About
Danish Husain is an actor, poet, storyteller and theatre director, and a leading figure in the revival of dastangoi, the Urdu art of oral storytelling. Trained under Barry John and active across theatre, film and performance, he was among the earliest collaborators in the modern dastangoi revival before developing his own multilingual repertory practice. Through his group Hoshruba Repertory he has extended storytelling into new languages and forms, and he continues to work as a respected stage and screen actor, poet and cultural organiser.
Husain founded The Hoshruba Repertory in Mumbai, through which he directs and performs literary and contemporary theatre, from Rajiv Joseph's Guards At The Taj to Habibnama, his 2024 play on Habib Tanvir. Alongside the stage he has a substantial film and web body of work, including Peepli Live, Dhobi Ghat, Newton, Soorma and Bombay Begums.
The artistry
Husain works across dastangoi, storytelling and theatre, performing classical Urdu dastans while building a multilingual, contemporary repertory that draws in Hindi, English and other tongues. He treats the spare form of narrator, takht and voice as a flexible medium for new stories and collaborations, and brings an actor's precision and a poet's ear to the telling. His practice bridges the classical dastangoi tradition and modern theatre, keeping oral storytelling inventive and alive.
Husain is the dastango who is also a full theatre-maker. Where a solo performer brings a set, he can bring a production. For a programmer, he offers range: a classical dastan, a bilingual Qissebaazi evening, a poetry-in-performance set, or a staged play. [Atlas Assessment]
Danish Husain is a co-reviver of dastangoi who turned it into an ongoing, multilingual repertory practice, bridging classical Urdu storytelling and contemporary theatre. Through performance, direction and his Hoshruba Repertory, he has widened the form's languages and audiences and mentored other practitioners, while sustaining a parallel career as an admired actor and poet. His work has been important to establishing oral storytelling as a living contemporary art in India.