NEW DELHI:
The finale of the oral storytelling festival stretched late into Sunday night under a star-lit sky set amidst the majestic lawns of the Humayun Tomb complex, as an array of storytellers from all over the world mesmerised a large gathering at the three-day Kathakar 2019, which came to a rather reluctant end with the audience yearning for more.
About a 1,200-strong crowd, assembled at the amphitheatre along with a sizeable number of children, just could not have enough of the raconteurs’ myriad tales on a wintry evening. The galaxy of guests and participants included Mohit Chauhan, Imtiaz Ali, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Ratesh Nanda, Sushila Devi, and models Rashmi Mann and Ruchita Tahiliani, who lent glitz and glamour to the show.
But it was Imtiaz Ali who stole the show and many a heart as the lanky film director, a regular at the event, once again showed his facet as a master storyteller. According to him, there’s no façade, it is all genuineness in stories.
With such super hits to his credits like Love Aaj Kal and Rockstar, Ali was self-effacing when he said, “One has to live the characters to be a good storyteller.” Talking about the character in his stories, he noted that subconsciously he may be living the life of his characters but not in real life, though many a time he can experience their angst and anguish. “My characters are all drawn from real life and they are found commonly in everyday life,’’ he quipped.
Initiated in 2010, ‘Kathakar—International Storytellers Festival’ is a serious attempt to revive the ancient art of narrating tales.
Another highlight of the finale was a riveting narration by Indian performer Danish Hussain who kept his stories rooted and thus easily bonding with the crowd. The award-winning actor, poet and theatre director, who is instrumental in reviving the lost art form of Urdu storytelling Dastangoi, went on a narrative spree (in Urdu), mesmerising the crowd. His tales may be about age-old characters from the pages of history known for their valour, but Husain made them entertaining and oddly applicable to real life too. Husain learned hands-on from some of India’s greatest creative and literary stalwarts like Habib Tanvir, M S Sathyu, Rajinder Nath and Sabina Mehta Jaitly.
From theatre, Husain graduated to Dastangoi, which experienced a wave of revival a few years ago, and for which he shared the Sangeet Natak Akademi award with Mahmood Farooqui. Then, in 2012, he set up The Hoshruba Repertory, a performance company that, among other things, has introduced the world to Qissebaazi. Derived from Dastangoi, Qissebaazi – or the playful telling of stories – is different in that it is not limited to Urdu but has also opened up the possibility of integrating storytelling in various Indian languages. “The idea is to have stories in every language,” Husain said.
Emily Hennessey (previously Emily Parrish), who is a performance storyteller, tells myths, legends, epics, folktales, fairytales and fables from around the world — from the Hindu epic Ramayana to African Anansi stories. With a Swedish background, she also loves to tell Scandinavian folktales and Norse mythology.
Hennessey said that she is dedicated to exploring the ancient art of storytelling as oral tradition within a contemporary context. On Sunday night, she recounted the story of Shikhandi in her very own inimitable style, replete with war cries and passionate dialogues. Shikhandi is a character in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. As the son of Drupada, he fought in the Kurukshetra war on the side of the Pandavas.
He had been born in an earlier lifetime as a woman named Amba, who was rejected by Bhishma for marriage. Feeling humiliated and seething with revenge, Amba carried out great prayers and penance with the desire to be the cause of Bhishma’s death. Amba was then reborn as Shikhandi. In the battle of Kurukshetra, Bhishma recognised him as Amba reborn, and not wanting to fight ‘a woman’, lowered his weapons. Taking advantage of it, Arjuna hid behind Shikhandi and attacked Bhishma with a devastating volley of arrows. Shikhandi was finally killed by Ashwathama on the 18th day of battle.
Emily has worked across the globe and her recent performances include the Royal Opera House, the Viking Ship Museum in Denmark and Beyond the Border Storytelling Festival.
In another round of Qissebaazi, two upcoming Indian models narrated tales, rendered mostly in rustic Haryanvi dialect, and it was hilarious, replete with miming and local innuendos. They recounted how two Jats get into a drunken brawl and feel rather embarrassed after the hangover. They also narrated another local anecdote of a pretty wife, Shadu, and her insomniac husband.
Vergine Gulbenkian from the UK narrated a folk tale from Europe about three princes, and how each had to do a task to restore the sight of their blind father and king. Vergine, of Armenian descent, is a Craniovascular Therapist and a storyteller based in London. Her interests led her to research the rich Armenian oral traditions, especially about Ashiq, an epic singing and ballad (Dastaan).
Rendering Polish folktales, Jerzy Szufa spun the story of Stepahanov the blacksmith, his simple life, his quarrels at the market place and his fantasies. For him, the art of storytelling of fairy tales and legends is his passion.
Ron Murray from Australia once again came on stage to perform on the Didgeridoo, one of the oldest musical instruments in the world which he says dates back to over 25,000 years! Made out of a hollow, native tree called Maali, found Down Under, Ron made a series of sounds that mimicked local animals like Kookaburra. Ron who has an international reputation as Didgeridoo soloist is a Wamba Wamba from Central Victoria, Australia.
Manish Sisodia, who came for the closing ceremony, said all stories are driven by a learning outcome. Some of the outcomes of ancient tales do get distorted today, as of the story of Raja Harishchandra known for his truthfulness. “Today it is taken as a tool to poke fun. Don’t be like Raja Harishchandra or you will repent or what do you think of yourself, are you Raja Harishchandra?’’
He said storytelling must be introduced in schools as a curriculum. Later, the festival’s chief patron Mohit Chauhan and Patron Shushila Devi felicitated all the participants.
Kathakar has been organised by Nivesh, a cultural forum along with HHACH (Himalayan Hub for Art, Culture and Heritage), Babaji Music and Agha Khan Trust for Culture as festival support and venue partners. The festival has been conceptualized by sisters Rachna, Prarthana and Shaguna Gahilote and was first launched in 2010 under the aegis of UNESCO as part of Ghummakkad Narain, in memory of ardent reader Thakur Vishva Narain Singh, the first Braille editor in India.
