Smart Phones Created Smart Kids, But Not Readers' - Barun Chanda

 

However, amidst the ongoing wave of digitalisation and the digital convergence reading seems to have taken a backseat as artificial intelligence platforms(the likes of ChatGpt) seem to throttle down literary theory and criticism.  It’s true that the art of reading is under threat as eminent artist and fiction writer Barun Chanda (known for his performances in Satyajit Ray’s Seemabaddha(1971) and Anjan Dutt’s Chalo Let’s Go(2008) ) whose books are being published by “Patrabharati” publishers remarked that the written word is fading away as the current generation is too engrossed in mobile phones. 

Good afternoon sir! What's your take on this year's bookfair as Germany has been taken as the focal country?

Barun Chanda: Good afternoon! As I have not visited Germany anytime, I cannot comment upon this.

What's your most memorable moment at any book fair or the one this year?

Barun Chanda: It's all the same. There's nothing special as such

What do you like to read?

Barun Chanda (Laugh…) I will give you a very good answer. Books.

What genre of book you like to read?

Barun Chanda : (Laugh…) Huh! You should say that. What kind of book I like to read. So you want to know what kind of. I write mostly fictions.

Yes I have read Your book ‘The man who knew too much.’

Barun Chanda : This is the one non fiction book I have written. Rest are all fictions. 

What role you think books can play in shaping the cultural gap you think we are facing today?

Barun Chanda : People don't have time for books these days. Specially the younger generation. All they do is to google, use the mobile, smart phones and they are smart boys, smart girls. That's it. Full stop. The damage start with televisions. Now you have the Netflix, Prime Video. So they are taking all your reading time. 

What do you think is the primay struggle that reading is facing in the wake of the current scenario of digital convergence ?Are we being engulfed by an Orwellian future?

Barun Chanda: All across the world bookshops are closing down. Even if one uses a Kindle or any other E-book platform something is better than nothing. The written word is losing its existence. It’s like we are grappling with a dystopian world as depicted in the 1982 cult classic by Ridley Scott “Blade Runner” starring Harrison Ford where people only read neon hoardings dispersed in the sky. Please do see the film once you get the chance?