Mumbai: Rekhta Foundation organised its first Rekhta Gujarati Utsav in Mumbai to celebrate Gujarati language, literature and culture. The first-of-its-kind event hosted ‘mushairas’ by renowned Gujarati poets, discussions on Gujarati language and literature and music performances by well-known Gujarati artists.

On Saturday, Rekhta Gujarati organised a one-of-its-kind Gujarati literary event in Mumbai. The festival was hosted in Vadodara on January 5 and will also be hosted in Bhavnagar on January 19. Rekhta Foundation is known for its flagship festival Jashn-e-Rekhta, which works to promote Urdu language through an annual festival in Delhi which sees participation by renowned Urdu writers and Urdu-loving audience.

After Jashn-e-Rekhta, the organisation has come up with the first ever Gujarati literary festival through Rekhta Gujarati. After the festival’s celebration in Vadodara on January 5, the festival was also organised in Mumbai on Saturday at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chowpatty.

Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India, will be present at the festival as chief guest while actress Sarita Joshi along with Rajyasabha member and director of Reliance Group of Industries Parimal Nathwani, were present as the guest of honour at the Mumbai festival. The event was also attended by Sanjiv Saraf, the founder of Rekhta Foundation.

The Mumbai festival hosted poets like Saumya Joshi, Vinod Joshi, Vivek Kane, Udayan Thakker and Harish Meenashru, who recited their poetic creations. Mumbai event also enjoyed the mushaira of poets like Rajesh Vyas ‘Miskin’, Bhavesh Bhatt, Krushna Dave, Sanju Vala, Hemen Shah, Mukesh Joshi and Harshvi Patel. Renowned vocalists Praful Dave and Hardik Dave presented Gujarati folk music at the Mumbai event.

On January 19, the grand mushaira at Bhavnagar will host poets like Rajendra Shukla, Bhavesh Bhatt, Snehi Parmar, Parul Khakhar, Bharat Vinzuda, Krushna Dave, Saumya Joshi and Manohar Trivedi. Celebrated Gujarati singer Jigardaan Gadhavi aka ‘Jigra’ will perform with his band at the event. Bhavnagar event will have famous humorist and author Shahbuddin Rathod and poet Vinod Joshi as the guests of honour.

In March 2024, Rekhta Foundation had launched its digital platform Rekhta Gujarati to preserve and promote Gujarati language, literature and culture. The inaugural event in Ahmedbad was graced by spiritual leader Morari Bapu, India’s solicitor general Tushar Mehta, actor Paresh Raval and author Raghuveer Chaudhary.

Rekhta Foundation has also launched an app, Rekhta Kidz, for children to learn Gujarati language in an entertaining way. Rekhta Gujarati is also working on digitizing old and historic libraries of Gujarat including Ahmedabad’s B. J. Vidyabhavan, Nadiad’s AS Dahilakshmi Library and Navsari’s Shri Sayaji Vaibhav Library.

Sanjeev Saraf, Founder of Rekhta Foundation, said, "12 years ago, we began Rekhta Foundation with an aim of curating and promoting the Urdu language and literature. Today, Rekhta has become a movement for such a cause. The success we got in the Urdu language motivated us to expand our work to other Indian languages. So, we ventured into the world of Sufi, Hindi, and Rajasthani literature. Rekhta Gujarati too is a a step in this direction. The encouragement and support we got from Tushar Mehta helped us begin our journey with Gujarati works."

Tushar Mehta honoured Mumbai by referring to it as the "true capital of Gujarati literature". He said, "While we may have taught our new generation to read and write in Gujarati, we have forgotten to teach them to enjoy it. Rekhta is filling this gap. It’s the best platform for this purpose. Shakespeare and Tulsidas may be contemporaries, but one is known worldwide, while the other is only known to a limited audience. If we had transcreated great works of our leading literaturists, perhaps then, Narmad could have been recognised worldwide today. Rekhta is capable of achieving what we have failed to do- bringing Narmad to the new generation."