MUSIC APPRECIATION PROMOTION
Aesthetics of Film Music                                                                                                                                                     

 An illustrated presentation by Dr Mrudula Dadhe Joshi

The presentation will demonstrate various aesthetic elements observed in the making of Hindi Film Music. It will further examine the application of various gharanas used in Hindi film music.

Dr Mrudula Dadhe Joshi an expert in film music, singer, writer, and faculty member for Light Vocal Music at Mumbai University 

Memory, Migration and the Archive: The Transnational Afterlives of Family Photographs

Speaker: Özge Baykan Calafato, an academic, curator, and writer. A lecturer at the University of Amsterdam and Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi. She is the author of Making the Modern Turkish Citizen: Vernacular Photography in the Early Republican Era (I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2022).

Moderator: Prof. Sabeena Gadihoke, a scholar, documentary filmmaker, and photo historian, and a long-time faculty member at AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia.

How do photographs travel across borders, lives, and generations, and what forms of personal and collective memory do they invoke? This talk traces the intricate entanglements of transnational memory, migration histories, and photographic archives. 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
Seeds of Hate: Bangladesh's extremist surge
Edited by Shahriar Kabir and Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury (Grin Media, 2025)

Discussants: SH M J Akbar, Former MOS External Affairs, Author & Senior Journalist; Amb Pankaj Saran, Member NSAB, Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh & Ambassador to Russia & Deputy NSA; Dr. Anirban Ganguly, Chairman, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Research Foundation; Ms Smruti Patnaik, Research Fellow IDSA & Noted Bangladesh Expert; Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, Editor of the book

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP                                                         
The Vulgarity of caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India
by Shailaja Paik (Navayana, 2022)

Discussants: Shailaja Paik, professor at University at Cincinnati and MacArthur Genius of 2024 & Author of the book followed by a conversation with Prof Projit Mukharji, Prof. of History, Ashoka University and Prof Prathama Banerjee Historian, CSDS
 

Five Years On: Mapping the New Terrain of Indian Publishing
Keynote Speaker: Gaëlle Bohé, Director of Fontaine O Livres and President of the Académie Hors Concours, which awards the annual Prix Hors Concours to francophone authors from independent publishers.
Five years on, Indian publishing is still reshaping itself in response to the disruptions of the pandemic. This session takes a broad, stock-taking view of the industry, exploring how shifts of the past decade – political centralisation, market consolidation, and rapid technological change – have intensified in the post-pandemic period. From the growing power of conglomerates and global platforms to the pressures on independent publishers and the expanding role of AI, we examine the forces that are defining Indian publishing’s next phase and what they mean for the future of books in the country.
The keynote address will be followed by a Panel Discussion and Awards.
(Collaboration: Publishing Next)
 

Decoding Hate Speech in India - Strategies and Challenges to Curb it
Paper presentations by the Sectoral Policy Group (SPG) on Social Affairs

The papers examine the entire gamut of issues concerning hate speech in India: the legal and constitutional framework and context; misrepresentation of the past; use of divisive narratives for ‘othering’ of religious minorities (primarily Muslims and Christians), Dalits, Adivasis and communities from Northeast India; role of police, civil administration and media; the way forward to curb hate speech.

Opening remarks:  Suhas Borker, Convener, SPG-Social Affairs  

Papers presented by Justice (Retd) Madan B. Lokur; Prof. S. Irfan Habib; Dr Meeran C. Borwankar; Prof. Apoorvanand; Shri S. N Sahu; Shri Jafar Alam; Prof. Y. S. Alone and DrMercy Vungthianmuang.

The paper of Prof Jagdeep S. Chhokar shall be presented posthumously.

Chair: Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari, former Chief Justice, Patna High Court  

(Organised by the IIC’s Sectoral Policy Group on Social Affairs)

Rocking and Rolling with the Stones

Illustrated talk on the music of The Rolling Stones

Dr Punita G Singh

In this musical journey with The Rolling Stones, we explore how a shifting cast of brilliantly idiosyncratic musicians created one of the most enduring bands in rock history. Fusing early rock with the blues, their innovative sound experiments included influences from gospel, R&B, soul, country, folk and even reggae and disco. 

Emerging alongside—The Beatles—in the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones carved out their own image and constantly reinvent themselves. Through iconic audio tracks, video clips and stories, we get a glimpse into the colourful personalities, lives and oeuvre of these musicians who continue to attract listeners across generations.

Punita G Singh is a musicologist, linguist, acoustician, editor and educator based in New Delhi.

Recovering the Plays of Māyurāja

Conversation between Prof. Andrew Ollett, University of Chicago, and Prof. Naresh Keerthi, Ashoka University

Chair: Dr. Sudha Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director, IIC-International Research Division

The speakers will share their experiences of editing and translating two plays composed by the eighth-century poet Māyurāja, Tāpasavatsarāja (“Udayana the Ascetic”) and Udāttarāghava (“Raghu’s Exalted Descendants”). They will refer to the challenges posed by the manuscripts, of which there is only one extant for Tāpasavatsarāja, and only one accessible to scholars of Udāttarāghava.

Prof. Andrew Ollett works on the literary and intellectual traditions of South Asia, including works composed in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhramsha, Kannada, and Chinese from the first millennium of the common era. He is the recipient of the Infosys Prize for 2025.

Prof. Naresh Keerthi is Head, Department of Sanskrit, Ashoka University and researched on the semantics of colour in Sanskrit, at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. He is interested in kāvya and nāṭya literature in Sanskrit and Prakrit, and their interactions with South India’s literary cultures. He studies topics at the intersection of the lexicon, grammar and poetics, and is investigating the development of poetic topoi in kāvya literature.

Sixteenth in a series of lectures organised by IIC-International Research Division with the support of Ministry of External Affairs

The Classical Compositions of Hazrat Amir Khusrau

An illustrated presentation by Madhumita Ray

A presentation of noted classical compositions created by the Sufi saint known primarily as the father of Kheyal and Qawwali, Hazrat Amir Khusrau. This lecture based on rare ragas will demonstrate his works based on some recordings by eminent artists.

Madhumita Ray is an eminent Hindustani Classical (Khayal) and semi classical (Thumri-Dadra) vocalist performing and teaching nationally and internationally for over 30 years.

Charismatic Chiaroscuro: Poetry and Art

By Meena Chopra (2025)

Discussants: Prof. Sukrita Paul Kumar, Scholar, Poet, Academician, Prof Sudeep Sen, Poet, Literary Editor, Photographer, Ms. Meena Chopra, Author, Poet & Artist

Chair: Prof. Malashri Lal, Scholar, Poet, Academician