As they say, knowledge is the food for the soul, the post-lunch sessions at Day 2 of Goafest 2018 were truly remarkable as masters of varied crafts shared their personal experiences. Topics as diverse from making it in Bollywood to the 2019 Union Elections and cricket controversies, the sessions ensured that boredom had no way of entering the minds of the audiences.

Learning with the Student of the Year 

First up was the Lokmat Knowledge Seminar with Bollywood star and youth icon Sidharth Malhotra in an interview-style conversation with President & Publisher, Chitralekha Group, Mitrajit Bhattacharya. They chatted about Sidharth’s journey from a middle-class Delhi boy to the Bollywood heartthrob.

Sidharth said it took a lot of hard work and a bit of luck to get his first film. Speaking about his experience with Ad filmmaker Vinil Mather, Director of Hasee To Phasee, he said that all ad-filmmakers have a keen eye for detail. On dealing with failures, Sidharth says to have faith in higher energies.

Speaking about his most memorable experiences with the advertising, Sidharth was reminiscing memorable ads such as ‘Doodh Doodh’ by Amul, ‘Jalebi’ by Dhara and ‘Girl on the field’ by Cadbury. In fact, in his opinion, in-film advertising works brilliantly when done correctly. Sidharth even suggested monetizing selfies through the Goafest App. Looks like the youth icon also has the strong business acumen to back those washboard abs and cute smile.

Debating with the Olympian 

Next up was an intense session in an on-air interview style discussion between Politician, Olympic Silver Medalist & Ex-Army man Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Navika Kumar – Managing Editor-Politics, Times Now. The session was a part of the Leadership Summit by Times Now and focussed on if brand Modi was still strong enough for the upcoming 2019 elections. From scams to unemployment and economic growth to sports, a wide spectrum of topics was discussed and debated upon that may impact the 2019 Union Elections.

Answering an audience question on sports in India in comparison to sports in China, Colonel Rathore narrated his experience from the time he was training across various districts of China and the way both parents and the state-supported these centers. He stated the irony of how parents in India meet all school teachers at PTA meetings but not the PT (Physical Training) teacher. While in fact, the PT teacher is the one who teaches life lessons to like to ‘get up when you fall’ and ‘work as a team and not alone’. Parents need to understand there’s a massive amount of education that happens on the playground.

Doing the News  

In short yet extremely impactful session, as a part of the Leadership Summit, Faye D’souza, Executive Editor, Mirror Now spoke about the promise that was made last year at Goafest to bring a channel that focuses on issues faced by India. And to that the issues that Mirror Now brings the spotlight on.

She started with a story about the importance of the messenger and shared some inspiring impact that the Mirror Now campaign made to create regulation on child-safety locks in taxis/ cabs, in light of the Nayana Pujari rape case in Pune.

Fielding on and off the field 

And last but not at all the least, the highlight of the afternoon, was the engaging yet entertaining conversation between Jonty Rhodes – Cricket Legend, South Africa, and Anand Narasimhan – Senior Editor, Times Now on cricket, controversies, anecdotes and the interesting tale behind why Jonty Rhodes’ daughter is named India. Jonty being his jovial self-unveiled some of the behind-the-scenes stories of the infamous cricketing scams like the Hanse Cronje match-fixing scandal and more recent Steve Smith ball-tampering debacle. He also regaled memories of the time with his father and his advice of Practice makes you perfect but its perfect practice that brings success. 

The audience connected extensively with Jonty and Anand and questions were galore. Answering to a question on what is his equivalent is of the moment when one’s waiting for catching the ball from the sky, he said that it’s seeing Munaf Patel catch it.

On an unrelated note, he shed some light on the reason behind his daughter being named India. He says in India there is something different here every day. For his daughter India he says he irrespective of what everyone says she should seize the day.

For the current Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli he two tips on leadership- To be true to himself and being consistent.

The Day 2 sessions ended on a high-note and even higher expectations for the trifle of who will win the Broadcaster, Public Relations, Still Craft, Video Craft, Design and Direct Abbys.