Producer Anand Pandit who is looking forward to the release of his big budget Marathi horror comedy 'Victoria' this year and is thrilled to be co-producing his first Kannada multistarrer  'Kabzaa' has one resolution for 2023; to catch up on his reading. He says, "I grew up at a time when electronic devices had not taken over our lives and there was time and space to read and absorb books at leisure. I still remember with great nostalgia, stories and novels by Dharamveer Bharti, Phanishwar Nath Renu, Munshi Premchand and Bhisham Sahni that were a part of my formative years. I hope to revisit them again and maybe film a few of them as they still mirror the social realities of our time."

 On World Hindi Day, Pandit shares his memories of  the works of these stalwart writers and says, "One of my favourite stories by Phanishwar Nath Renu is 'Maare Gaye Gulfam' which was filmed as 'Teesri Kasam' in 1966  by Basu Bhattacharya. The story and the film  so beautifully captured the doomed love between a bullock cart driver and a nautanki dancer. One common thing in the writers of that era was that they wrote rooted stories about India's social realities. This film is such a classic for its writing, its authentic depiction of rural India  and fabulous performances by Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman." 

 As for Dharamveer Bharti, says Pandit, "Which Indian family did not have at least one copy of 'Dharmayug' in the 70s? He of course edited this gem of a literary magazine and  his stories and novels inspired so many film-makers including Shyam Benegal in 1992 who filmed 'Suraj Ka Satwan Goda'. His novel  'Gunahon Ka Devta' about two star crossed lovers Chander and Sudha is very close to my heart and was also translated in English a few years back. And his post-Partition play 'Andha Yug' transformed contemporary Hindi theatre forever."