How to change the story of your life: Neelesh Misra
When this storyteller and lyricist went back to his roots, he discovered a whole new way to entertain India
In 2008, when then journalist and now storyteller Neelesh Misra wrote a cover story for HT Brunch, a nostalgia piece titled Those DD Days, it set him on a life journey that was vastly different from the one he had planned.
“As I wrote the story, I realised I was not writing about Doordarshan at all,” says Neelesh. “I was actually writing about my childhood. And when I received letters from readers, I realised I could be a storyteller.”
So he took a sabbatical from his job and formed a band called Nine, which mixed songs with stories recited by Neelesh. Now, he’s a veteran of audio storytelling shows, having started with Yaadon ka Idiot Box in 2011, and hosted The Neelesh Misra Show and Kahani Express along the way.
Fade into home
“Nostalgia hadn’t been expressed in a contemporary manner till Nine was formed and the song Puraani Jeans was the last connect,” says Neelesh. “We launched the band at the Kala Ghoda Festival in 2010, then launched our debut album and our show. Within a week, we realised we had touched a raw nerve in this country which we hadn’t even known had existed. We had scraped the dust off the urban existence of a lot of people.”
Fame wasn’t new for Neelesh, but he had never experienced this version of it. “People started commenting about how they got their dinner time changed at their hostel to listen to the stories; some said they left late from work so they could listen on their way home. A young couple in Delhi said whenever they fought, one asked the other if they wanted to listen to a story and then they listened together and the fight ended. The fact that I was doing something that changed someone’s life was a wonderful experience,” smiles Neelesh.
Storytelling is in our DNA, it enhances the imagination. But it also empowers people. “A girl from Kashmir called and told me how, after listening to my stories, she not only got the courage to walk out of a bad marriage but also marry again. An old lady told me she had been depressed, but my stories helped her get out of that state. So storytelling is a kind of therapy,” says Neelesh. “Storytelling also betters cognitive learning and enhances focus. So I’m keen to work with the education sector.”
In the last few years, because of visual fatigue brought on by the overuse of mobiles and laptops, audio storytelling and podcasts have seen a big surge in their listenership. “I have always had my show at prime time. So, whoever was listening to at that time was leaving TV, shopping malls, dinners etc. That gave me confidence that people are looking for good content and you don’t have to debase yourself to get numbers,” says Neelesh.
A parallel narrative
Listening to stories is also a way to slow the pace of life. When Neelesh realised this, he launched an app this February called SLOW, taking off from the Slow Interviews he started on YouTube two years ago, shooting at his house in his village close to Lucknow.
However, slowing down doesn’t mean coming to a stop. “I’m trying to root the idea of turning slow into a business module that brings creators, artisans, farmers to the forefront,” he says. “I want artisans who are unable to create a market for their art or products to be able to do masterclasses anywhere in the world. And I want this business to be created only on the basis of a value system of decency. I want people from small towns and villages to be proud of their roots.”
Neelesh applies that same value system of decency to his content creation. “Making fun of people is a shortcut for humour,” he says. “My listener is a certain personality type, thoda emotional hai, thoda vulnerable hai, bahadur banane ki koshish karta hai, par hota nahin. Woh kuch acha sunna chahta hai, dekhna chahta hai aur acha product bhi chahta hai. (He’s a little emotional, little vulnerable, tries to be brave but isn’t. He wants to listen to something good, watch something good and wants a good product too). That’s why we are trying to create a community of people who want good content.”
By content Neelesh doesn’t mean just stories. He wants grandmothers and folk singers to bring traditional songs to the forefront. He wants jawans and others to talk about themselves. “We are building relationships with communities. It’s a very subversive, very activist effort to bring forth a parallel narrative to what exists in our country,” says Neelesh. “Some time back, The Washington Post did a story about me and quoted a driver who said: ‘The moment my boss and I listen to Neeleshji’s programme, that’s when we both are equal.’”
In a way, life has come full circle for Neelesh. “My father was a well known geologist, but he came back to his village from Canada and opened a school here. I was working with some of the biggest names in Mumbai, but I also came back here in 2017. So everything is circling back to its roots.”
From HT Brunch, April 18, 2021
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