Listen with Irfan

Recorded in New Delhi, 2012 this TV interview was first shown on Rajya Sabha TV.

Irfan talking to the cartoonist Abid Surti in the longest running celebrity talk show Guftagoo

About Guftagoo

Guftagoo (convestaions) is India’s only uninterrupted, unscripted and unhurried celebrity talk show. Running since 2011 the show has a rich repository of 400+ TV shows varying from 30 to 160 minutes.

It’s a unique show interviewing distinguished personalities from various fields of arts and culture. The celebrated anchor Syed Mohd Irfan is host of the show whose distinctive style of conversation forms the essence of the show allowing guests to express their raw emotions. The in-depth interviews provide the viewers an intimate look in the inner worlds of the guests invited to the show. It helps them understand the guest`s life experiences, emotional conflicts, inspirations and struggles that brought out the artist in them and shaped the way they perceive the world.

This documentation of the life journeys of various artists, also serves as a popular audio-visual archive for anthropological studies.

Earlier aired on Rajya Sabha TV for a decade by the name of Guftagoo, show presented to its viewers, the journeys of  personalities from various fields, such as Tom Alter, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Irrfan Khan, Jaya Bachchan,Naseeruddin Shah, John Abraham, Jackie Shroff, Nandita Sen, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Milkha Singh, and Shyam Benegal to name a few. Stay tuned.

Audio bounce of a TV interview.

The entire Guftagoo playlist on YouTube Link

Image Courtesy Irfan's Archives

Recorded in New Delhi, 2013 this TV interview was first shown on Rajya Sabha TV.

Irfan talking to the ex MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the longest running celebrity talk show Guftagoo

About Guftagoo

Guftagoo (convestaions) is India’s only uninterrupted, unscripted and unhurried celebrity talk show. Running since 2011 the show has a rich repository of 400+ TV shows varying from 30 to 160 minutes.

It’s a unique show interviewing distinguished personalities from various fields of arts and culture. The celebrated anchor Syed Mohd Irfan is host of the show whose distinctive style of conversation forms the essence of the show allowing guests to express their raw emotions. The in-depth interviews provide the viewers an intimate look in the inner worlds of the guests invited to the show. It helps them understand the guest`s life experiences, emotional conflicts, inspirations and struggles that brought out the artist in them and shaped the way they perceive the world.

This documentation of the life journeys of various artists, also serves as a popular audio-visual archive for anthropological studies.

Earlier aired on Rajya Sabha TV for a decade by the name of Guftagoo, show presented to its viewers, the journeys of  personalities from various fields, such as Tom Alter, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Irrfan Khan, Jaya Bachchan,Naseeruddin Shah, John Abraham, Jackie Shroff, Nandita Sen, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Milkha Singh, and Shyam Benegal to name a few. Stay tuned.

Audio bounce of a TV interview.

The entire Guftagoo playlist on YouTube Link

Image Courtesy Irfan's Archives

Recorded in Mumbai, 2017 this TV interview was first shown on Rajya Sabha TV.

Irfan talking to the filmmaker Abhishek Chaubey in the longest running celebrity talk show Guftagoo

About Guftagoo

Guftagoo (convestaions) is India’s only uninterrupted, unscripted and unhurried celebrity talk show. Running since 2011 the show has a rich repository of 400+ TV shows varying from 30 to 160 minutes.

It’s a unique show interviewing distinguished personalities from various fields of arts and culture. The celebrated anchor Syed Mohd Irfan is host of the show whose distinctive style of conversation forms the essence of the show allowing guests to express their raw emotions. The in-depth interviews provide the viewers an intimate look in the inner worlds of the guests invited to the show. It helps them understand the guest`s life experiences, emotional conflicts, inspirations and struggles that brought out the artist in them and shaped the way they perceive the world.

This documentation of the life journeys of various artists, also serves as a popular audio-visual archive for anthropological studies.

Earlier aired on Rajya Sabha TV for a decade by the name of Guftagoo, show presented to its viewers, the journeys of  personalities from various fields, such as Tom Alter, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Irrfan Khan, Jaya Bachchan,Naseeruddin Shah, John Abraham, Jackie Shroff, Nandita Sen, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Milkha Singh, and Shyam Benegal to name a few. Stay tuned.

Audio bounce of a TV interview.

The entire Guftagoo playlist on YouTube Link

Image Courtesy Irfan's Archives

Recorded in Mumbai, 2016 this TV interview was first shown on Rajya Sabha TV.

