In this episode, Raj Babbar and Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub join Ambreen Khan for a warm, deeply personal conversation on Urdu, Hindustani identity, cinema, theatre, and the shared cultural memory of India.

Raj Babbar looks back at the home he grew up in, where the Urdu newspaper Milaap arrived regularly and even the Gita was read in Urdu script.

From childhood memories linked to Ghalib and Nazeer Akbarabadi to his early theatre training, he speaks about pronunciation, discipline, pauses, and why language shapes performance.

Zeeshan Ayyub reflects on upbringing, social responsibility, NSD, mentors, and the need to protect a shared Hindustani spirit that cannot be reduced to religion or labels.

The episode also moves into acting craft, the emotional truth behind performance, choosing roles, creative restlessness, and why AI may imitate technique but cannot replace lived human experience in art.

There is humour too, with rapid-fire moments on Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, romance in Urdu, and anger in Punjabi.

In this warm and thoughtful Jashn-e-Rekhta conversation, Dia Mirza joins Atika Farooqui for a deeply personal exchange on memory, language, identity, and purpose.

From growing up in Hyderabad in a home shaped by Urdu poetry and literature, to finding her own voice in public life, Dia reflects on the experiences that formed her inner world.

The episode also opens into her commitment to the environment and sustainability, revealing how empathy, culture, and conscience came together in her journey.

A graceful conversation that blends Urdu, upbringing, cinema, and awareness in a way that stays with you.

In this Guftgu episode, Manoj Bajpayee speaks with unusual honesty about cinema, craft, and the kind of inner life that keeps an actor growing.

He reflects on how the pandemic changed theatres, streaming, and the way people now live with stories, fear, and habit.

He believes cinema will return, but not in the old way, and makes a strong case for theatres and OTT existing side by side.

The conversation then moves into acting in a way listeners rarely get to hear. Manoj breaks down his preparation for Aligarh, from Marathi literature and music choices to gait, backstory, and the tiny behavioral details that make a performance feel lived rather than performed.

He also speaks about Barry John, realism, simple living, and why craft matters more than image.

The episode closes on poetry, with powerful readings from Dinkar and Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug, revealing how literature, rhythm, and voice shape the actor behind the screen.