For years, contemporary poets, musicians and theatre makers have taken inspiration from the works of Amir Khusrau to produce renditions and tributes to the Sufi scholar and poet. Many even consider him a guiding force in their artistic endeavours. Jo Dooba So Paar, a dastangoi (an ancient Urdu storytelling art form) produced by actor and author Manav Kaul delves deeper into the life of Khusrau to explore the influence of his guru, Nizamuddin Auliya on the poet’s work.

Ajitesh Gupta, writer, traces the journey of the project back to a 2019 visit to Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi with his friend and director Mohit Agarwal, where the poet’s tomb is enshrined next to his spiritual master, Nizamuddin Auliya. What followed was a long period of collective research that included reading through the works of Indian dastangos like Shamsur Rahman Faruqi and Danish Husain, and even learning Persian. “The journey opened our eyes to the lesser-known aspects of Khusrau’s life,” he reveals.