‘Theatre functions in regions and states. If we focus on universality of region and culture,it can go far’

Nisha Nambiar: Acting has also been your passion?

I have now started acting in smaller roles,after my retirement in 2009. It so happened that Sachin Kundalkar,a young theatre person who shifted to films,was working on a film called Aiyya. In that film,I was cast as Rani Mukherjee’s father. The cast director was from the theatre background,like many others,and he knew of my work. I’ve also acted in an Idea advertisement and a commercial for Honda Amaze. It was kind of fun,after writing.

Anuradha Mascarenhas: How did you decide to take up the challenge of setting up the Lalit Kala Kendra here?

Jabbar Patel,Mohan Agashe and I started in the early 70s,as an amateur theatre group. Eventually,all of us landed in BJ Medical College. The three of us have been together since our PDA days. But after Ghashiram Kotwal,we separated from the group and established our own group called Theatre Academy,a non-profit trust,on the terrace of Alekar Wada in Shaniwar Peth,in 1973. From then,we started taking theatre very seriously. We had the luxury of doing our own kind of theatre. So we have been choosy. I started writing my first play Micky ani Memsaheb,and I was invited to bring this play to a workshop in 1973 conducted at FTII by Satyadeb Dubey (he was a Homi Bhabha fellow). He wanted to interact with the “young talent” so if I name the people who were present at the workshop,you will be astonished. Me,Mahesh Yelkunchwar,GP Deshpande,Shankar Shesh… That’s how the whole thing started,thats how I became a playwright. I wrote Mahanirvan and Mahapoor next and in ‘79 I wrote Begum Barwe.

The turning point for the group was in 1980. When Mohan Agashe planned a foreign tour for Ghashiram Kotwal,he had taken the help of various consulates,and Goethe Institute after much to and fro of letters. The entire cast travelled professionally and performed at the Riverside Studio in London,which is an underground theatre. In WW2,the BBC used to run their shows from there. We performed 12 houseful shows in Marathi. We had given a detailed brief,to the audience,as to how the play proceeds. The shows were not restricted to the Marathi community,obviously. Everyone who wanted to see this Indian contemporary play was welcome. The play was reviewed by publications such as The Sunday Times and The Guardian among many others. Like I said,that was a turning point for all of us. We understood how non-commercial theatre was functioning in a more organised manner. How the subsidy aspect functions in the West. It was an eye-opening experience.

In 1980 onwards,the television sets in India became colour and we (the theatre) had another enemy to face. The response to the theatre during that time dipped,because of the fascination with TV. And then we decided that we needed new blood in the group,just like people before us thought that the younger generation might have some interesting ideas. So we conducted some play writing workshops,we had even applied to the state department cultural section,but got no response.

In the early 80s,there was a dynamic lady called Pushpa Sundar,she was a member of the Indian Foreign Services. She,with the help of NCPA asst director Kumud Mehta (who was a pioneer in her field),helped the cause of supporting arts and culture. Thats how the Dalit Lit and Theatre was supported.

Anuradha Mascarenhas:

Didn’t you think that you missed out on anything because you didn’t take up the NSD director’s position?

I didn’t take charge of NSD because I think theatre functions in the regions and states. Our strength lies in the regionality,when we become regional,it automatically becomes universal. Like Satyadeb Dubey was instrumental getting all the playwrights together and taking Marathi plays to Bengal,Kannada plays to Maharashtra,and so on. PL Deshpande was the first person to translate Mohan Rakesh’s plays into Marathi. His short play Kadachit was translated and was picked up by Purshottam Karandak,by Mohan Gokhale. The regional diversification is the strength. For example the theatre of the North-east Ratan Thiyyam,went back from Delhi to his roots and did so well. Language,the sensibilities they all matter. I asked him why does he take up plays that revolve around war and conflict. He told me that that was the reality in the region. They even had security checks for the play. So this is the kind of political irony that we face. After our experience in Europe with Gharisham Kotwal,I thought that there was a need for professional training in theatre,which at the time was available only in Delhi,in Hindi. All the people from south India,have a tough time,thats why. Hindi might be our national language,but regional languages are important. With languages comes the political,literary and cultural insights. It is not as simple as speaking a tongue.

Last year,my play Begum Barwe,which is rooted in the Marathi culture,received a proposal from RK Shankaracharya’s Sanskrit university at Kaladi,to pick up my play and transcreate the content in a Kathakali style. And they did it,and it was such a great success. This is how regionality can reach other audience. We know Aadhe Adhure from Hindi and also because it was one of the most commercially successful plays in Marathi as well. Almost all my plays have been translated in Bengali. So if we focus on the universality of the region and culture,then it can go far.The need of the hour is to find the right kind of translator for plays and other regional literature.

Rushil Dutta : What do you think of the treatment of your plays by the new directors?

Earlier,I used to write my own plays,direct them myself and sometimes even act in them. I wouldn’t rely on other directors and actors. It is only now that I realised that these youngsters are really interested in picking up my plays and that they still find them relevant. People such as Atul Kumar,Mohit Takalkar,Nipun Dharmadhikari,Amey Wagh… I think they respond to theatre in a way that we used to. It is encouraging.

Garima Mishra: Even though you did not have any formal education in theatre,do you think education in this field is

important?

Yes,it is very important. My students like Mukta Barwe,Upendra Limaye or Sharwari Jamenis,or vocalists and instrumentalists in the city,they all are students and very learned people. Some practice theatre abroad,study abroad,perform there and come back.

Anuradha Mascarenhas: Should NSD have more campuses across the country?

Yes,I think this has not happened so far because of the rigidity of the authorities. Also,even if there are several campuses across different states,they should not be copy-cat models after the Delhi NSD. They should be more rooted,more regional,based on the regional traditions and languages to create expression through regional language and creativity.

Sunanda Mehta: Your family is not into theatre and art. In fact it is into politics. How did you get into this field?

A part of my family is into politics. My maternal grandfather,was sort of a literary giant. He’s the first person who wrote about the history of Sikhism in Marathi (in two volumes). He used to write fiction very often,even though he was into politics. I was not cut out for that.

Parthasarathi Biswas: Comment on the statement that employees at the censor board are uneducated.

I don’t buy that statement at all. Literacy does not make a person mature or immature. We had a Class VII-pass chief minister in Maharashtra — Vasantdada Patil — and he was a visionary. He was the first person to get internet to Maharashtra,among all the states in India – through National Informatics Centre in Pune. So I don’t buy that statement — a person’s intelligence does not depend on his level of literacy or education. He knows whom/ what to choose.

Sushant Kulkarni: One of your plays talks about the two identities of Pune – the pre 1961 flood and the post flood. Tell us something about these identities.

Before 1961 Pune was a very small town. The brahmin community was located at Sadashiv,Narayan and Shaniwar peth. Affluent people had crossed the bridge and had settled in Deccan gymkhana. These were the kind of demarcations,and people who aimed high,wanted to “cross the bridge”. I had written about this phenomenon in my short story Zulta Pul.

Sunanda Mehta: You said every region has its unique take on theatre. What is the USP of Marathi theatre?

The most important thing about people in Maharashtra is that they have never ever deserted theatre. They take pride in buying the ticket and watching the play – a phenomenon that is unheard of in the Hindi-speaking belt. Here,they take pride in buying front-row tickets. Theatre has always been the costliest entertainment. Today also,it is at par with the multiplex rates. Watching Marathi play is also a sacred middle-class ritual.

Transcribed by Prajakta Hebbar<\i>