world storytelling day: Whether it is rhymes, epic poems, songs or tales that started back in time, oral storytelling has always been an integral part of cultures around the world. It is not only universal but is as ancient as mankind itself, entertaining cultural traditions, instilling values and conveying information in the process. Today, as we celebrate World Storytelling Day, it would be prudent for us to sit back, remember our favorite bedtime stories, and also reflect on how the age-old art has stood the test of time. has been, and is actually reaching more extremes.
However, storytelling is no longer confined to our four walls, as India has some popular new-age storytellers who are giving a new take to the traditional art form. To find out the changes and elements being incorporated to make it a viable entertainment option, we spoke with Sudhanshu Rai, one of the few new-age Indian storytellers and filmmakers with nearly 200 stories to his credit, FM Radio Storytelling There are shows, and there are streaming releases for them. Credit. “Storytelling has moved beyond the days when it was simple narration and confined to books or a particular age group. Today, it is more related to the experience an audience seeks in a theater or while watching a movie or a concert for that matter,” said the storyteller.
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After conducting a storytelling show recently for one of the public sector units in Madhya Pradesh, Sudhanshu elaborated, “The setup of the live storytelling show is such that it creates much more than an oral narration. While designing a show, every aspect of the audience experience is given complete attention, from lighting to creating the right atmosphere, to music orchestrated to create the right feel for each story. However, the storyteller-actor states that the evolution of storytelling is not just limited to the ‘presentation’ part, as we now have genres that were not often explored in the past.
“Genres like horror, thriller, sci-fi and time travel have mostly remained isolated when it comes to professional storytelling. But with the advent of new forms of entertainment, the audience is not at all apprehensive to experience diverse genres. I can remember a recent show where there was a repeated demand for one scary story after another. The feel, the jump in time, the modulation of the voice, the effects – all the elements cumulatively make the show feel like going to a theatre, says storyteller Sudhanshu Rai.
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He further states that in reality, the imagination of the audience is confined to the scenes before the eyes in the latter case, while oral storytelling makes the imagination go through all seas of limitations and constraints. For example, the forest narrated in a story may be different for each listener, depending on their course of thought and imagination. In the words of the storyteller-filmmaker, storytelling is still new and innovative compared to other common forms of entertainment, and its associated benefits should not be forgotten.
“This is one of the reasons why corporate entities, even government-owned units and other employee-friendly businesses are shying away from other traditional recreational activities to organize story shows for their work. When they hear a story in a certain specific environment, they remain the same through each character, speech, situations, and even the ambient music. Such activities result in a variety of positive outcomes, including mental health, diversion of disturbing thoughts, and awakening of the various senses, in addition to overall entertainment.
Asked when his formative years and the quest to become a storyteller entered his life, Sudhanshu said that it traces its origins to the time when he was studying in a primary school in a village near Gorakhpur. Unlike his classmates and friends, the ordinary events of the day unfolded before him as separate stories. When they went to school, parents used to drop their children in the morning and their conversation made them weave different stories in their mind. As he grew up and eventually came to Delhi for education, he became a part of drama and theater in school and college, in which he wrote and acted in many plays and won many awards for them.
However, the professional journey of storytelling began around five years back, when he launched his own storytelling channel on YouTube named Kahaanikar Sudhanshu Rai. As his popularity grew among audiences, his name gradually became synonymous with thriller, horror, supernatural and detective storytelling. Detective Bumrah, a character conceptualized by him became hugely popular and appeared on-screen in a web series about a year ago. After disrupting the world of oral storytelling in India with offbeat concepts and styles, he became a filmmaker and actor with Chaipatti. He has since had other successful streaming releases including Chinta Mani, and reportedly, his next Bollywood sci-fi psychological thriller which he has written. But the best part to appreciate this World Storytelling Day, is that he hasn’t given up on his first love – storytelling – despite wearing many other hats.