The NCPA Pratibimb festival 2013 will showcase veteran playwright Satish Alekar's new play EK DIWAS MATHA KADE. We take the opportunity to speak to one of our foremost playwrights about his latest play, of the changes he has witnessed in our society over the years and of his thoughts on contemporary playwriting in Marathi. Between all this, Alekar also says that he is rediscovering himself as an actor and tells us about his upcoming film with Feroz Abbas Khan.
By Deepa Punjani
Deepa Punjani (DP): Your play EK DIWAS MATHA KADE is part of this year's NCPA Pratibimb festival. What was the inspiration behind it?
Satish Alekar (SA): This I wrote when the English translation of the play was published in the May 2012 issue of "Theatre India", edited by Samik Bandhopadhyay, and it holds good with reference to your question:
''I was struggling to cope up with my plight while managing our household as my wife passed away unexpectedly in 2007. Suddenly the 'Kitchen' became the most active part of my life and the daily morning walks to the hill near our flat became a ritual to cope-up with the unbearable loss. It went on for a while and in late 2008 I wrote a Monologue (which has now become a part of this play). The Monologue was published in early 2009. Then the nothing happened but the daily morning walks continued. Suddenly in June 2011, I started writing this play and completed in two weeks time. While writing I suddenly realized that the character of my play has started saying his monologue and to my surprise I started writing the same Monologue which I had written earlier. Then I decided to use my own writing in the play as you will read...They say theatre is reflection of life but at times it works as a therapy too!
DP: Has Nipun been able to realise the script in the staging? Are you happy with the production?
SA: Yes, I am delighted. It is very rare for my play to be directed by someone else. Usually I direct my own plays. I have directed MICKY AANI MEMSAHI (1973), MAHANIRVAN (1974), MAHAPOOR (1975), BEGUM BARVE (1979), ATIREKEE (1989). The plays which are not directed me are DOOSRA SAMANA (1992), directed by Waman Kendre. In 2003 PIDHIJAT was directed by Girish Joshi.
I am very happy with Nipun's production and all the three actors Girish Kulkarni, Amey Wagh and Parna Pethe have understood the sensibility of the play correctly. However one may differ with the pace of the performance.
DP: There's a playfulness that stands out in your scripts even with all the gravitas of the subject matter at hand. This aspect has served your plays well and has produced a gem like MAHANIRVAN. But given that you are writing for our times today, do you feel that as a society we are losing our sense of humour and irony?
SA: Not exactly. But strangely we are becoming more intolerant in accepting any kind of experimentation in performance and in text, like the non linearity of a story in performance.
DP: You have had a long trajectory as a playwright. You have seen our society change through the years. What has been the biggest difference to you in being a playwright then and now?
SA: I feel the audience as a whole has become more restless for various reasons like the narrowing of the family structure, personal relationships, the sudden leap from middle class to higher middle class. There is a general disrespect and cynicism towards our social and political systems. Over the years these systems have been manipulated for various reasons, by elected politicians, the bureaucracy, our lawyers, doctors, industrialists and so on.
DP: When you begin to write a play, how do you go about it? How does the process actually unfold for you?
SA: It is very subjective and a complex one, especially for me, as I come from a performance tradition and not from a literary background.
DP: What's been the best and the worst thing about being a playwright?
SA: Naturally the best thing is that the play has been appreciated by the audience and vice versa.
DP: You are also an actor. And, a very decent one at that. Why didn't you act as much as you wrote?
Thanks for your compliment! These days they cast me in films to do character roles as they need fresh old faces. I have recently acted in films like Aiyya, Chintoo 2, Aajacha Divan Maazaa, Mhais... I am on! Watch me in Feroz Abbas Khan's film Dekh Tamasha Dekh which is ready for release. They also cast me in Ad Films! Honda Amaze, Idea Cellular...This is a new learning experience for me at my age of 65! I am just following in the footsteps of my senior playwright-colleagues like Girish. He was in Salman Khan's film Dabangg.
DP: What's your opinion about contemporary playwriting in Marathi?
SA: Fortunately in Maharashtra we have had a long tradition of serious playwrights. Our playwrights, young and old are active. Among the young playwrights today, we have Manswini Lata Ravindra, Iravati Karnik, Dharmakirti Sumant, and Chinmay Mandalekar. Sanjay Pawar, Premanand Gajvi, Jayant Pawar, Rajiv Naik, Makarand Sathe, Shafat Khan, Prashant Dalvi who belong to the older generations are also writing as are Himanshu Smart and Ashutosh Potdar who fall in between. They are all serious minded, committed playwrights. I am sure we are going to hear a lot more from Iravati, Dharamakirti and Manaswini. I feel that they are on the scene in difficult times. They cannot work on a full time basis, nor do they have full time jobs to support themselves. They have to find work in television, film to support them. So their energies and loyalties are divided. My generation (artists from the Theatre Academy, the PDA, Rangayan, Awishkar) had full time jobs at colleges, banks, LICs, Post and Telegraph, Railways. After the 90s there has been a total change in our economy. It has widened the gap between the rich and the poor.
There is more migration from rural Maharashtra to cities like Mumbai and Pune. Our higher education has undergone a lot of change. This has taken the toll on the theatre groups. These groups have become more fragile. There is stiff competition for theatre from television and from films. Actors are more into films and television than in theatre. There is no kind of subsidy available for the parallel theatre. These are the constraints within which theatre operates. So we have wait and watch.
Professional theatre in Marathi is thriving again. Last Saturday in pouring rain I attended a 9.30 pm performance of the new show NANDI, designed and written by Rishikesh Joshi. It is a well conceived presentation of the history of Marathi theatre. Believe you me, the audience was full and the collection was a little over Rs. 1, 20,000. To my surprise I found Shivashahir Babasaheb Purandare in the audience for a late night show in pouring rain. He is 92! He came on his own without any invitation. This speaks for the Marathi Theatre tradition.
DP: What new play can we look forward to from you?
SA: I am always working on my new play. Not that I complete it as quickly as I expect. It is not an easy thing to do. It takes time....
Deepa Punjani (DP): Your play EK DIWAS MATHA KADE is part of this year's NCPA Pratibimb festival. What was the inspiration behind it?
