August 2007 Edition
Manisha Sobhrajani
New Delhi
WHAT are the joys of the ancient art of storytelling? Ask Mahmood Farooqui, who after degrees in history from Oxford and Cambridge returned to Delhi to perform the Dastaan-e-Amir-Hamza. You could catch Farooqui just about anywhere if you are plugged into the small circle that relishes his performances. It could be in The Attic, a nondescript mezzanine in Connaught Place, or at the India International Centre or at an admirer’s home. Further a field he has held audiences in thrall in Pakistan where he was invited to perform. The trademark style for him and his co-performer, Danish Husain is white kurta-pyjama. Spotlights keep them in sparkling focus as the audience sits in a close semi-circle, keeping eye contact and connecting with its appreciation. Farooqui, a history scholar and avid reader of Urdu literature, came across Dastaan-e-Amir-Hamza – a 46-volume collection of Amir Hamza’s stories – at his uncle, SR Farooqui’s house.
The Dastaan-e-Amir-Hamza is a rare collection of
Urdu literature as not all the 46 volumes are available now. Farooqui learnt from
his uncle that the Dastaan was actually an oral tradition which was kept alive by
dastaangos or storytellers. It was much later that the oral history was put together
in the form of the Dastaan-e-Amir-
Hamza. Unfortunately, within a period of
20-30 years during which the Dastaan
moved from being in oral history to printed
form, it completely died out.
The last dastaango Mir Bakr Ali died in 1929, and all that is left by way of reference
or proof of the storyteller’s existence
is a three-minute recording of him
narrating the story of a mad man who
wants to get married. The recording is
currently housed in the British Library,
and is difficult to access. A few pen portraits of Ali are available.
There is reference to the dastaangos in
old and rare books such as Dilliwale and
Dilli ki Chand Ajeeb Hastiyaan. It is said
that there used to be storytelling sessions
at the steps of the Jama Masjid
every Thursday, there were street side
performances, and Mirza Ghalib organised
similar such sessions at his house
every Thursday. Other than that, little is
known about the mysterious storytellers – whether there were more than two
people narrating a story at a time,
whether they used to sit or stand during
the sessions, what was the duration of
the sessions, did they narrate more than
one story in the same session.
Mahmood Farooqui, upon discovering the Dastaan, was contemplating making a documentary film on it. However, since he had been involved with theatre, he decided to keep to the original form. A chance meeting with the director of the India International Centre presented him with an opportunity to give a lecture demonstration on the Dastaan. Instead of a lecture, Farooqui presented one of the stories from the narrative, and the response from the audience was tremendously encouraging. Since his first performance in May 2005, Farooqui has performed in Mumbai, Jaipur, Aligarh, Dehradun, Delhi, and has done an extensive tour of Karachi- Islamabad-Lahore, where he was invited to perform. Farooqui works with Danish Husain, an actor whom he had first seen in Habib Tanvir's play Agra Bazar. Husain is a management graduate who decided to give up a lucrative banking career and take up theatre full time. "Danish and I have performed together since March 2006 and we have done over 20 shows together. Danish is a poet, ablogger and a writer and has worked with all leading names in the Delhi theatre circle, including Barry John, Habib Tanvir, Rajendra Nath and Mohan Maharishi," says Farooqui. Currently involved with a company called The Actor's Project, Husain is "an ideal foil for me for our performances because he brings in lightness, gaiety and theatricality to our work.
He didn't know much about Dastaan and its oral history when I roped him in. But since he joined me, he has been an ideal partner and we always perform together.” Unlike the elaborate sets of theatre, Farooqui’s sets are minimal with no music or elaborate lights. The simplicity of the form is what holds the audience’s attention. Says Farooqui: “People come in expecting serious stuff, but are pleasantly surprised because there is a lot of humour. My stories have a simple structure as they are about ordinary people and their lives. These are meant for entertainment and are not moralising.” The stories are taken from one of the 46 volumes of the Dastaan-Tilism-e-Hoshruba. “These stories came about because they were being performed. Performance was inherent to their structure, and they were crying to be read aloud. By way of preparation, there is just about 3-4 days of rehearsals once the story is identified,” mentions Farooqui. Storytelling is the art of knitting words, expression and drama. Though the response so far has been amazing, Farooqui often wonders if this is a passing phase.
Farooqui wants to research the various aspects of the oral tradition. It would be interesting to know that the form dovetails with other performing arts like the Bhands of Kashmir and the Indersabhas of the Lucknow theatre. He also wants to popularise the art form by conducting workshops, and doing more performances. He feels he is honour-bound to revive it in present times. He mentions that there are people in Pakistan and Canada who are currently involved with translating some volumes of the Dastaan-e-Amir-Hamza. Farooqui has overcome the dilemma of deciding between being a full-time academic or dividing his time between theatre, writing and research. “Storytelling is fun, but I am unable to take it up fulltime,” he says. He is a freelance writereditor, and has worked with William Darlymple on his book The Last Mughal. He is currently engaged with writing a book on the 1857 mutiny. He also has a fellowship with Sarai on the oral history of the Dastaan-e-Amir-Hamza. Farooqui is performing on August 14 at the India Habitat Centre, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Partition. There isn’t a story in the Tilism-e-Hoshruba, which is suitable for the occasion: hence, Farooqui will be creating a story especially for the evening.
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