Sahitya Aaj Tak an attempt to promote Hindi literature, music, drama: India Today Group VC Kalli Purie

Sahitya Aaj Tak started off with Vice Chairperson of India Today Group, Kalli Purie's speech.

She welcomed everybody and thanked them for attending Sahitya Aaj Tak. Kalli Purie expressed profound gratitude to guests for being a part of the event in spite of the smog in Delhi which has made life difficult in the Capital.

Purie said, "Sahitya Aaj Tak is an attempt to promote Hindi literature, music, and drama."

Singer Anup Jalota and singer Talat Aziz performed in the first session of Sahitya Aaj Tak. Inaugurating the session, Anoop Jalota said that in this world of technology, the music has not gone away but it has reached even more people.

Hans Raj Hans, Nilesh Misra and several other poets also performed in the following sessions.

Apart from these, Prasoon Joshi, songwriter and chief of the censor board, also recited some his noted poems. The first day of Sahitya Aaj Tak concluded with the performance of popular qawwali duo the Nizami brothers.

Talking about ghazals, Anup Jalota said that till there is love, ghazals will continue to have its place in the hearts of many. This is the language of love.

During a session, talking about the trend of story-telling in the country, author and storyteller Neelesh Misra said, "We need more platforms like Aaj Tak to share stories. The trend of listening to stories is rapidly growing in the country."

In another Sahitya Aaj Tak session, Hans Raj Hans said that in today's era, when people are fighting over religion, Sufi art is delivering the message of love and peace.

Prasoon Joshi said that emotions play an important role in writing songs. According to Prasoon, you get inspiration to write songs from your past.