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    Controversies at Jaipur Lit Fest are trying & draining: Sanjoy Roy

    Synopsis

    The Jaipur Literature Festival's (JLF) Sanjoy Roy talks about the controversies,the importance of having such a platform and his entrepreneurial journey in creating Teamwork.

    ET Online
    By Pranbihanga Borpuzari & Ashutosh Bhattacharya

    The annual Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) is today the biggest literary event in Asia-Pacific, but has been dogged by controversies. From the episode with Ashis Nandy to Salman Rushdie, JLF has always found itself in the midst of a storm. Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Productions, which organizes the festival, says controversy for the sake of having a controversy can be a problem.

    "What people don't realize is that a controversy can be exciting for that moment, but the debris that's left behind is enormous. It is important to realize the resources and the energy that goes behind organizing any festival, especially the Jaipur Literature Festival, is huge. To have this as a Damocles sword hanging over your head is very difficult," says Roy.

    Roy adds that such controversies are trying, cost a lot of money, a drain for the organizing team and a huge pressure. "Controversy takes over everything and one forgets that some of the biggest and the brightest minds have come to be a part of the festival. They have so much to give, so many incredible ideas," says Roy.
    Watch: My Big Plunge Feat. Sanjoy Roy & William Dalrymple, Jaipur Lit Fest



    According to historian, author and festival director William Dalrymple if the press corps is of 750, only 10 are literary journalist. "Essentially, this means you have 740 reporters waiting for a story and if you are not interested in literature, they have to invent one. Most controversies are cooked up," says Dalrymple.

    The only real controversy, Dalrymple says was around Salman Rushdie's visit when the organizers were told by intelligence agencies that assassins were heading to eliminate him. "That is a real story, but whether these assassins really existed, we will never know," says Dalrymple.

    Roy's grouse that JLF is seen as a catalyst for controversies is not misplaced. This year, the festival brought together the likes of Margaret Atwood, Steve McCurry, Marlon James, Christina Lamb and many more.

    After working initially as an actor and then as TAG (theater action groups) executive director, Roy was invited to visit the Edinburgh Festival as part of the British Council showcase programme in 1999. "This created a network and this resulted in us creating the first cross-festival platform presentation in 2000," says Roy. The Edinburg Festival was a "stamp" of recognition and soon Roy was setting up similar platforms in Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, which has now spread to 26 festivals in 42 cities. The idea to start Teamwork Arts was to provide employment to people in the theatre community who otherwise do not have the means to earn a living.

    "The reason why the IT sector boomed in the country is because there was no Ministry, Governments have very little business except for creating the systems, the platforms and the regulatory regimes to encourage startups. In India anything that you do is like pulling teeth. We have to crack the legal system first and foremost to enable swift resolution," says Roy.

    Dalrymple says the first JLF took place in 2007 and a mere 150-200 people turned up for it. "Sanjoy is the administrative genius that has kept this growing monster working beautifully. Teamwork has so many things going on at the same time and not that everything gets done. Sanjoy keeps 90% of the balls in the air and sometimes things do go wrong. The biggest challenge has always been around raising money because the event is free," says Dalrymple. However, the event has grown in both size and scale and sees thousands of visitors every day across the five day event.

    "At Teamwork when we started the company and took in some equity, it took me a year to be convinced that is what we needed to do. I said yes to the equity because I wanted to build a company in the field of art that creates tangible wealth outside the intangible wealth. If we can show that the model is successful, many other companies in the art world will be able to do the same thing. Art does not have to look at subsidies as the prime driver as it is in Europe," says Roy.

    Roy says budding entrepreneurs in India need to listen, understand and learn. "In today's day and age, we tend not to listen. We tend to Google, but not listen. We tend to know and think that we know everything. If that is how you want to start your entrepreneurial journey, it's a losing battle. Every day, every hour, every minute and every second there is a lesson waiting to be learnt," says Roy.
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