Irfan talking to the actor Abdul Rasheed Naz in the longest running celebrity talk show Guftagoo

About Guftagoo

Guftagoo (convestaions) is India’s only uninterrupted, unscripted and unhurried celebrity talk show. Running since 2011 the show has a rich repository of 400+ TV shows varying from 30 to 160 minutes.

It’s a unique show interviewing distinguished personalities from various fields of arts and culture. The celebrated anchor Syed Mohd Irfan is host of the show whose distinctive style of conversation forms the essence of the show allowing guests to express their raw emotions. The in-depth interviews provide the viewers an intimate look in the inner worlds of the guests invited to the show. It helps them understand the guest`s life experiences, emotional conflicts, inspirations and struggles that brought out the artist in them and shaped the way they perceive the world.

This documentation of the life journeys of various artists, also serves as a popular audio-visual archive for anthropological studies.

Earlier aired on Rajya Sabha TV for a decade by the name of Guftagoo, show presented to its viewers, the journeys of  personalities from various fields, such as Tom Alter, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Irrfan Khan, Jaya Bachchan,Naseeruddin Shah, John Abraham, Jackie Shroff, Nandita Sen, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Milkha Singh, and Shyam Benegal to name a few. Stay tuned.

Audio bounce of a TV interview.

The entire Guftagoo playlist on YouTube Link

Image Courtesy Irfan's Archives

Recorded in Goa, 2020 this TV interview was first shown on Rajya Sabha TV.

Irfan talking to the filmmaker Abhishek Shah in the longest running celebrity talk show Guftagoo

About Guftagoo

Guftagoo (convestaions) is India’s only uninterrupted, unscripted and unhurried celebrity talk show. Running since 2011 the show has a rich repository of 400+ TV shows varying from 30 to 160 minutes.

It’s a unique show interviewing distinguished personalities from various fields of arts and culture. The celebrated anchor Syed Mohd Irfan is host of the show whose distinctive style of conversation forms the essence of the show allowing guests to express their raw emotions. The in-depth interviews provide the viewers an intimate look in the inner worlds of the guests invited to the show. It helps them understand the guest`s life experiences, emotional conflicts, inspirations and struggles that brought out the artist in them and shaped the way they perceive the world.

This documentation of the life journeys of various artists, also serves as a popular audio-visual archive for anthropological studies.

Earlier aired on Rajya Sabha TV for a decade by the name of Guftagoo, show presented to its viewers, the journeys of  personalities from various fields, such as Tom Alter, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Irrfan Khan, Jaya Bachchan,Naseeruddin Shah, John Abraham, Jackie Shroff, Nandita Sen, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Milkha Singh, and Shyam Benegal to name a few. Stay tuned.

Audio bounce of a TV interview.

The entire Guftagoo playlist on YouTube Link

Image Courtesy Irfan's Archives

Recorded on 30 Sep 2015 

B.R.Nagar (26 Apr 1928 -16 Apr 2021) was a renowned broadcaster who worked with All India Radio, Delhi as a staff artist. While working as producer and broadcaster he nurtured a number of talents who are now established in their respective professions. During his four decades long career, Balak Ram Nagar produced a program almost everyday. What he produced for children programmes was unmatchable and even can't be imagined of their wide appeal and popularity now. A kind hearted sensible person B.R.Nagar lived a satisfying happy life and through his programmes generations have got smiles on their faces and filled with a highly evolved sense of pluralism and kindness    This interview was recorded on 20th Sep 2015, Greater Noida by the broadcast journalist Irfan.  Irfan (Syed Mohd Irfan) is hosting a longest running celebrity show of its kind on TV and now on OTT called #Guftagoo #Guftugu which is India`s only uninterrupted, unscripted and unhurried show. It has been popularly known for in-depth interviews with celebrated personalities from various fields of cinema, literature, arts & culture.

