Your love for literature…Stories…
I grew up in Turkman Gate and always wanted to do something with the
language and stories.. I loved this magical world of fantasy stories and
tales. Urdu language came naturally to me and as I grew up in the
traditional set up. Dastangoi
During the 16th century, it was used to please the Persian royalty.
Emperor Akbar, a Dastango himself, was instrumental in making the art
form popular in India; however, today there are a few takers for Dastangoi.
After Delhi’s renowned Dastasngo Mir Baqar Ali’s death in 1928, the art
form passed into oblivion until efforts were made to revive this storytelling
tradition a few years ago.
Dastangoi and modern times:
It’s like Folktales which come from all the cultures of the world…from India,
Russia, Poland and every nook and corner of the world…We have our
past, present, future, cultures and the stories…
Now Dastangoi is popular at other places too… They are appreciated and
eagerly awaited in Dubai and other places. Though Dastangoi is originally
about performing the original tales of Amir Hamza, the contemporary –
Mahabharata, Kabeer, Sir Sayeed, Gandhi, Khusro, and Ghalib are also
favourites for us.
You have done lots of contribution in reviving the old Delhi dialect. Please
tell us more.
This form of storytelling has to find way into our system..in our daily life!
Just like we are so used to Whatsapp and Facebook , art of listening
should be appreciated and understood by the audience. It is the that
sometimes doesn’t understand the language. I get abundance of
complements for my storytelling skills.art of listening that people have
forgotten.
Also we have to acknowledge our great writers names, their brilliant stories
through Dastangoi. The cadence of chaste Urdu, the dialect, cultural
difference all in a spontaneous performance makes it a mesmerizing
experience for an audience that sometimes doesn’t understand the
language. I get abundance of complements for my storytelling skills.