Once upon a time

In a city where the inability to use the Hindi in its pure form has given rise to a publicly acknowledged Bambaiyya dialect, chaste Urdu is but a distant dream. But the duo of Danish Husain and Mahmood Farooqui is determined to raise Mumbai from its slumber of indifference towards this prized language.

On October 19, Husain and Farooqui, after a year’s gap, yet again bring Dastan Goi—the lost art of storytelling in Urdu—to Mumbai’s Bhavan’s Cultural Centre at Andheri.

Dastan Goi is the art of storytelling with roots in medieval Iran. According to the tradition, the narrators, also known as dastan-gohs, would recite fantasy tales of fearless warrior kings around camp fires, in coffee houses and palaces. The stories narrated through Dastan goi usually revolve around the ordeals of these kings and their encounters with the enemy.

“The traditional art spoke about demons, magicians and djinns. Though that’s magnificent in itself, we have adapted Dastan goi to present times and the stories that we can relate to,” says Husain. The duo has planned two performances, The Talking Birds and Partition Dastans on the Multiple Tragedies of 1947. While the first is a romance epic and an adaptation of a famous tale, Talisme Hoshruba (literally meaning ‘magical word that blows your senses away’), the latter, as the name suggests, speaks about the tragedies of the partition.

Not surprisingly, Husain and Farooqui are the only living dastan-gohs, the last one alive was in 1928. Based out of Delhi, the duo travels extensively to metropolitan cities for these performances, and have even been to Lahore and Karachi in Pakistan with their stories. “The response was fabulous as the country is more familiar with the language,” explains the artiste.

The duo last performed in Mumbai at the Kala Ghoda Festival in February 2007. However, they will not be participating in the ongoing festival. About their forthcoming event in the city, Husain says they’re excited and the audience’s knowledge regarding the art has definitely improved over their last few visits but is still limited to the theatrical circles. “But by the time our event is over, we’ll have improved everyone’s Urdu in Mumbai,” he laughs.