Bigger India
Dastangoi Of An Indo-Canadian: Migrant’s Tales In Multiple Indian Languages
Jawaid Danish, an Indian origin Canadian artist gives a twist to Dastangoi, narrates stories of migration in Urdu and other Indian languages
If you thought that dastangoi (dastan: tale; goi: narrating/telling) was all about fairies, demons, jinns, magic and Urdu then you are highly mistaken. For this Indian-origin author and theatre-artiste, is giving a beautiful spin to the existing format of the long forgotten art of telling tales. The dastans of Jawaid Danish revolve around the tales of immigrants, five characters to be precise. And instead of having two or three dastangos, Jawaid gives solo performances and narrates the tales in impeccable Urdu, which swiftly changes to Bengali, Gujarati or even the UP and Mumbaiya boli, which he terms as boli-tholi. Jawaid, is the first dastango of the west and currently is in India as part of his four month world tour of his dastangoi.