Alice no longer lives in a land far far away but in our very own Delhi with a studious elder sister and raven black cat, Kitty. All this and much more happens in Dastan Alice Ki, an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. This is writer and dastango Mahmood Farooqui's attempt to draw children to dastangoi, a style of storytelling that dates back to the 16th century. The dastan abounds with incredible adventures, magical beings and rib-tickling humour. "I have been thinking of doing stories for children for some time now. The entire team went through folktales like Hatim Tai and Panchatantra and came to the conclusion that we should do a story like Alice which too is tilismi, or magical, like the traditional dastans," says Farooqui, who has directed the tale.
Dastan Alice Ki appeals to young and old, as was evident during the performance at the Attic in Connaught Place, in August this year, where grey-haired grandmas could be heard cackling away just as much as the little ones. "Till now we have performed it in very intimate settings for small groups, but this is the first time we are doing it an auditorium," says Farooqui, who revived this lost art of storytelling in 2005. He recalls an interesting anecdote to show the level of engagement kids have with the story. "We did the first show of Alice at my house in Sukhdev Vihar and invited a group of children. These were really bright eight-year-olds. A conversation between Alice and the caterpillar was going on and the dialogue went like 'abki baar' and suddenly a boy said out loud, 'caterpillar sarkar'," smiles Farooqui, "that's how involved people become with a dastan."
Yet another tale that has been adapted to dastangoi is Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, a short story by Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury that was made into a cinematic classic by Satyajit Ray. That along with Dastan Alice Ki will be performed today at the India Habitat Centre as part of the Old World Theatre Festival. One of the team members, Fouzia, went through the cult movie and also read Gulzar's translation of the same - the result was a one-of-its kind musical dastan. "It is the first time we have used singing and narration together," says Farooqui.
However, this is not the first instance of team dastangoi leaving the traditional path to translate and adapt newer stories. The first such adaptation was performed in 2007 and was based on the Partition; thereafter the team did a dastan about social activist Binayak Sen and also one based on Tagore's Ghare Baire. In one past interview, Farooqui rated the latter as one of the toughest as it lacked humour. "Humour is essential to our dastans as it makes the Urdu more palatable," he says. While the team rates the traditional dastans as works of genius and a delight to perform, they have realised there are other stories to adapt and tell as well.
Today, dastangoi is not an alien word in the country, especially in Delhi where the audience has developed a relationship with the dastangos. The dastans are no longer just performed by the original pair of Farooqui and Danish Husain but by several others as well. "There are seven to eight pairs now working in Delhi. For instance, there's the pair of Fouzia and Valentina and another one of Ankit and Poonam. And that's how you grow - more tellers means more stories and that means more awareness," says Farooqui. These pairs not only tell a story together but even grow together as a team. "We met a great French storyteller who said it's like two bodies and one soul. A dastangoi performance can't work if one performer is dominant and other is subdued. Both need to be on the same key," he says.
But isn't language a barrier when they perform in places like Chennai and Kolkata, where Urdu is unlikely to be comprehended? Farooqui believes differently and states that the team got great reception in Kolkata and elsewhere. "Take Kerala, for instance. We were performing at a hotel where I could see a Malayali bartender thoroughly enjoying the dastan. When I asked him about it, he said, whatever I didn't understand was explained to me by a driver from Mumbai," says Farooqui. As of now the team has a packed schedule ahead. It has tied up with the Tadpole Repertory to participate in Lost & Found - a venture to discover space for performance and art in the life of a city. And then there is a show on Jamia Foundation Day on October 29. Audiences in Mumbai will be able to enjoy dastans at the Prithvi Theatre Festival to be held later this year.
Dastan Goopi Bagha Ki will be performed on October 19 at the Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Delhi, at 4 pm, while Dastan Alice Ki will be performed at 6 pm
