Dastaango shares a tale as old as time

Dramatic readings from Tilism-e-Hoshruba charmed young and old alike at Napa.

KARACHI: There is a gift that every good storyteller has -the ability to depict landscapes, fantasy and magic using only words. A storyteller needs to make the audience’s imagination take flight and travel through a world unknown as they weave their tale.

This gift was perfectly displayed at Dastaango, dramatic readings from the chapters of Tilism-e-Hoshruba, that was performed at Napa on Saturday evening.

Nazr-ul-Hassan and Fawad Khan, dressed in Lucknow-style attire in white kurta-pyjama took to the stage. The ambience too gave into the Lucknavi farshi nashist, and all those in attendance attested to the pleasures that one derives from the magical world of a storyteller.

This is a story of a young princess captured by a powerful sorcerer, who transforms himself into a lookalike of the princess. There is a romance between the princess and a young man. And a search for the captured princess by her father’s army, a General being assigned to look into this matter. The audience is forced to use their imaginations, to form their own pictures of characters and scenarios, which makes for a truly vitalising experience.

One of the greatest Urdu prose ever written by Muhammad Hussain Jah and Ahmed Hussain Qamar came into the spotlight, with Hassan performing extempore and Khan sometimes narrating a few lines from the book itself. However, nothing was lost in presenting a spontaneous stunning illusion of the fantasy world.

From the paraphrases to the strong Urdu idioms, one relived an era long gone via this session, and was undoubtedly able to imagine themselves in the fantastical times of the princess, the wizard and all things magical, for a short but wonderful hour.

The crowd was told not to clap by the storytellers themselves, as this could distract them from the captivating tale. Despite this, one could hear audience members saying wah, wah and bohot aalaa, unable to contain their appreciation.

Later, while speaking to The Express Tribune, Khan said, “We have found inspiration from dastaango like Danish Hussain and Mahmood Farooqui, but nothing of course can be compared to the ultimate Mir Baqir Ali, the last famous storyteller of India.”

Khan expressed the need for this kind of dying art form to be enjoyed and to “continue as a tradition,” promoted by the younger generations.

Dastaango, which is part of Napa’s International Theatre Festival, will present this same storytelling session at Napa next Saturday on 22nd March 2014 at 6:00 pm sharp in the evening.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2014.

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