Sponsors Still Shy Away From Supporting Urdu Language Events: Satish Gupta

On 2nd - 4th of December 2022 Rekhta foundation organised the Jashn-e-Rekhta a largest Urdu language fest. Below is the conversation with Satish Gupta, Head of Programs and Outreach, Jashn-e-Rekhta. 

Rekhta returned in its physical form after a few years, how has the response been?

We are the largest one among Urdu language platforms because we have everything around Urdu, not just a festival but a website that is the largest poetry website, we have an education portal and a books website as well. Jashn-e-Rekhta is growing internationally now, people from Dubai, London and Europe are coming to attend. Now it’s time to go to those countries because they can’t come here every time. 

Why do we see fewer Urdu language festivals in comparison to other festivals? 

Because other festival organisers also have commercial objectives and when it comes to commercialising any festival and event it needs funds. Unfortunately, Urdu is not a language where a lot of sponsors come forward because there is a myth and perception that Urdu is a language of religion which is not. But now sponsors are coming forward like the Bank Of Baroda and others..

Hopefully, many festivals should happen like this across the world if not now, maybe in upcoming years. By looking at Jashn-e-Rekhta so many people got inspired by this festival. At this scale, Jashn-e-Rekhta is not an event for us but the culmination of what we have done through the years on the physical ground. 

How do brands look at Urdu language festivals when it comes to sponsorships?

You need to have a good marketing team to enable sponsorships. But we are focusing on serving people and making an impact on society, we want people to understand what Rekhta Foundation is doing. But it’s not that we don’t want to raise funds. 

Jashn-e-Rekhta is a democratic and free festival and all of the audience is not Urdu speaking, so Urdu has that pull to bring all types of audiences together and sponsorships will come when they think this audience is great.

What makes Rekhta so popular?  

It’s originality and authenticity, we have authentic content on the website. One more reason is our non-commercial nature. We don’t want to follow sponsors, we do things and sponsors follow it.