The Dastangoi Collective returns to the city for a four-day festival that celebrates their 20-year journey towards reinventing the century old tradition of storytelling
Mahmood Farooqui performs the Dastan Az Karn in traditional all-white dastango attire
In the early 2000s, theatremaker Mahmood Farooqui was drawn to the efforts of his uncle, the late Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, to revive the oral tradition of dastaangoi. Over the last two decades, his collective has turned the material from the scholarship, while adding new performative texts, to revive and renew the ancient tradition of dastangoi on the Indian stage. They will return to the city on February 20 to stage a series of 12 performances over four days to celebrate their 20th year.
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Though its etymology traces to the Persian words dastan (story) and goi (teller), the art itself is rooted to the Indian oral storytelling form. Farooqui points out, “Whether that is pandvani, kissagoi, or burrakatha, India has a rich oral storytelling tradition. But it is manifestly clear that this is a completely new form of theatre — a theatre of words.” What sets dastangoi apart is its eschewing the musical form — a core tenet of Indian art. “In many ways, it harks back to the Natya Shastra. It defines abhinaya as ‘more than acting’. The three key tenets are hastobhinaya [expression of hands], mukhobhinaya [expressions of the face] and nayanobhinaya [expressions of the eyes]. All three are key to a good dastango,” adds Farooqui.
A moment from the performance of Dastan-e-Raj Kapoor
In a growing culture of spoken verse performances, poetry readings and storytelling, the practice seems to have found a purple patch. Farooqui notes, “In such times, when you experiment, you experiment with the text, recitation and style.” To this end, the collective has been constantly in search of new subjects that link the old tradition with a new audience and society. These include stories from authors such as Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chughtai to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and even a dastan on Ret Samadhi, the Booker Prize-winning novel by Geetanjali Shree. “Even the Dastan-e-Chauboli, a collection of folk tales from the heartland, are diverse in their stories and languages,” the theatremaker notes.
Udit Kumar and Meera Rizvi perform Mantoiyat
It does not escape Farooqui’s notice that this experimentation itself is a mirror of the ancient tradition. Storytellers and bards would recite moments of history, personalities and tales in an era where history was oral rather than documented. The works lined up for the performances this week exemplify it. From Shrilal Shukla’s satirical Raag Darbari to an adaptation of Lewis Caroll’s famous children’s tale in Dastan-e-Alice, and even the Partition era-tales of Jallian and Mantoiyat.
Poonam Girdhani and Nusrat Ansari perform Dastan-e-Alice
For 29-year-old Udit Kumar, it was the language of Urdu that drew him to the form. “At the peak of the art form, a dastango was the most well-read and informed person in the city. Their ability was not limited to reciting the stories, but to blend in the latest news in the city,” he explains. Another Mumbai name, and one that is deeply connected to Prithvi Theatre, will find its way into the Collective’s presentation. Written by Sibtain Shahidi and performed by Rajesh Kumar and Rana Pratap Sengar, Dastan-e-Raj Kapoor acquires importance owing to the venue. “Though Raj Kapoor is inseparable from music, the dastangoi will be a recitation; although we will try to weave in verses from his songs in our own style,” shares Kumar.
The idea is to nurture the art further, and push boundaries, admits Farooqui. “We have shaped stories for every audience. The idea is to discover and push the boundaries of this new form, theatre of words,” he concludes.
ON February 20 to 23; 3 pm onwards
AT Prithvi Theatre, Juhu Church Road, Juhu.
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