Dastan-e-Akhtari traces Begum Akhtar’s life in Bengaluru

Kafeel Jafri opened *Dastan-e-Akhtari* at Sabhablr in Bengaluru with the story of Mushtari Bai, Begum Akhtar’s mother, and the social circumstances into which Akhtari was born.

The performance used dastangoi — a storytelling form built around voice, imagination and direct exchange with an audience — to move through Begum Akhtar’s life, from early marginalisation to her stature as the Mallika-e-Ghazal. Jafri’s narration was threaded with ghazals, thumris and dadras sung by Yusra Naqvi, with live harmonium, tabla and sarangi accompaniment.

Rather than casting the singer’s life only through loss, Jafri examined her agency, including her decision to stop singing after marriage. “Social pressure certainly played a role, but she also made an active choice because marriage offered her the respectability that her background had denied her,” he said.

The programme also drew on episodes from her friendships with musicians including Kumar Gandharva, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Bismillah Khan, and featured songs such as “Muhabbat tere anjaam pe rona aaya” and the dadra “Chha rahi kaari ghata, jiya mora lehrae hai.”