AR Rahman, Imtiaz Ali, Mohit Chauhan attend Kathakar festival in Delhi

The three-day oral storytelling festival, Kathakar, organised by writers Shaguna and Prarthana Gahilote, was inaugurated by singer Mohit Chauhan, composer AR Rahman, and Union Minister for Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju.

Recalling his beginnings, Rahman said, “If you don’t tell your stories, they’ll go away from you… The world is full of narratives. If people don’t have their own narratives, we’ll be taken over. Hatred comes when you don’t understand the humanity behind every culture.”

Participants included Katy Cawkwell from the UK, the last of the Kamishibai storytellers from Japan Spice Arthur 702, Colombian story writer and narrator Ramses Hamir Moctezuma Soler, Jody Edwards from Australia, Marta Maślanka from Poland, and Mongolian throat singer and storyteller D Atarbayan, who shared tales and experiences from their respective countries.

Mohit Chauhan shared his experience of working with AR Rahman and Imtiaz Ali. AR Rahman's KM Conservatory students also performed for the President at Rashtrapati Bhawan.