Danish Husain: Rehearsing with Naseerbhai was like receiving a masterclass in acting

Delhi-based theatre actor Danish Husain, whose play 'Dastan-e-Choubuli' is premiering today at the Prithvi Theatre Festival in association with Bombay Times, is best known for his hit play Dastangoi — an oral story-telling art form. While Dastangoi has become a brand today, the actor, who has specially come to Mumbai for the festival, reveals how acting on stage was never on his agenda.Excerpts from his interview...
You left a flourishing banking career to join theatre. How did that happen?
Fifteen years ago, before joining theatre, I was working as a banker. But I didn’t enjoy it. I wanted to impress pretty girls by pretending to be someone else! That’s when I realised, the only place where I can pretend to be someone else is theatre. I could play a different character every day. So, in the day, I would be sitting in a bank, servicing disgruntled customers and in the evening, I would work in theatre. This dual life went on for three years, until I finally decided that working on stage is much more interesting, than working in a bank, so I quit banking and became an actor. Also, it was tough counting someone else’s money, so I thought, why not make my own? Unfortunately, I don’t have much of it anyway! I did my first two plays with Barry John. After that, I just got lucky; people would spot me and ask me to work in their shows. This went on, till I started working with theatre personality Habib Tanvir. That’s when I ran into Mahmood Farooqui, who was making a documentary on Habib sahab. He offered me Dastangoi. I wasn’t sure I would be able to do it because it was just pages and pages of high-level Urdu that I had to memorise. But he had great confidence in me.
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When did your association with Prithvi Theatre begin?
The first time I performed at Prithvi was in 2006. Naseer bhai was having a Motley festival, and he invited us to perform Dastangoi. Instantly, a lot of people here took a liking to us and the art form that we were doing. We started getting invited regularly, and eventually started coming to Prithvi on our own. Now, I end up here almost 3-4 times a year. It’s a great venue to perform.
What is your new play Dastan-e-Choubuli about?
This is a Rajasthani folk tale, first recorded by writer Vijaydan Detha, who spent a large part of his life travelling and collecting stories. He then penned them down, adding his own satirical writing style. He wrote a collection of 18 stories. This is one folktale from that collection. An American author translated it into English and Mahmood readapted the story from there and made it into a dastan. Our new play talks about patriarchy, misogyny, homosexuality, the caste system and the way our society is. It’s a very liberating story. Today, men are realising that they cannot take women for granted. So, in such times, it becomes very interesting to perform a story on women’s liberation. Without being bitter, our play lampoons men in a humorous way. I believe satire is far more effective than telling a story directly. This play will really go a long way in entertaining people and showing men their true place!
Who is your theatre inspiration?
When Naseer bhai (Naseeruddin Shah) collaborated with us, I got to work closely with him. It was a great learning experience for me because I have grown up watching him. To actually sit down and rehearse with him was like receiving a masterclass in acting! His performances in plays like 'Gharwali', 'Sankraman' and 'Waiting For Godot' are simply remarkable. When he comes on stage, he is a different man.