BLAME IT ON YASHRAJ has just had its 100th show. We speak to Bharat Dabholkar, the man behind the production; a man of various talents, who also unabashedly created his own, popular idiom of theatre that we call ''Hinglish''.  By Deepa Punjani Who was Bharat Dabholkar before he became the famous adman and the maker of the 'Hinglish' theatre comedy? What were the early days like? Bharat Dabholkar (BD): I did my schooling in a Marathi medium school. I later graduated with Honours in Economics and Sociology/Anthropology and got a Degree in Law with specialisation in the interpretation of Law. There was Business Management Training at Forbes, with Forbes Campbell and allied companies. I joined Dacunha as a copy writer and for client servicing. Here I got chance to start writing plays. I did a ''Hinglish'' skit, which I did for the annual awards function of the Advertisting Club of India. This was in 1980 I think. DP: Sylvester DaCunha played a prominent role in shaping your advertising career, which also let you experiment with copy that blended Hindi and English words with a "Bambaiya" twist. Were these the beginnings of a theatre that you felt audiences could identify with? BD: Yes, absolutely. I first got to write for Amul Butter hoardings in ''Hinglish'' along with Sylvester. I also wrote parts for his own plays like I LOVE MUMBAI and IT'S NOT FUNNY. My first play was a ''Hinglish'' adaption of a play by P L Deshpande called TUZEY AHEY TUJA PASHI, called IT'S ALL YOUR JANAB with regional actors. DP: When you look back on those days, which are the memories that you most fondly recall? BD: New experiences in advertising for client servicing, copy writing, etc. Since then everyday has been fun. So I don't have one or two specific memories that I'm fond of, but many. DP: Did you watch many plays as you found your own idiom? BD: No, I don't see plays at all. I only watch if my play's actors are in a certain play and we are going after his play is winding up. The reason is I get very impressed by other works in the theatre industry and feel inferior to write the kind of play I would like to write. So better I avoid watching them. DP: Did you ever feel that you could give Marathi theatre a shot with your kind of themes? After all it is a popular theatre too with a mass audience... BD: Marathi theatre has some brilliant writers and directors. I won't get a place there with the kind of content I write. English and ''Hinglish'' has very few original writers in India. So at least I can think of presenting my kind of plays. DP: Any playwrights who have inspired you? BD: I'm a huge admirer of PL Deshpande. His level of humour is brilliant and relevant even today. Even now if I listen to his audio plays I crack up. DP: You act as well. You act in your present play BLAME IT ON YASHRAJ. Is it something you like to do as much as you write and direct? BD: I like to write and direct because I'm a lousy actor. I prefer to choose the smaller role if I could be any use, or else I take brilliant actors to do justice to the characters that I imagine. DP: Bharat Dabholkar has a personality. He is a man known to do "crazy" things such as buying a second-hand auto, and driving it to work. This larger than life image permeates in your work too. Is there another side to you? BD: I like to have fun without spending too much money. The other side that people don't know much about is that I'm an introvert. I don't like much talking or hanging out with people. I have a small group of friends and I prefer to stick to them most of the time if I'm in public, or else I prefer spending time alone. 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Interview 2 Timira Gupta Jyoti Dogra Lillette Dubey Mahesh Dattani Chandan Roy Sanyal Sunil Shanbag (ii) Jairaj Patil Jehan Manekshaw K Raja Ravi Verma Sankar Venkateswaran Heisnam Tomba Hariharan Jamini Pathak Hilda David Satish Alekar Vir Das Ranjit Hoskote Om Katare Nipun Dharmadhikari Satyadev Dubey Dipan Ray Stefan Kaegi Zafar Karachiwala Dakxin Bajrange Makarand Sathe Ramu Ramanathann Cyrus Dastur Shekhar Sen Benjamin Juhel Chaitanya Tamhane And Sudeep Modak Sujata Mehta Asif Basra Barry John Nagesh Bhosale Astad Deboo Manhar Gadhia Sandesh Bhandare Usha Ganguli Sushama Deshpande & Suhas Joshi Jyoti Vyas Arundhati Nag Habib Tanvir Ramu Ramanathan Pushan Kripalani Harold Pinter Rajeev Ravindranathan Rajendra Gupta Viji Iyengar Sunil Shanbag Darshan Jariwalla Smriti Irani Atul Kumar1 Ashwin Gidwani Toral Shah Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal1 Shaili Sathyu Sanjay Narvekar Rohini Hattangady Dr. Ashok Ranade Vandana Sajnani Mahesh Elkunchwar Madhu Rye Mahesh Thakur Srimathi Madiman Kinnari Vohra Joy Fernandes C.K. Thakkar Jameel Khan Anupama Jayaram Lilelette Dubey Avatar Gill Dharmendra Gohil Rajesh Puri Kumud Mishra Kumar Shahu Meenal Patel Mujeeb Khan Anant Mudra Utkarsh Mazumdar Shekhar Sen1 Manav Kaul Rati Agnihotri Smita Jaykar Uday Chandra Rahul Da Cunha Atul Kumar Manoj Joshi Jaimini Pathak Boman Irani Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal Naseerudin Shah Joy Fernandez Kamlesh Mota Dinesh Thakur    Discussion Board

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