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Journalism of Courage
Okay. All the Kapoors are actors, and they all make films and they own a theatre called Prithvi where they screen their films.
Well, if you8217;re going to school in a small town called Ajmer in Rajasthan, and your only connection to the Kapoors is the fact that you bought tickets in black to see Ram Teri Ganga Maili, then you cannot be blamed for thinking that. Look at the bright side 8212; I8217;d heard of Prithvi.
Then you come to Bombay, go to college, do plays there and are informed amidst howls of laughter that Prithvi means plays, theatre, getit?Plays?! But, I mean, I thought offbeat Kapoor ended at Utsav and Junoon!
Then you find out about Prithviraj Kapoor8217;s passion for the theatre. And you get to know about the Kendalls. Geoffrey and Laura Kendall and Jennifer. And you wonder in amazement at Shakespearana. I mean, which British theatre group chucks it all up and roams the Indian countryside doing, of all playwrights, Shakespeare?
Then you hear about the great love between Shashiand Jennifer. And how this great love was consummated not only in the form of three beautiful children, but also in the form of Prithvi theatre. Yes, Prithvi is a creation of love 8212; Shashi and Jennifer8217;s love for each other, their love for the theatre. A modern day Taj Mahal of sorts, eh?
Come to think of it, the Taj is a tomb, it8217;s about death. Prithvi however, is a celebration of life. Life inside the theatre, life outside it, life without a break.
Granted, there are many other theatres which run all day, seven days a week, but none do it as beautifully as Prithvi does. Because you can treat this place like home and get away with it. Yes, Sanjna, I confess to having sneaked my way in for many a show if I was too broke to buy a ticket.
What exactly is it about Prithvi that makes it not just a place, but an experience? Many things actually. Firstly, there are no gates, so you can walk in quite literally. In our city somehow, gates are to keep out people, not cows. Then you can sit peacefullywithout being told to clear off. And you can talk. And read. And write. And rehearse. And have a chai and a smoke. And eat there8217;s the lovely cafe, which, curiously, none of the actors can seem to afford. You can knock back some Irish coffee at the cafe. Every weekend there are Platform8217; performances a chance for actors to perform open-air outside the theatre, before the main show inside if they have off-Broadway, we have off-Prithvi, eh?. And of course, there8217;s a play on inside the theatre every evening. Sometimes mornings too.
Wait, that8217;s not all. There are new plays by Indian playwrights being read out on Mondays. There8217;s Satyadev Dubey8217;s workshop every Monday afternoon. There are workshops for children that usually end with them putting up a play at Prithvi.
There8217;s the art gallery and the bookshop, if you just want to browse and there8217;s a smattering of celebrities, big and small, if you8217;re interested. If you can still resist the place, the festival in November every year will severely testyour resolve. Then there are the Tuesday and Wednesday shows tickets are Rs 25 and the theatre group pays as rent only Rs seven per ticket sold! So, come on all you guys who complain they cannot afford to watch plays. Here8217;s your chance. Or, on second thoughts, why not do a play yourself? It seems fairly simple doesn8217;t it? All you have to do is get a play ready and 8230; I know Sanjna will kill me for this.
And of course, there8217;s the lovely Sanjna Kapoor, with the lovely cacklegigglechortle, benevolent Empress of Prithvidom, who breezes in and out bestowing benediction on her loyal band of knights in Prithvi armour.Phew! That itself has always been a source of eternal fascination to me. I remember being totally flummoxed by it at first sight. What, this is a theatre?! No wings, no curtain, only 200 people in the audience, all of them sitting so unnervingly close to you, and a peculiar, extremely peculiar stage. Then I stepped onstage for the first time, and I discovered what was special about the placeyou8217;re literally thrust into the audience, and nothing comes between you and them, not even physical distance. You have to create your own little world despite their being so close and if you succeed in getting them hooked, you got a hotline going with them. The fourth wall dissolves magically for audience and for actor alike, and the spell breaks only when the houselights come on!
Welcome, then, to the theatre of intimacy! Or, as Paul McCartney put it, quot;The Magical Mystery Tour is waiting to take you away.quot;
Jaimini Pathak is a theatre actor.
