Twice as Much

AMONG all the books in ad man and theatre person Alyque Padamsee8217;s immaculately-kept house, only The Vagina Monologues is lying outside...

AMONG all the books in ad man and theatre person Alyque Padamsee8217;s immaculately-kept house, only The Vagina Monologues is lying outside on a side table.

Obviously, the Dialogues are far from over. 8216;8216;After P Dialogues I, I8217;m coming up with P Dialogues II in May,8217;8217; he says of the play that was 8216;8216;inspired8217;8217; by, and not a reply to Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal8217;s production. Though reactions to P Dialogues have been divided. 8216;8216;We had a very interesting split in the audience8230; those below 25 wanted to discuss the issues, while those above 50 were shy and said it was all very personal. And when I opened by saying that P Dialogues were about the male member which is used for urination, procreation and recreation, one Catholic woman reacted quite fiercely saying it was only for procreation,8217;8217; he recalls.

He8217;s going through Eve Ensler8217;s book to make sure they don8217;t overlap issues. And this time round, besides expanding the scope of the stories, there8217;s going to be more involvement from the opposite sex too.

8216;8216;Fifty per cent of the stories are going to be written by women8212;talking about their insights.8217;8217;

That8217;s just a part of the Alyque Padamsee update. Another woman, another production, is also in the wings. 8216;8216;Sita Thompson, who8217;s half-American, half-Spanish, will play the lead in Carmen8212;a huge production that will take me one year. We are getting a Spanish flamenco teacher all the way from Spain and special music is being composed,8217;8217; he says. But Carmen comes later, after he8217;s completed his advertising commitments, 8216;8216;because theatre doesn8217;t pay8217;8217;. The man who retired from Lintas since 8216;8216;advertising wears you out too much8217;8217;, and found that he missed the tractors and the cosmetics, is right now selling aspirations, hopes, Rupa and Beauty Secrets by Madhuri, and also working on three campaigns with Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador. It8217;s the Bollywoodisation of advertising, but Bachchan, he says, is more than Bollywood. 8216;8216;Amitabh has the stature, the dignity, the trust, the respect. He reminds you of the House of Tatas8230; very trustworthy. But unlike the Tatas he has a lot of glamour.8217;8217;

A combination which he thinks would have fit the bill perfectly for Joggers8217; Park. 8216;8216;Victor Banerjee was fine, but I would have loved to see Amitabh Bachchan in the film. He8217;s the kind of man a lot of young girls would like to say 8216;I would love to fall in love with him8217; about.8217;8217;

A staunch believer in the young woman-older-man relationship his name has been linked with many younger women, including Thompson, he thinks women today are educated, outspoken and attractive. 8216;8216;Young men their age are not quite as smart as they are. All they talk about is booze, cricket and making money,8217;8217; says the man who puts himself in about the same vintage as Bachchan. He can go on talking for 20 hours, that8217;s the wonderful thing about having lived a full life, provided you can pin him down.

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Between meeting people for a seminar he8217;s addressing next week, discussing things with son Quasar and finalising the menu for the next night8217;s dinner that he8217;s hosting, he8217;s also got his hands full with the Supreme Court judgement in the Gujarat riots case he8217;s one of the founders of Citizens for Justice and Peace. 8216;8216;Maybe I8217;ll organise a Hands of Harmony in Ahmedabad like in Mumbai after the riots in 1992.8217;8217;

A double life? More like four or five. 8216;8216;I like to keep myself busy. I have three families8230; I like to be involved in life, not just to my elbows but up to my shoulders.8217;8217;