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The Cultural Frontline: Art in India's 75th year of independence

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Art in India's 75th year of independence

15/01/2022 GMT

BBC World Service - The Cultural Frontline, Art in India's 75th year of independence

Artists looking forwards and back in India's 75th anniversary year of independence

Playwrights, singers, artists and authors in India on the challenges of saving traditional culture and creating new art in their country's 75th anniversary year of independence

75 years of independence, also means it's the 75th anniversary of partition between India and Pakistan. Author and historian Aanchal Malhotra gives reporter Paul Waters a tour of Delhi's Old Fort, or Purana Qila, searching for traces or commemoration of the huge refugee camp for Muslims there in 1947. She asks if India is yet ready to mark the more complex and painful aspects of its recent history in public art?

Playwrights and artists Amitesh Grover and Purva Naresh create art that challenges their audience to think and Indian society to confront uncomfortable truths. They share what inspires them and what they see as the threats to freedom of expression in India today.

Writer Annie Zaidi talks about her new book, City of Incident, and the uncertain position of vocal, visible women in contemporary India.

And celebrated folk singer Malini Awasthi reveals the art that changed her life and set her on a mission to ensure that traditional songs, culture and languages survive as India evolves. She was performing at the Kalinga Literary Festival in Bhubaneswar in association with the British Council.

Presenter: Anu Anand
Producer: Paul Waters

(Photo: The Indian flag. Credit: Menonsstocks /Getty)

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