Can you really tell the difference between great poetry and bad poetry?

In this fascinating live session from Jashn-e-Rekhta, Dr. Salman Akhtar shares 4 signs of bad poetry and explains why some verses may sound poetic, but still fail to leave a mark.

With humour, honesty, and deep literary insight, he speaks about shallow expression, damaged language, weak thought, and the loss of rhythm in modern writing.

Referencing Maulana Hali and Dr. Zakir Hussain, Dr. Salman Akhtar shows that poetry is not just about words.

It is about depth, musicality, emotional truth, and adab. This episode is a practical and thought-provoking guide for anyone who loves Urdu shayari, wants to improve their writing, or simply wishes to understand what gives poetry its lasting power.

In this episode of Rekhta Guftgu, actor Ali Fazal opens up like never before.

From being born in Delhi and growing up in Lucknow, to discovering theatre at school, chasing independence in college, and finding his way through films like 3 Idiots, Fukrey, Victoria & Abdul, and Mirzapur, this is a conversation full of honesty, memory, craft, and culture.

Ali speaks about childhood, literature, sports, auditions, failure, friendship, acting as a lifelong learning process, and why vulnerability matters to great performers.

He also reflects on Urdu, poetry, Rekhta’s role in preserving language and culture, the importance of script and expression, and even sings a few lines penned by Muhammad Iqbal.

It is a beautiful conversation on art, identity, language, and what it really means to be understood.

In this episode of Rekhta Guftgu, Syed Mohammad Irfan sits down with Jaideep Ahlawat for an honest, deeply reflective conversation on rejection, patience, and the long road to recognition.

Jaideep looks back on his childhood in Kharkada near Rohtak, growing up in a family of teachers, dreaming first of the Indian Army, and facing repeated setbacks after clearing written exams but failing the SSB.

What followed was not a straight path, but a slow, meaningful journey toward acting.

He speaks about theatre becoming an emotional outlet, discovering literature through Premchand, training at FTII, and learning to trust the process instead of chasing every audition.

He also reflects on the turning point of Gangs of Wasseypur, the inner life of a character, and the method behind performances like Hathi Ram in Paatal Lok.