Syed Sahil Agha
Indian writer and storyteller (born 1982)
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Syed Sahil Agha (born 1982) is an Indian storyteller, actor, writer and vintage car collector, who is specialised in the verbal art of Dastangoi, a 13th-century art of oral storytelling in Urdu language. 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 .[1][2] He is known for his role as Shibli Nomani in the Sir Syed Ahmed Khan: The Messiah, a web-series released on Apple TV.[3][4][5][6]
Bachelor of Arts (Jamia Millia Islamia)
Diploma in Acting (Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts)
Syed Sahil Agha | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | 1982 (age 43–44) |
| Citizenship | Indian |
| Education | National School of Drama Bachelor of Arts (Jamia Millia Islamia) Diploma in Acting (Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts) |
| Years active | 2010-present |
| Known for | Dastangoi |
Early life and education
Syed Sahil Agha was born in 1982 in Delhi to Sayyed Mansoor Agha, a writer and senior journalist.[7][8] He belongs to the Delhi Gharana originated from Amir Khusrau's Silsila of Sufism.[9][10]
He learnt and did his training at National School of Drama and he completed his Bachelor of Arts from Jamia Millia Islamia and then started to perform as a Dastango in events.[7][11] Later, he did Post Graduate Diploma in Acting from Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts, Delhi.[12]
Career
Agha gave his first professional Dastangoi performance in 2010 at Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, when he was pursuing Bachelor of Arts there.[13][14] He claims his grandfather was the inspiration for his work.[11][15][16]
He has also come up with a new idea of 'Musical Dastangoi' which has an amalgamated storytelling with Indian Opera and Indian classical music.[17]
Agha is the writer of Dastan-e-Hind (2010), a collection of his dastans and Indian folklore, has inspired performances by many artists around the globe.[18][13] 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,[19] Dastan-e-Dastangoi,, Dastan Mehboob-e-Ilahi, Dastan-e-Amir Khusrau,[20] Dastan-e-Shoaib Akhtar,[21][22] Jashn-e-Javed Akhtar,[23] Dastan-e-Chiragh, Dastan-e-Mahatma,[24][25] Dastan-e-Vikram-Betal and Tughlaqnama, Dastan Dilli Ke Shayron ki[26] which have become a hit amongst his audiences.[27][28] His musical storytelling includes Dastan-e-Duvidha, Jashn-e-Virasat, Dilli Durbar,[29][30] Dastan Ishq-e-Meera, Dastan-e-Sahir and many others.[29][30][31][32][33]
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.[9][1][34][35][36][37][38]
Vintage car collection
Agha, has been engaged in collecting vintage cars for 25 years.[39][40] He has mainly collected models of British and German cars.[41][12]