In our times where everything new is being digitized and people have less and less time to focus on things, Somaiya Vidyavihar University decided to emphasize the power of listening which never fades through Afsana 2026 The Somaiya Storytelling Festival, a multi, disciplinary festival that united the old and new storytelling methods.
Besides over ten workshops, participatory sessions, and student, led installations, the festival had more than 30 storytellers, performers, educators, and artists. As it was a kind of immersive learning environment rather than a usual performance event, Afsana 2026 employed the art of storytelling as a means for education, empathy, and cultural awareness.
The festival this year focused on the storytelling traditions of Central India with special emphasis on Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh through the exhibition of regional folklores, Pandwani performance traditions, Bharthari narratives, satire, and tribal storytelling forms. The University has always been a strong advocate of cultural plurality and experiential learning and the event gave expression to the voices and traditions of the marginalized ones who are generally neglected in the mainstream cultural arena.
One of the biggest attractions at the festival was "Maati, " a hybrid eco, story product of puppetry, Gond painting, folk music, and oral storytelling which explored the connection of earth, society and memory. Besides, audience participation was obtained through some interactive workshops and installments which therefore, students and visitors could directly engage with the concept of storytelling as a joint and reflective practice. The festival was inaugurated with performances from grade 1 students of The Somaiya School, who through their act represented in a very significant manner the storytelling as the first human activity and learning becoming its continual evolution. This very first moment of the festival communicated the main idea of the event which regarded stories not just as use of words, but stories are the constitutive elements that shape imagination and emotional understanding. The Chief Guest at the event was the distinguished filmmaker Nikhil Advani who discussed oral storytelling and its impact on cinema and digital narratives. He put forward the idea that the core of storytelling from the film director's perspective is getting the message clearly, the emotional connection, and the strength of the story idea regardless of the medium.
University leadership restated the commitment of the institution to place storytelling central to the academic and cultural ecosystems. Festival organisers argued that programs like Afsana are intended to stimulate creative imagination, critical thinking, and cultural literacy, as well as to provide a living relationship of the essence of tradition and contemporary artistic expression.
Afsana 2026, uniting artists, students, educators, and audiences in a socially participatory setting, was a celebration of storytelling as a living, constantly, evolving art form. The festival ended on the note that, although the world is now moving at an unprecedented speed mainly due to algorithms and instant content, listening as one of the simplest acts, is still one of the most powerful ways to learn, get in touch and understand the richness of the diversity of human experiences.
