'I Feel Very Sorry For All The Young People Out There': Ratna Pathak Shah In Conversation With Jerry Pinto At Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest

Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest started on Friday, October 23, 2026. On the first day, acclaimed writer Jerry Pinto had the preview of his new book Yuri and the City, and he sat down for a conversation with veteran actress Ratna Pathak Shah. The Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai read a few paragraphs from Pinto's book The Education of Yuri, and later a few paragraphs from the new book, Yuri and the City. The two had a conversation on various topics, and of course, the discussion about the young generation also made it to their chat.

While talking about the nostalgia factor in his writing, Pinto said, "Nostalgia is a way of painting the past in pastel shades of perfectly acceptable beauty. That wasn't the way it was ever."

Shah added, "That is something that I find young people now are plugging into nostalgia in a completely different way. They are nostalgic about what they have not experienced. They are nostalgic about their parents' lives. Because that was so safe. You see films of that time, you see Chashme Buddoor, and everyone says, 'How sweet! What a lovely life it was!'. Men and women don't interact like that. Not even then."

Ratna Pathak Shah Feels Sorry For Young People

She further stated that the young people are borrowing nostalgia, and she finds it really strange. Shah wonders 'what it does to young minds?'. The actress added, "I feel very, very sorry for all the young people out there; look at the way the minds are working."

Complications Young People's Lives Are Killer

The Lipstick Under My Burkha actress feels that the complications in young people's lives are 'killer', and by giving an example of social media, she said that she wouldn't be able to deal with that.

The conversation between the writer and the actress was surely one of the highlights of Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest.