Latest news with #Hoshruba
New Indian Express
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
20 years of Delhi's Dastangoi Collective so it has to be a Dastan-ival!
It is said you have conceived the modern format of the dastangoi art form, what does that mean in terms of content and presentation? When I revived the form under the guidance of the great late Shamsur Rahman Faruqi none of us had ever seen a dastangoi performance. My innovation was, I thought, of having two people perform together. With Anusha's help [partner, writer and Peepli Live director Anusha Rizvi] and with my intuitive theatre training, we devised the modern form and presentation style as a combination of the traditional and the modern. We had a takht, katoras to drink from, Anusha devised the costumes, I insisted on a certain style of pajamas and topis. We used lights, sound, stage decorum, which made this much closer to a modern stage show, and thereby modern dastangoi was born as something that was akin to theatre, but also much more than that. Why did you think dastangoi would work in Delhi--there was already theatre present in various forms 20 years ago? Which story did you start with? When I read the traditional stories of Dastan-e-Amir hamza, I was flabbergasted at their plot turns, use of language, poetry and their uninhibited, unfettered imagination. They were the most outstanding thing I had ever come across in Indian literature and performance. So, I knew they would work. The first show was at the IIC in Delhi on May 4, 2005. Why has the story of the tilism (magical world) of Hoshruba become one of the foremost fantasy tales of Urdu and can one understand it if one doesn't know Urdu? Yes, Tilism-e-Hoshruba, the most famous chapter of the traditional Dastan-e-Amir Hamza [supposedly an uncle of the Prophet Mohammed], which is itself in eight volumes or over 8,000 pages, is in many ways the crowning glory not just of Urdu but also Indian literature and performance. It is full of wit, playfulness, literary flourishes, inventiveness and fantasy, and has several different rasas in it, as exhorted by the Natyashastra. It speaks wonderfully to non-Urdu speakers, too. In the Partition dastan, you liberally take material from Krishan Chander, Rahi Masoom Raza, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Amrita Pritam, Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali's Zamindar, Intizar Hussain, et al. Is dastangoi copyright-agnostic, or is this part of the dastan tradition? There is no stealing in paying homage. We draw upon poetry but not stories, we allude to those great works and adapt them and synergise them to our narration. All the readings I have done in my life, all the history I have studied at Delhi, Oxford, Cambridge, gets poured into the Dastan's research to re-direct the material and deploy it to new uses. Vazira's Zamindar book, for instance, has not sold as many copies as the number of people it may have reached via our Dastans. Dastangoi takes knowledge out of books, libraries and universities and puts it into the popular realm. In these 20 years, which dastan performance has been your most difficult, or that's given the audience most pleasure? Dastan-e-Karan from the Mahabharata. I put my life into it every time I do it. It has also earned a great response, and why not, it is after all the Mahabharata.
Time of India
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Artists have an inner search in Voices
Critic and Curator Uma Nair has been writing for the past 35 years on art and culture She has written as critic for Times of India and Economic Times. She believes that art is a progressive sojourn. She learnt by looking at the best shows in Washington D.C. and New York. As author her most important books are Reverie with Raza and Meditations on Trees by Ompal Sansanwal. LESS ... MORE At the prestigious Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai, the Auditorium will unveil 26 Indian and International artists in a show by Bespoke Art Gallery that transcends the beauty of materials and mediums, metaphors and meanderings. Within the compositions of paintings ,drawings and sculptures these masters will reflect realities and transformations of everyday experiences and memories into artworks that engage our visual is an inner search in every artist in this show that celebrates composition. Sudip Roy's offering (Aarti ) The exhibition opens with a pair of watercolours on the city of Benares by Sudip Roy. His offering is a stunning surreal work that demonstrates how colour can be an integral part of an artist's language — how it can become a subject itself, or be deeply tied to memory, identity, culture, as well as a sacred ritual ' as old as history and older than time'. Through his distinctive practice, we gain insight into the uniqueness of his individual approach to watercolour and weaving surrealism into the spectacle, as well as discover surprising similarities between old masters and this Bengal master. Sudip captures the essence of elegance and the magic of the nightfall, showcasing the allure of cities in India as never before. His image tells stories of desire, and sadness , spirituality as well as intrigue, and power play in the intensities of cities leaving an indelible mark in our cultural history. Dashavataras Arpitha Reddy's Dashavtaras leads the show in a template that brings alive temple mural traditions from the sacred paintings in Guruvayur in Kerala. Arpitha has been creating works that create corollaries in the many avatars of Lord Vishnu for the past 10 years. The human figure in deities and details create the finesse here. Lord Krishna is among the best. Nilesh Vede Animus and Anima Nilesh Vede's Animus and Anima are a pair of human portraits taken from Carl Jung's famous essay that speaks of the masculine and feminine dualities. Nilesh is a succinct and supple creator of the human form. His men and women portraits are textured with the lexicon of the devanagari script which is the root of the Marathi alphabets. Moody and metaphoric this work is a stunning creation. Muzaffar Ali's horses Amorphous and elegant are Muzaffar Ali's pair of horse studies that emanate the moody reverie of contemplation in horses. Hoshruba is a panoramic canvas that echoes the beauty of equine creatures all over the world. Muzaffar says a horse should not be treated cruelly for human gains. His Raaz and Hoshruba belong to his two solo shows held in Delhi. Arzan moving ahead Arzan Khambhatta's Moving Ahead is a veritable testimony to time in the wake of man and his many leanings in a life in the urban city. Arzan an architect turned sculptor says his work is about the togetherness of men who work to accomplish the impossible. His work consists of a single portrait of man and a few images and the architectural nuances that frame the singular act of struggle and accomplishment. International artists This exhibition VOICES is also about celebrating creative expression amongst international artistic voices from the world like Spain,Australia, UK, and Uzbekistan, from the collection of Devin Gawarvala founder of Bespoke Art Gallery,Ahmedabad. Within the multiple mediums of works we see an unfolding of personalities and the power of compositional reach in terms of process and practice in artistic perception and perspective. Jesus Curia Bench At best a work of art could hinge on the representational ,the abstract, the figurative as well as non-figurative. While in its odyssey of creation it is at once unique and sufficient unto itself, it is the creative act that makes it palpable so that it generates its own life. Spanish mentor and sculptor Jesus Curia's small bench with two humans is a silent spectacle of sorts, it speaks to us about reflective reverie as well as the notes of contemplation when we sit on a garden chair or a bench. The design dynamics go back in time reminding us of paradisal gardens all over the world. Curia's Construction II is a work of depth and grace and gravitas. This unisexual human stands alone in an urban syntax with rusted ruins forming his lower body. Patina and perfection are the elixir of Curia who is a brilliant genius in the manner of humans he creates in myriad moods. Timur D'Vatz trio To look at three works of Guiness World Record Holder , Timur D'Vatz is to know that colour is king in the hands of this master of contemporary reality. His three works, Heraldry, Astrology, and The Hunt reflects that he has the hallmark of perfection in the way he demonstrates how colour can be an integral part of an artist's language — how it can become a subject itself, or be deeply tied to antiquity, to memory, to identity, culture, or nature. Bhajju Shyam's elephant Bhajju Shyam's elephant is a cry to humanity on the cruelty meted out to elephants at temples and other places and events. It heralds the need for making to do something about the extinction of species. Bhajju is a Gond artist who has created many elephants in the beauty of his own textural terrain. These images by 26 artists define their own space, their understanding of delineation, within their own perspectives of colour and composition. Within their own ideas of harmony and dimension their works of art have to be experienced by the audience that come to seek their own utopia within the space of this historic at the Jehangir Art Bespoke Art Gallery from Ahmedabad VOICES is a veritable debut that seeks to unveil artistic resonance. Images: Bespoke Art Gallery Ahmedabad Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
