmi Vishwanathan, Meenakshi Jain, R. Jagannathan, Sanjeev Sanyal, Sampadananda Misra, Shefali Vaidya, Sundeep Bhutoria, Vivek Agnihotri, and Yogini Shambhavi. 

The second edition will also include performances by legendary artistes like Bickram Ghosh, Euphoria, Goutam Das Baul, Mamata Shankar, Jayati Chakraborty, Tarapada Rajak, Usha Uthup. 

Shreyasi Goenka, Founder, and Director, Arth, said: “At ZEE, we are focused on keeping alive the meaning of Indian culture. It’s in our DNA. I am extremely glad to announce the second season of India’s largest attempt to celebrate all things that belong to this land, Arth. We want to inspire people to look inward and discover what we as Indians stand for, what we are forgetting, what we criticise and why and ultimately, how we can all move forward. The second season of Arth will aim to bind us together by discovering our common ethos.” 

Dr Vikram Sampath, Festival Director, Arth, said: “Arth is a festival to truly understand the extent of India's cultural evolution. Arth – through lectures, panel discussions, concerts, and performances – will contextualise a lot of this traditional knowledge to modern times. The festival aims to be the definitive platform to help attendees, deep-dive, into India's culture.” 

Swaroop Banerjee (COO, Zee Live) said, “Arth - A Culture Fest was the first brand launched by Zee LIVE. The country has witnessed a plethora of literature festivals, but Arth managed to carve its niche and firmly took shape as the country’s first multiregional culture festival. Over 175 authors, poets, artists, intellectuals, scientists, literary geniuses, historians, economists speak at Arth to thousands of young minds on the ground and a few million through the festival live-stream. The teams at Zee News and Zee 24 Ghanta have worked together with the Zee LIVE team to make this a truly integrated offering by us in this space."