Danish Husain is an actor, poet, storyteller, and a theatre director and founder of The Hoshruba Repertory. He started his career in theatre with Barry John and went on to work with directors like Habib Tanvir, M.S. Sathyu, M.K. Raina, Sunil Shanbag, Sabina Mehta Jaitly, & Naseeruddin Shah.

He was instrumental in reviving the lost art form of Urdu storytelling Dastangoi.

The Hoshruba Repertory is based in Mumbai and his latest productions include plays Guards At The Taj (2017) and Qissa Urdu Ki Aakhiri Kitaab Ka (2017) besides the storytelling project Qissebaazi (2016), and the poetry performance project Poetrification (2016) with the fellow actor Denzil Smith.

His major film work includes India’s entry to Oscar 2018 – Newton (2017), Ankhon Dekhi (2013), Dhobi Ghat (2010), and Peepli Live (2010). His latest films are Shaad Ali’s film Soorma (2018) and Gaurav Chawla’s Baazaar (2018), Navjot Gulati’s Blame It On Sanjog (2018) besides a cameo in Nandita Das’s Manto (2018).

Danish won the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Award for the Best Supporting Actor in 2008 for his portrayal of Shams Tabrezi in the play Rumi; Unveil The Sun.

He also won the Sangeet Natak Akademi’s (The Indian Academy for Music & Theatre) Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puruskar for reviving the lost art form of Urdu storytelling Dastangoi in 2010 that he subsequently returned during the intolerance debate in 2015.

His educational background includes being an alumni of Delhi School of Economics and FMS, Delhi. Prior to changing tracks to be an actor, Danish was a banker.

Danish, though a Delhi-ite for many years, now lives in Mumbai and continue his passionate immersion in theatre and films.


Interesting Links

https://www.ted.com/talks/danish_husain_stories_of_love_and_laughter – Introduced by Shahrukh Khan

http://www.punedesignfestival.org/speaker/danish-hussain/

https://www.firstpost.com/living/danish-husain-on-becoming-a-storyteller-and-using-qissebaazi-to-turn-indian-lore-into-performance-4487317.html

http://indianculturalforum.in/2017/10/30/danish-husain-souradeep-roy-theatre-and-politics-newton/

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/lifestyle/theatre-actor-director-danish-hussain-shares-his-memories-of-walled-city/videoshow/58895940.cms

http://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/hindi/2017/sep/14/urdu-does-not-belong-to-any-religion-says-dastangoi-artist-danish-hussain-1657135.html

https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/theatre/%E2%80%98In-Mumbai-I-can-walk-around-aimlessly%E2%80%99/article17070142.ece

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