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He’s always known to have chosen the road not-so-oft
taken and leaving an impactful trace at that. Theatre actor and director
Naseeruddin Shah’s taken his most popular plays from popular spots to
an unusual location this time with his Motley Festival 2012. That
however hasn’t deterred his fans and audiences. Theatre lovers are
thronging the centrally located Veer Sawarkar Smarak with gusto. And the
festival that started on April 22, has been seeing packed houses. Shah
of course couldn’t be more elated.
The reason, says the veteran
actor, he wanted to stage plays in this part of the city is because its
theatre scene doesn’t see much boost. “We had such an overwhelming
response, it’s been wonderful to see the turnout. And if the number is
anything to go by, a festival this side was much needed.” But is he
sceptical about losing out on the town-side audience? “No, we’re not
going to stop performing at Prithvi Theatre or NCPA. But both are
becoming quite inaccessible. It’s tough to afford NCPA and get dates at
Prithvi,” pauses Shah, before adding, “It’s great that Prithvi goes out
of the way to encourage young theatre groups, but we needed these dates.
And anyway, we’d been looking for an option for a while now. And this
seemed the perfect choice; the location is perfect and the acoustics are
good, so much so that we felt we were over-amplifying our voices. We
don’t need microphones here.”
Also, the fact that the auditorium is
accessible to theatre lovers from Dadar, Sion and Worli makes it an even
better option. “I know people who want to come watch plays from these
areas but never make it on time to the town-side theatres due to
traffic, even for the 9’o clock shows. Veer Sawarkar is well looked
after, has a co-operative management, isn’t too huge or small — is just
right for our needs,” Shah explains.
The festival opened with Ismat
Apa Ke Naam, a tribute to the renowned Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai,
enacted by Shah himself, his wife Ratna Pathak and daughter Heeba. Other
plays at the fest include Katha Collage, By George!, Arms and The Man,
The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, and Waiting For Godot. Next on Shah’s
list is A Walk in the Woods, a long due production, to be staged in
Mumbai by mid-July, he informs.
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