Kahaani suno, zubani suno: An evening to celebrate the spoken word

When stage and film actor Piyush Mishra steps up to the mike, with his wooden harmonium and slim catalogue of Hindi slam poetry, he turns into a rock star. The performance is electric, whether in verse or in song, as his deep rumble of a baritone emerges from the cave of his lungs and holds forth on ishq and jung. This vocal juggernaut is going to be unleashed next week at ‘Shabd’, a spoken-word evening presented by the storytelling group, Kommune.

Co-founded by three fast friends, theatre and radio personality Roshan Abbas, TV anchor Gaurav Kapoor, and indie cool cat Ankur Tewari, Kommune has been hosting spoken-word gigs since 2015, mostly online, with an annual weekend event called ‘Spoken Fest’ in-person. On YouTube, they have an 800K-strong following, with videos by multi-hyphenate Varun Grover and new actor Babil Khan raking million-plus views. “Many of our followers say that ‘Spoken’ happens once a year,” says Abbas. “So, where do we get our fix of poetry, music and storytelling otherwise? We want to give people an annual calendar. So, ‘Shabd’ works like a salon, a tastemaker event. This is the second one, and our focus is on storytelling in Hindustani.”

The line-up includes a mix of known and unknown names such as Piyush Mishra, Mohammad Muneem (founder and frontman of Alif), Priya Malik, and others. Abbas says, “I was talking to Piyush’s manager, who said, ‘He might make a lot more money writing screenplays and acting in movies, but there’s a joy that being on stage gives him.’ He gets electrified. Piyush sir comes from theatre. And, nothing, nothing surpasses the live experience of doing something with an audience and seeing their eyes light up.”

Over the past few years, Kommune has steadily built a platform for storytellers and story listeners. “‘Spoken’ was launched in 2017, because we wanted a place where people can become icons,” says Abbas. “The first one featured Mohammad Muneem, who is now on Coke Studio. Muneem says, ‘I was born at ‘Spoken Fest’.’ Srushti Tawade, the rapper from ‘MTV Hustle 2.0’, says, ‘I learned to write at ‘Spoken Fest’.’ So when you create these holy grails, people know ki mattha tekne yahaan hi aana padta hai. In today’s world, there are enough and more people who are looking for varied experiences. The rise of indie music, storytelling, poetry is because there’s a generation hungry to express itself in the words and stories of today. Ghalib was the poet of his generation. Gulzaarsaab and Javed Akhtarsaab were the poets of their generation. But, music-makers such as Piyush Mishra, Irshad Kamil, Neelesh Misra, Swanand Kirkire, Ankur Tewari are able to attract a paying audience today. When a person is able to build that level of relatability, and be able to tell stories in their words, that’s what makes them rock stars.”

Poetry IRL

One such rising star has been Priya Malik, whose poem ‘2019 mein 1999’ has 1.3M views on YouTube. She says, “Growing up in an Indian middle-class family in the ’90s, I never thought I would become a poet one day. Until I was 18, I used to do a lot of stage performances at school. But, when I moved to Australia as a teacher, I didn’t do any time on stage for almost a decade.” In 2017, Malik participated in an Australian poetry slam, which she won. “It became a validation that this can be something I can do. Because I pursued poetry out of sheer love — I did not intend to make it a career — there’s some poetic justice in the fact that it has become my career. I signed my first brand deal with Hindustan Unilever on my 30th birthday. When you start making money with your kala, there’s nothing bigger for a kalakaar. Because what feeds your soul is also suddenly feeding your stomach. So, I’m a full-time poet. I hope kids watching our clips know that they don’t have to become film lyricists in order to be validated as poets.”

According to her, spoken-word poetry is 70% performance and 30% writing. She says, “As a country, we’ve always had page poets. It’s just that the journey from page to stage had not happened. And, when it happened, people who enjoyed theatre also enjoyed this. Obviously, social media has had a huge impact. The fact is that we all went viral on YouTube first. And, then, that audience came to our shows to watch us as well.”

Combining storytelling with physical performances is the mantra for Kommune as well. Abbas says, “Millennials and Gen Z, who get everything from a cell phone today, are deeply craving human connection. That is why you see the rise of dating apps, because loneliness is one of their biggest problems. So, we want to create opportunities where people can physically meet. Kommune has an audience of a million people online, but only 30,000 people come to our live events each year, which is a drop in the ocean. Our ethos is, ‘Come as strangers, and leave as friends.’ Otherwise, in this digital world, we go down rabbit holes, but where is that shoulder to lean on, where is that person to backslap, where is someone to wipe your tears? All of these need a human being.” Which is where storytellers come in, to forge connections between two people, between mic drops and snapping fingers.

‘Shabd’ will take place on Aug 12 at Sheila Gopal Raheja Auditorium, Bandra.