Jashn-e-Rekhta Urdu festival from 12-14 Feb in Delhi  

NEW DELHI: The second edition of Jashn-e-Rekhta, a festival celebrating Urdu will be held in Delhi from February 12-14 in New Delhi, India media reported.

The festival is being organised by the Rekhta foundation, which curates one of largest online repository of Urdu poetry in the world.

According to Indian media, over 75 acclaimed authors, poets, artists, litterateurs and singers from India, Pakistan and Us are set to attend the festival at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, organisers said in a statement.

Gopi Chand Narang, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, Iftikhar Arif, Zehra Nigah, Javed Akhtar, Jeelani Bano, Mahesh Bhatt, Shabana Azmi, Tom Alter, Sabri Brothers, Tina Sani, Ashok Vajpeyi, Namvar Singh are a few names in the line up.

It said, the festival aims to showcase the richness of Urdu through various forms like Mushaira, Qawwali, Dastangoi, Ghazals besides numerous film screenings, dances, plays and more.

A special highlight of the festival will be the birth centenary celebration of legendary Urdu writers Ismat Chugtai and Rajinder Singh Bedi, known as the pillars of Urdu fiction.

The event has also planned a celebration for the birth centenary of Akhtar-ul-Iman, famed for his modern Urdu Nazms.

Ghazal singer from Pakistan Tina Sani is set to perform at the festival and other attraction at the festival is Urdu Bazaar, a special area dedicated to brass artifacts, variety of Itra (fragrances), film posters and much more.

Sanjiv Saraf, founder Rekhta and the force behind Jashn-e-Rekhta says, "Jashn-e-Rekhta is a manifestation of our belief in the versatility, richness and the timeless beauty of Urdu. The success of its debut last year is a testimony to this belief. We were overwhelmed to see lovers of Urdu coming together to feel and experience its beauty through the savants of the language.