Centre stage

Three decades in theatre have gone by very fast. Now,we are looking forward to enjoy the forthcoming years, says Shah,Motleys creative director. The groups genesis lies in the passion for theatre shared by Shah and Gilani. We thought of doing English theatre while shooting for Junoon in Lucknow in 1978. There was encouragement from Jennifer Kapoor,who was shooting with us. In fact,Prithvi Theatre was supposed to open with Waiting for Godot. But we werent ready when it was inaugurated, says Gilani.

Initially,Shah and Gilani were to work with Om Puris theatre group Majma. That didnt work out and Motley was born. I had taken fancy to the term motley from Shakespeares As You Like It and used to design posters in college under that name. We decided to use it for theatre productions as well, Gilani says.

In the Eighties,English theatre was very active in Mumbai and Prithvi was promoting Hindi theatre. Motley,which was questioned for doing serious plays,had to wait to carve out its place. Motley has come up with a unique profile over the years. They have been doing valuable theatre that attracts talent, says Akash Khurana,founder of Akvarious,a prominent theatre group in Mumbai. This mainly has to do with their selection of playswhich is not driven by commercial concerns but by what they would love to do. The itinerary of the fortnight-long Motley festival,starting at Prithvi Theatre on Tuesday,mirrors this. Apart from Waiting for Godot,Herman Wouks The Caine Mutiny Court Martial makes a comeback. Dastangoi,with Shah as a dastango storyteller,and Ismat Aapa Ke Naam Part 2 are scheduled to premiere. Successful plays like All Thieves,Ismat Aapa Ke Naam and Katha Collage I will also be back. The plays will later move to other auditoriums in Mumbai and outside.

The festival schedule also shows Motleys love for blending literature with histrionics. Finally,we have arrived at the kind of theatre that we love and is economical, says Shah. This started a decade ago with
Ismat Aapa Ke Naam. The dramatised narration of three short stories of the late Ismat Chughtai was also their first Hindustani play.

We were accused of being elitist as we only did English plays earlier, says Gilani. But things changed when Shah discovered the joy of reading the works of Chughtai,Saadat Hasan Manto,Premchand,Kamtanath and others. I was an English-reading snob who never read these authors till I was 50. When I read Chughtais work,I discovered such warmth in her writing and characters I could relate with, says Shah. Though not all their ventures in this genre have been successful,plays like Manto Ismat Hazir Hain and Katha Collage I and II have been enjoying regular outings.

Such minimalist productionshigh on performance and easy to travel withhave become a way with Motley from their first,almost by default. Shah and Gilani,then cash-strapped actors,zeroed in on Waiting for Godot as it didnt require much money or girls. The group didnt have woman members then. Later on,Ratna Pathak Shah,Shernaz Patel,Sanjna Kapoor,Heeba Shah and more recently Seema Pahwa and Loveleen Mishra have worked for it.

At that time,Waiting for Godot cost us no more than a carrot and a piece of chicken. It doesnt cost much now either, says Gilani. Ratna,however,puts the production cost at Rs 500 and remembers taking the hat around after the inaugural show,which was free. Her role,however,has grown bigger with passing years. She takes care of costumes,set,lighting and other details. Some day I would like to direct a play, she says.

With nearly 30 plays under the belt,the group has seen highs as well as lows. Despite the excellent response to Waiting for Godot,their second full-fledged play Arms and the Man,directed by Gilani,took shape only after five years. Shah,however,had directed two short playsThe Zoo Story and Dock Briefduring this period. The group suffered a setback when Julius Caesar,which had a cast of 75,failed to get the desired response. However,others like Dear Liar and Antigone have proved to be crowd pullers.

Over the years,Satyadev Dubey,Kay Kay Menon,Kunal Kapoor,Randeep Hooda,Mahmood Farooqui and many other theatre personalities have worked with the group. Young actors like Ankur Vikal and Hooda vouch for the training they get at Motley. For veterans like Kenny Desai,its Shahs energy as well as the ethos of making hard work enjoyable that makes his Motley assignments worth it. He Shah has the ability to see possibilities and the drive to explore it, says Desai,citing the dramatisation of Khalil Gibrans The Prophet. Gilani,who had taken a 14-year break from theatre as he got busy with television,is refocusing on Motley since last year.

Shah,however,has remained the constant force behind the group directing and acting in most of its plays. After my first son was born,for two years I didnt do any theatre. Otherwise,we have been doing on an average one new play a year, says Shah. After more than three decades of actingon stage and screenthe powerhouse performer has now let theatre take centre stage. Double shift for a film shoot can be agonising,in theatre its sheer joy, he confesses.