The event brings together a docufilm screening "Tilism-e Jahāñ: Fragment from an unfinished film" followed by a discussion on the graphic novel: Travelling Through Tilisms by Abiral Kumar and Mainak Mitra, on the theme of tilism (magical worlds) and travel (through real places). The documentary film features stories and evidences of a long lost oral storytelling traditions whose traces still remain amongst the folk narratives, oral histories, religious philosophy, and in “magical” practices in north India. The graphic novel follows up on the documentary as a record of sights, tellings, and experiences of the writer-artist duo that emphasise the entanglements of lived “reality” with “unreal” tales, and events that shapes the daily lives of the people of north India. The artist conversation following the film will unpack the stories and experiences of moving between the worlds.

Sarnath Banerjee, born in Kolkata in 1972, is an Indian graphic novelist, illustrator and publisher. After studying visual communication at Goldsmiths College in London, he published his first book, Corridor, in 2004. It is considered one of the first Indian graphic novels and brought the artist, who now lives in Berlin, international recognition.

Mainak Mitra is a multidisciplinary visual artist who creates Illustrations, animation and comics. After graduation from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda and surviving the pandemic during his Animation degree from IDC, IIT Bombay, Mainak decided to invest his time creating comics. His home is originally from the tropical delta of bengal, but his roots are spread all over the subcontinent. He loves  rain, railways, meeting strangers, watching films and finding wildlife.

Priyam Goswami Choudhury is a postdoctoral researcher working on the colonial legacies of tea at Uni Potsdam.

Abiral Kumar is a PhD Fellow at RTG minor cosmopolitanisms. His research work interrogates world literature and cosmopolitanism theory through oral literary practices and notions of alien identities. He is a published graphic novelist. His short graphic narratives based on the 16th c. Hamzanama tradition, Fragrance of Time and Perchance to dream have been awarded by the Barzinji Foundation, USA.