Unleashing the power of stories

Experience the magic of storytelling at Kathakar International Storytellers Festival, featuring renowned artists and musicians from around the world.

Prarthana, Shaguna and Rachna Gahilote, also known as Gahilote sisters, grew up on a hearty dose of stories in the mountains. Since their father Thakur Vishwa Narain Singh, was an eminent journalist and the first Braille Editor of India, books were held close to heart. To share their passion for stories, the sisters kickstarted the Kathakar International Storytellers Festival in 2010. It continues to be held every year in the city with much fanfare and has become synonymous with celebration of storytelling in the global arena. 

After 14 years and 17 editions, Kathakar remains the first and only Oral Storytelling festival in India, which has till date reached out to over 1,50,00 adults and children

The new edition of the three-day fest which starts today at Sunder Nursery Heritage Park will bringtogether a gamut of storytellers from different parts of India and the world.

While the International section boasts names such as Usifu Jalloh from Sierra Leone, Polina Tserkassova from Estonia, Na’ama Tel Tsur from Israel, and Michal Malinowski from Poland; the Indian representation has filmmakers Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Basu, filmmaker and writer Sajid Ali who co-wrote Chamkila, Taba Chake, an upcoming musician from Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthani folk singer Kutle Khan, famous qawwals Niyazi brothers, and Bhupinder Babbal, Punjabi folk singer of ‘Arjan Vailly’ fame.

Singer Mohit Chauhan, who, like Imtiaz Ali, is a patron of the festival, will speak on storytelling through music. Though the festival doesn’t restrict itself to any themes, this time the spotlight is on telling stories through music, which explains the inclusion of folk singers and musicians in this edition. Every year, the festival looks at different aspects of storytelling — through music, dance and cinema.

“Storytelling is a dying art. Once, while travelling in the mountains collecting stories, we asked a kid to narrate a story but he didn’t know any except ‘Cinderella’. It was like a rude shock that the child didn’t know any local stories from his own culture. That’s how the idea of Kathakar festival was born,” says Prarthana Gahilote, who has curated the event along with her sisters.

In 2017, Shaguna and Prarthana also published ‘Curious Tales from the Desert’ that had folk stories from the deserts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sindh and Multan.