The Legend Endures

Translated into several languages, Ghashiram is regularly performed at theatre festivals across the country. It has also been performed abroad. But what makes a historical play like Ghashiram seem so relevant to the contemporary times? Says Tendulkar, "I never approached Ghashiram as a historical play. The impulse to write the play was provoked by the contemporary political situation of the time, specifically the rise to power of the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. But it has been interpreted differently with changing political situations including theEmergency. Performed with sensitivity and intelligence, a play can be infinitely renewed to suit the current milieu. Take the case of Shakespeare, who remains the most widely performed playwright despite the passage of time. But the openness of the play to interpretation is not intentional on the part of the playwright. Rather, it is innate to the play. Though Ghashiram was a product of my reflections on the rise of the Shiv Sena, I was ultimately interested in examining the situations which lead to the creation of Ghashiram-like forces in society. The Ghashirams of the world die, but the situations, which give birth to such forces, recur and are personified in the character of Nana Phadnavis. Beneath the superficial changes in history, the larger dynamics of power are cyclical. That is why such a play continues to evoke interest."

The combination of currency and timelessness which characterises Ghashiram also manifests itself in Tendulkar’s social plays, which, like his political plays,continue to inspire new productions despite their controversial content. Says Hindi theatre veteran Dinesh Thakur, who has directed and acted in Tendulkar plays for more than two decades, "Vijay Tendulkar continues to be my favourite Indian playwright because of the sensitivity and accuracy with which he depicts social issues. The astonishing range of his plays, be it the victimisation of the individual by society in Shantata! Court Chalu Ahe!, or the moral collapse of a family in Gidhade, or the ruthlessness of the media in Kamala, provides a director a very large thematic canvass to choose from. At the same time, the lack of moralising gives the plays a very open-ended feel, leaving ample scope for directorial interpretation."

Adds daughter Priya Tendulkar, who has acted in several of her father’s plays and plans to write a book on him, "The innovative use of form, whether it is the mock trial in Shantata!… or the human curtain in Ghashiram.., is another magical component in his(Tendulkar’s) plays." Currently involved with directing Aap Ki Adalat, an interview-based television show anchored by daughter Priya, on Zee News, Tendulkar says he does not want to write plays any longer. Why? "A certain weariness has set in with the collective medium. Now I want to write only for myself, for which a novel is better suited."

Significantly, the septuagenarian chose to clinch his theatrical career with The Cyclewallah (1992), a play which incorporated elements of fantasy to convey the sameness of human nature. "The cyclewallah is a reflection of people who spend their entire lives in a fantasy without any understanding of reality. But to live in the true sense of the word, a person must live through situations that force him to look beyond himself, situations which shock him by confronting him with the unimaginable," says Tendulkar. Perhaps it is this hard-hitting impact of Tendulkar’s plays, which jolts audiences out of their complacency each time that accounts, more than anyother element, for their immortality.