India Shayari Project to celebrate Independence Day

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Zee Live is all set to celebrate India’s Independence Day with “India Shayari Project”, a ninety minute program of conversations, poems and stories by poet Javed Akhtar, Kausar Munir, Dr. Kumar Vishwas and Zakir Khan.

Aiming to attract and acquaint the young with poetry, “India Shayari Project” in digital format will be launched August 15 on Moment House by Zee Live which is one of the prominent global media & entertainment companies across genres, languages, and integrated content platforms, Zee Live is part of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. Moment House is the premium digital live platform that connects artists and their core fans for global, elevated ticketed experiences called “Moments”.

The inaugural episode of “India Shayari Project” will be in the form of a symposium by four celebrated personalities of the Indian poetry and entertainment world, and will include poems and conversations by the noted poet and film lyric writer Javed Akhtar, poet and screen-writer Kausar Munir, the much-loved stand-up-comedian Zakir Khan, and writer, motivational speaker and film lyricist Dr. Kumar Vishwas.

The poet Javed Akhtar is a known name among Indian film lovers who might have hummed one or other of his famous lyrics from the films. His earlier work also involved screen-writing with his business partner, making theirs the famous team of Salim-Javed. Coming from a long line of poets in the family, with his father, Jaan Nisaar Akhtar, also a lyricist in films, he has been a disciple of noted poet Kaifi Azmi. A film studies graduate, Kausar Munir, began her career in television introducing a new story concept with Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin.  She has gone on to write more fiction and nonfiction television shows, and famous lyrics in films. Zakir Khan has won the title of “India’s Best Stand Up” and has continued to be that in his career, presenting humor in an anecdotal and poetic style. Dr. Kumar Vishwas has been a writer and speaker, and a script writer and lyricist for films. All of these would be talking about their relation to the freedom movement, their experiences and also presenting their poems, making the event a modern-day “mushaira”.

“The India Shayari Project is an ode to the people who have written kavita and shayari,” says Chief Business Officer Swaroop Banerjee of Zee Live. Speaking to News India Times, he said the project is planned as a curated set of poetry with Bollywood celebrities or with new and upcoming poets from everywhere. At present, the program will be presented in all mainstream media, he said.

The “India Shayari Project” is planned as a multi-lingual and multi-cultural event. “We will definitely have, regional India Shayari Project sessions,” Banerjee told News India Times. “I think we are a country where our language, our culture, our ethnicity changes every 26kms and you’ll see the ISP performed in multiple languages with superstars, celebs and poets from each of the regions and for audiences that are around the world especially in the US, where there is a very large population of Indian audiences that speak Gujarati, Punjabi and a lot of languages and it is only natural that we will enter that destination,” he said.

Zee Live has teamed up with the Moment House, who, according to Banerjee are a “like-minded partner and live stream destination which is truly performance oriented”. Zee Live is planning a Punjabi hip-hop music event and future events in Indian music, comedy, and lifestyle.

Zee Live might hold in-person public events when Covid restrictions would be lifted. “We have been geared up with all our safety practices and norms,” Banerjee said. “I think the entire industry is geared up to host events in a socially distanced manner to begin with and as and when the laws in state apply, we should be able to get back to it,” he added.

“India Shayari Project” can be watched on the digital platform of Moment House: https://www.momenthouse.com/indiashayariproject.