The art of storytelling cannot be mastered by all. The storyteller needs to keep the audience gripped to their seat from start to end just like a movie but without the motion picture.
Deepa Kiran, a professional storyteller from the city has taken the art to an international level, creating a mark not only for herself but for Hyderabad as well. An educationist, writer, compere, voice-over artist and the founder of Story Arts India Foundation, Deepa is the only one from India who participated in the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2017 organised in Edinburgh, where representatives from 20 countries took part.
Describing her experience at the festival, she says, “It has been wonderful. I had the opportunity to meet veteran and young storytellers from all over the world Scotland, New Zealand, Kenya, Sweden and many more countries. My performances were in the last two days, along with storytellers from Thailand, Norway and Scotland. Working together has been a beautiful cultural exchange.”
Elaborating on her storytelling stint at the do, she adds, “For the project with Scotland, we researched and worked on poets, literary figures and saints. The storytelling was combined with flute music, songs, dance and poetry and was performed at the National Library of Scotland.”
Deepa’s performances showcased stories of Bhakti poets like Meera and Kabir and Rabindranath Tagore’s famous short story Kabuliwallah, bringing the culture of India to the forefront. According to her, more and more people should come forward and embrace the art and spread the love of storytelling. “I have noticed a sudden interest in storytelling in Hyderabad and it is a good thing. However, it would be nice to have more of a qualitative growth along with the quantitative,” she concludes.