Photo and produced by Irfan

Lee Tzu Feng's Poem translated from English to Hindi and recited by Rajendra Gupta

Audio courtesy Rajendra Gupta's YouTube Channel

Photo Courtesy Amar Tripathi

2019 Recording, Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh

धनदेवी पुनीत ने मॉरीशस की गीत गवाई को एक नया जीवन दिया है। क़रीब 180 साल पहले भारत से मॉरीशस आदि देशों में ले जाए गए भारतीयों ने यहां का जो संगीत और रीति रिवाज वहां जमाए, आज उनके वंशज अपनी विरासत को लेकर सजग हैं और 'गीत गवाई' परम्पराओं को संजोने का दूसरा नाम है। पहली दिसंबर 2016 को यूनेस्को ने मॉरीशस की जिस गीत गवाई को मानवता की अमूर्त सांस्कृतिक विरासत के रूप में मान्यता दी है, धन देवी उसकी अगुवाई कर रही हैं।

गिरमिटिया के नाम से बुलाए जाने वाले भारतीय मुख्यतः उत्तर प्रदेश और बिहार के इलाकों से गए थे जो अपने साथ अपनी धार्मिक मान्यताएं, तीज त्यौहार, रीति रिवाज, लोक गीत ,खान पान, रहन सहन और अपनी लोकधारा साथ ले गए थे। भोजपुरी भाषा और संस्कृति के इन लोक गीतों में लगन गीत, संध्या, महादेव गीत,  धरती बांधाल, ढोलक पुजाइ, सुहाग गीत, झूमर और अनेक श्रम गीत मॉरीशस की गिथारिनें गाती रही हैं जिनको आधार बनाकर यहां 50 ऐसे स्कूल खोले जा चुके हैं  जिनमें पुरानी पीढ़ी से यह संगीत नयी पीढ़ी को स्थानांतरित किया जा रहा है। धनदेवी इस काम की केंद्रीय भूमिका में हैं।

Photo and Podcast production: Irfan

In March 2016 I met a dozen or so musicians and singers in Azamgarh, UP. I was staying in the same hotel where these artistes were brought this very morning and were supposed to perform in a couple of hours on the stage about 4 miles away from here.

Karelal, seems 65+ of age was not keeping well but on insistence of his fellow musicians he came to join the show from Kanpur. He was trained by the eminent Nakkara virtuoso Abdul Rasheed Warsi and played for more than two decades with Nautanki companies and other occasions. 

Here is what he said in a very informal interaction. He also sang for me though he never sang before he said.

मार्च 2016, आज़मगढ़, उत्तर प्रदेश

एक मामूली से होटल का कमरा था जिसमें लगभग एक दर्जन नौटंकी कलाकार जमा थे। मैं भी बगल के कमरे टिका था। जब मैंने कमरे में झांका तो कुछ बिस्तर पर बैठे थे, कुछ नीचे बिछे गद्दों पर बैठे अपने नगाड़ों और हॉर्मोनियमों और नाल-ढोल की साज संभाल में लगे थे। कमरा बीड़ी के धुंए से अभी उतना भरा नहीं था। थोड़ी देर बाद यहां से से कोई चार मील दूर नक्कारों की दश्बंदी का प्रोग्राम शुरू होना था। ये हफ्ते भर चलने वाली प्रदर्शनकारी लोक कलाओं का मेला था जिसमें पूरे उत्तरप्रदेश और आसपास राजस्थान, हरियाणा और बिहार से वो कलाकार भी आमंत्रित थे जो अब रिटायर होकर घर बैठे हैं, बीमार हैं या बेरोजगार हैं।

उत्तर भारत में नौटंकी अब मर चुकी है। जब वह अपने शीर्ष पर थी तब इस कला पर कई कलाकार जीविकोपार्जन भी करते थे। कारेलाल भी उन्हीं में से एक हैं जिन्होंने नौटंकी में नगाड़े के गुरु अब्दुल रशीद वारसी से नगाड़ा बजाना सीखा और बीस बाइस साल तक बजाया जिससे उनके बच्चे भी पले।

याद रहे नक्कारा या नगाड़ा अब एक आखिरी साँसे लेता वाद्य है, कुशल वादकों की यह आख़िरी पीढ़ी है।

कारेलाल से जब मैंने कहा कि  वो अपने बारे में बताएं और हमें कुछ गाकर भी सुनाएं तो उन्होंने कमरे में बैठे या खड़े अपने साथी कलाकारों को ही जैसे दर्शक मान लिया और बड़े औपचारिक अंदाज़ में बात शुरू की।

Photo, recording and production : Irfan

In 1964, Calcutta the veteran dramatist Laxmi Narayan Mishra addressed a National Seminar on Theatre.

Laxmi Narayan Mishra (17 December 1903–19 August 1987) was a theatre personality of Uttar Pradesh. His works became very popular between 1930 and 1950, and they were frequently staged by schools, colleges, and amateur groups.

Anamika

Photo courtesy Wikipedia