Dastan Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh

About the Dastan- Dastangoi Collective proudly presents Dastan-e-Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, which explores the revolutionary figure of Bhagat Singh and his notion of independence. The dastan delves deep into Bhagat Singh’s life and shifts the focus from his celebrated sacrifice to his writings and underlines the political vision and ideas behind the martyrdom.

Performed by- Ainee Farooqui and Nusrat Ansari

Director: Mahmood Farooqui - Mahmood Farooqui is an award-winning writer and an award-winning performer. He was awarded the Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar by the Sangeet Natak Akademi of the Union Government for his effort in reviving Dastangoi. His book on the 1857 uprising Besieged: Voices from Delhi, 1857 was awarded the Ram Nath Goenka Award for the best non-fiction book of the year by the Indian Express Group. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Universities of Michigan, US, and Berkeley, California, and was a Rhodes Scholar from India at the University of Oxford and at the University of Cambridge. His latest book is A Requiem for Pakistan: The World of Intizar Husain.

Producer: Anusha Rizvi - Anusha Rizvi is a Delhi based writer and film director. Her first feature as writer-director was the acclaimed Peepli Live, a path-breaking satire, which premiered at the Sundance Festival, 2010 in the World Competition Section.  She has directed and produced numerous documentaries and is also a writer who regularly contributes articles on critical issues of the day.  Rizvi has also worked as a Journalist with NDTV, India’s leading English news channel, and is a leading voice in debates around women, minority rights, and devising cultural strategies to re-mold the present.

Writer: Ainee Farooqui - Ainee did her graduation in History from Lady Shri Ram College. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in History from the University of Delhi. Her MPhil research deals with school history textbooks produced after Independence. She is attempting to study textbooks as devices of publicity, performative nationalism, and pedagogy.

As a student of History Ainee feels that Dastangoi is a medium by which History can break out of conference halls and classrooms to reach a wider audience. She has been a part of the Dastangoi Collective for more than five years and has performed around 40 shows in different parts of the country. She also conducts workshops with children and adults on Dastangoi and the art of storytelling.

Nusrat Ansari - Nusrat completed her graduation in History from Lady Shri Ram College and went on to pursue her Masters in Development Policy from Tata Institute of Social Sciences,(TISS) Tuljapur. Currently, she is working in the education sector with Educational Initiatives.
Her profound interest in heritage and culture and her curiosity to explore the Urdu language brought her to Dastangoi. It was during her graduation that for the first time ever, she witnessed a Dastangoi performance and was completely mesmerized by it. She then decided to pursue this art and has since been associated with it. For her, Dastangoi is not just a performing art but a way of life. She feels that it is a lifelong journey of learning and a path to explore the unexplored.