Syed Sahil Agha (born 1982) is an Indian storyteller, actor, writer and vintage car collector, who is specialised in the verbal art of ''

Dastangoi Dastangoi (Urdu: داستان گوئی) is a 13th century Urdu oral storytelling art form. The Persian style of dastan evolved in 16th century. One of the earliest references in print to dastangoi is a 19th-century text containing 46 volumes of ...

,'' a 13th-century art of oral storytelling in

Urdu language Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

. He discovered the old form of ''QissaKhwani'' and revived it by naming it ''QissaGoi'' and also reintroduced ''Jumlebaazi'', a 13th-century wit and Wordplay oral storytelling art form . He is known for his role as

Shibli Nomani Shibli Nomani (4 June 1857 – 18 November 1914) was an Indian Islamic scholar, poet, philosopher, historian, educational thinker, author, orator, reformer and critic of orientalists during the British Raj. He is regarded as the father of Urdu ...

in the '' Sir Syed Ahmed Khan: The Messiah,'' a web-series released on

Apple TV Apple TV is a digital media player and a microconsole developed and marketed by Apple. It is a small piece of networking hardware that sends received media data such as video and audio to a TV or external display. Its media services include ...

Early life and education

Syed Sahil Agha was born in 1982 in Delhi to Sayyed Mansoor Agha, a writer and senior journalist. He belongs to the Delhi Gharana originated from Amir Khusrau's Silsila of Sufism. He learnt and did his training at

National School of Drama National School of Drama (NSD) is a drama school situated at New Delhi, India. It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and became an independent school ...

and he completed his Bachelor of Arts from

Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Millia Islamia is a Public university, public and research university located in Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British R ...

and then started to perform as a ''Dastango'' in events. Later, he did Post Graduate Diploma in Acting from Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts, Delhi.

Career

Agha gave his first professional ''Dastangoi'' performance in 2010 at Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, when he was pursuing Bachelor of Arts there. He claims his grandfather was the inspiration for his work. He has also come up with a new idea of 'Musical Dastangoi' which has an amalgamated storytelling with Indian

Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

and

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the art music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is generally described using terms like ''Shastriya Sangeet'' and ''Marg Sangeet''. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as ...

. Agha is the writer of ''Dastan-e-Hind'' (2010), a collection of his ''

dastan Dastan () is an ornate form of oral history, an epic, from Central Asia, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. A dastan is generally centered on one individual who protects his tribe or his people from an outside invader or enemy, although only occasion ...

s'' and Indian

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, has inspired performances by many artists around the globe. He perform solo rather than as part of a pair. His dastans include ''Nairang-e DastanGoi, Dastan-e-Awadh,'' ''Dastan-e-Dard,'' ''Dastan-e-Taqseem,'' ''Dastan-e-Dastangoi,,'' ''Dastan Mehboob-e-Ilahi,'' ''Dastan-e-

Amir Khusrau Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253 – 1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau, sometimes spelled as, Amir Khusrow or Amir Khusro, was an Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar, who lived during the period of the Delhi Sult ...

'', ''Dastan-e-

Shoaib Akhtar Shoaib Akhtar (; born 13 August 1975) is a Pakistani former international cricketer and commentator. Nicknamed the "Rawalpindi Express", he is the fastest bowler in cricketing history, with an unbeaten 161.3 kmph (100.23 mph) delivery. Akht ...

,'' ''Jashn-e-

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 1945) is an Indian screenwriter, lyricist and poet. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2007, two of India's highest civili ...

,'' ''Dastan-e-Chiragh, Dastan-e-Mahatma,'' ''Dastan-e-Vikram-Betal'' and ''

Tughlaq The Tughlaq dynasty (also known as the Tughluq or Tughluk dynasty; ) was the third dynasty to rule over the Delhi Sultanate in medieval India. Its reign started in 1320 in Delhi when Ghazi Malik assumed the throne under the title of Ghiyath ...

nama, Dastan Dilli Ke Shayron ki'' which have become a hit amongst his audiences. His musical storytelling includes ''Dastan-e-Duvidha, Jashn-e-Virasat,'' ''Dilli Durbar,'' ''Dastan Ishq-e-

Meera Meera, better known as Mirabai, and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. She is mentioned in '' Bhaktama ...

, Dastan-e-Sahir'' and many others.' He has been a part of Bharatmuni Rang Utsav, Gaatha: Mumbai International Story Telling Festival, Udaipur Tales International Storytelling Festival, Jahan-e-Khusrau, Shimla International Literature Festival, Sahityotsav Cultural Karvan, Jashn-e-Rekhta and Adbi Forum.

Vintage car collection

Agha, collecting vintage cars is a passion. In the past 25 years, he has collected several high-end British and German cars.

Filmography

Television

Filmography

Awards and honours

In 2022, National Museum, New Delhi honoured Agha with The Grace of Dastangoi and also displayed his costume ''Angrakha'' at the Chitram Vastram. * Pradesh Jouhar Award 2017 * Hafeez Merathi Award 2017 * Delhi Minorities Commission Award 2019

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agha, Syed Sahil Living people 21st-century Indian writers Jamia Millia Islamia alumni Dastangos Writers from Delhi Oral historians Oral epic poets Oral literature Urdu-language writers from India Oral poets 1982 births