In the first session, which got off to a late start, lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri spoke of the progress -- rather, the degeneration -- of the quality of Hindi film lyrics over the years. Extolling the virtues of music in the past, Sultanpuri lamented that there was nothing left of good lyrics anymore. The context was missing and people barely knew what their songs were saying, let alone which way their music was heading, he pointed out.

For the second session, Sultanpuri was joined by music director Naushad, who launched into the greatest of all stories: of his life. The audience sighed and cried with the bent old gentleman, who has given Hindi cinema some of its greatest scores and storylines. And for the first time, listeners were made privy to the fact that Naushad is an ace storywriter as well as shayar, as was revealedjust a month ago. Both the old hands recalled an era long gone by, one in which people were nicer, money wasn't the reason they worked and the world wasn't too busy panting after blue jeans and Big Macs.

In the afternoon session, actresses Bindu and Jayshree Gadkar talked about the profile of women in films. While Bindu's honesty and pleasantness shocked those familiar only with her vamp image, Jayshree Gadkar, every inch the traditional woman offscreen as well, scarcely managed to convince listeners that her biggest regret was that she never did a negative role in her life.

In the last session, which was advanced because two of the speakers Dilip Kumar and Shyam Benegal could not make it, film maker Saeed Mirza waxed eloquent on all humankind. Or maybe, `non-humankind', since he chose to call those he interviewed in his A Tryst With the People of India, `non-persons'.``They were just people on the road. Wherever we went, all we did was turn left or right, take the path, find someone and try to put themdown on film,'' he said. Most of his talk spun around this subject, rather than about his films Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai, Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro and serial Nukkad.