Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2026 opened on 23 October at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), its home by the sea. As is tradition, the 17th edition began with For The Love of the Word, the Anil Dharker Session, held in memory of the festival’s founder. This year it featured the launch of Three Masters by screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar.
Three Masters: Kabir, Rahim and Vrind
The book collects dohas by three of India’s great philosopher-poets, Kabir, Rahim and Vrind. Akhtar explored the depth of this poetic tradition with translator Sumantra Ghosal, who rendered the book into English.
Reading a Kabir doha about what makes a person significant, “बड़ा हुआ तो क्या हुआ, जैसे पेड़ खजूर। पंथी को छाया नहीं, फल लागे अति दूर”, Akhtar said: “What makes you a big person? Your contribution to the world. Your contribution towards society. What have you given? You have an interval from nothingness to nothingness that is called life. What have you contributed to this human society? When he [Kabir] gives an example of the date tree, he says, despite it being big and tall it doesn’t give shade to people and the fruit is so far above. It is applicable to people too. People who have given shadow and fruit, they are remembered.”
On AI and poetry
Asked by an audience member whether AI is a threat to poetry, Akhtar said: “AI can be a good secretary, an assistant, somebody who can do tasks like filing a complaint with BMC about water shortage. But AI only comes close to capturing the conscious human mind. As far as anything creative is concerned, AI has a long way to go. Whether it is painting, composing a symphony, or writing poetry, AI cannot access the subconscious mind the way a human can.”
He added that AI has never been called to account or felt personal loss, and that emotion and the subconscious mind, which have shaped human art for centuries, are what it lacks.
Read more about the festival line-up in our preview of Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2026.
Disclaimer: The images used in this article have been provided to The Daily Brunch by Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest.
