BANGALORE
Mahmood Farooqui has found magic in his life. Every time this artiste gets on stage to perform a Dastangoi, the sixteenth century art of storytelling, he becomes one with the story.
Mahmood Farooqui has found magic in his life. Every time this artiste gets on stage to perform a Dastangoi, the sixteenth century art of storytelling, he becomes one with the story. “I always wanted to be an actor. But in Dastangoi I found something which is bigger than acting,” says Farooqui.
On Saturday, Bangalore will get to witness a Dastangoi performance by Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain. Dastangoi is a fusion of two Persian words — Dastan meaning epics that are narrated, recited or read aloud, and goi meaning to tell a Dastan.
Farooqui, who incidentally co-directed the Hindi film Peepli Live with his wife Anusha Rizvi as the director, is one of those on the forefront to revive Dastangoi in the country and take it especially to those places in North India where it originated in the medieval times.
His passion for this art form is apparent, both by the number of years (over four) he has devoted researching Dastangoi, and also in the meticulousness with which every detail has been documented on his blog. But in a world where consumerism is tugging at the attention of youngsters, how can an art orm that relies on stories from the medieval times and, that too, narrated in Urdu tickle interest?
“There is no doubt that stories which are 400 years’ old and performed in a language just as old can still regale audiences,” says Farooqui, who along with Husain, have performed in Benares, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai over the last few weeks. If one understands even just a smattering of Hindi, the Dastangoi can prove enjoyable, says Farooqui.
This weekend, Farooqui will be performing the Tilism-e Hoshruba, the most well known chapter of the Dastan-e Amir Hamza. He describes this as pure magic. “It’s a kind of a magical artefact — a huge realm constructed through magic. It can span continents. It can straddle the worlds of magical and powerful capabilities. It’s a battle of wits on the one hand and lots of magicians on the other. It’s partly also about seducing the villain to death. It’s humourous, too.”
There is little information on how these performances were actually conducted in the sixteenth century. But it is recorded that a Dastangoi was performed by one person. Farooqui has chosen to rope in a second person on to the stage. “In the present times it’s better to have two people. It makes the narration more interesting. These days, one person may not have the capability — the voice, control — to take it through,” he says.
As for what diving deep into Dastangoi has done for his personal growth, Farooqui throws the question right back. What does good art do to a devoted practitioner? “It’s supreme wizardry.” Only, without a wand.
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