Ahmedabad — The landmark 10ᵗʰ edition of the Ahmedabad International Literature Festival (AILF) is set to captivate audiences on 11th and 12th October 2025, exploring the vibrant intersection of storytelling across text and screen under the theme “Literature & Cinema.” Founder director of the festival Umashanker Yadav briefed the media about the ten years of glorious journey of this prestigious festival and how it has grown in strides since its inception in 2016. The festival which has impacted thousands of lives across the globe has its own unique set of values and programming procedure which blends fresh and youth with the old and experience to make it one of the most inclusive collectives of the art, literature and culture. Shri Manoj Aggarwal, IAS (Retd.), Former Additional Chief Secretary (Health); Dr. Rajesh Chandwani, National Award-winning Filmmaker and Faculty at IIMA; Mr. Vision Raval, Founder of Sahitya Manch, Vision Incorp., Media Hives and AI Expert; and Shri Umashanker Yadav, Founder of AILF, Filmmaker, Writer and Entrepreneur, shared detailed information about the Ahmedabad International Literature Festival (AILF) and its upcoming edition.
A galaxy of distinguished guests and creative voices will grace the event, including legendary litterateur and Gyanpeeth awardee Raghuveer Chaudhary, renowned film personality Jamnadas “JD” Majethia (Producer, Director and Actor), Mushtaq Khan (Senior Hindi Films Actor), Pia Benegal (daughter of legendary film maker Shyam Benegal, Producer and Celebrity Costume designer), Shobha Aksar ( a very strong feminist voice, writer and columnist from Delhi), celebrity film maker Abhishek Jain, Gujarati film’s super star Hiten Kumar,Popular speaker Jay vasavada, Poet and Padmashri Tushar Shukla, lyricist and columnist Vinay Dave, famous filmmaker, actor and singer Arvind Vegda, screen writer from Mumbai Snehal Chaudhary, film distributor from Mumbai Aneri Savla, authors Utkarsh Patel, Dr. Indira Nityanandam, Dr. Jai Tharur, Bhagwandas Patel, Kumud Verma, Manisha Khatate and Maitridevi Sisodia. Respceted bureacrat and retired IAS Officer Manoj Aggarwal, Special Commissioner ( Traffic) Delhi Police Ajay Chaudhr Yips, serving IAS and author from Lucknow Dr. Heera Lal, and Anantha Krishnan ( CEO, Kalorex Group) among many others will also share their views and insights. National award-winning filmmaker and faculty at IIMA Dr. Rajesh Chandwani will share his academic and cinematic experiences with the audiences.
A highlight of the opening day: at 11:30 a.m. on 11 October, the trailer launch for a new Hindi feature from SERENE FILMS will mark a symbolic nexus between cinema and the written word.
Leading cast and crews of upcoming the film Drop Out produced by Umashanker Yadav (who has also acted in the film), director Omkar Pethkar, lead actors Tanushka Sharma, Uday Singh, senior actor Mushtaq Khan, Sandeep Yadav, Pradeep Sarang, lyricist Dr. Sagar, singer Soumee Sailsh, editor Rahul Rajput and Music Director Prajval Pandya will participate and launch the trailer of the film in the festival.
The two-day festival will host over 12 curated sessions, featuring regional and pan-India voices, as well as 7 international speakers (Afghanistan, Brazil, Uganda, Azerbaijan, Malavi, Madagaskar, Myanmar) weaving dialogues across literature, film, adaptation, translation, graphic narrative, and creative forms.
The festival gathers around 60 participants from diverse linguistic, social, economic and creative backgrounds, bringing multiplicity and depth to its programming. Alongside panel discussions and literary conversations, the event will feature, children’s book reading session
and thematic performances bridging poetry, theater, music, and multimedia.
An initiative of charitable trust Ikon Education foundation, AILF is being supported by Gujarat Tourism as Patron, GMDC as Silver Sponsor, Hotel Renaissance by Marriot as Hospitality Partner, Kalorex group as School Partner, ICCR as Cultural Partner, Sahitya Manch as Literary Partner, Serene Publishers as Publishing Partner, SERENE FILMS as Cinema Partner and Powered by Ikon Barcode Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
