Jaywant Dalvi's controversial play BARRISTER, which catapulted Vikram Gokhale into the limelight 33 years ago, is back on stage and this time Gokhale himself is directing it. In an exclusive interview Gokhale discloses that he plans to treat the audience to a special show of BARRISTER in which he will essay the title role yet again - but only after it completes 25 shows.  Deepa Ranade There is a rustle of excitement about the revival of BARRISTER since it was a classic of its time. What is your emotional connect with the play that prompted you to take up its direction? Oh, I have a great emotional connect with the play. I was really excited when I was offered the direction of BARRISTER because whatever I am today is because of this play and the title role and from whatever I learnt from my guru Vijaya Mehta, who directed the play back then. I can never forget that 33 years ago when I started doing this play - I was transformed into an intelligent actor. And even after Vijaya ji stopped directing the play, I kept the show going - at times by hiring even the Air India crew. We staged it in London. Later I directed and edited the DVD version of the play. So when producer Neelam Shirke approached me for its direction - I said YES!- without batting an eyelid. How many shows of BARRISTER did you perform as an actor? I did 250 shows spread over three years. Please illustrate how your Guru's direction enriched you in terms of acting and understanding the finer nuances of theatre. I must tell you this - Vijaya Mehta had originally rejected me saying that I would not understand the play. She recalled me after a month saying that she was casting me out of sheer desperation - she wasn't able to find another actor! She challenged me then, "Let us see what you make out of it." That's when I learnt to read the subtext of a play and that is how I was trained. Vijaya Mehta taught me so many things. For instance, trying not to cry is the best way to cry and grab the audience's attention. It is not necessary to cry buckets to express sorrow; it can be achieved through subtler means like dialogue or ironic expressions. BARRISTER is a play about an upright legal professional who championed gender equality way back in the 1910s. He rued the tonsuring of young widows and of the rigid social strictures that deprived them of a normal life. He opposed Hindu rituals that oppressed women. How his life ends in a tragedy is what the play is about. The play itself and its various characters have taught me so many lessons about life as well. Apart from nostalgia, what is the purpose behind the revival of BARRISTER? The play has complex characters. It should be seen by the younger lot of actors, writers, directors as well as theatergoers. BARRISTER is a compact course in theatrics. Unfortunately today's generation is unaware of the rich theatre that existed 30 years ago. The play used to be part of the Marathi MA syllabus - it has such a great literary value. Dr. Uma Dadegaonkar has even done her doctorate on the play. Her thesis makes an in-depth and an interesting read. Have you incorporated changes in order to make the play easy to understand? Not many changes but some characters which I felt were neglected in the initial run have been fortified now. Vijaya Mehta attended the opening show of my BARRISTER and she patted my back. She said after 33 years, I had made me re-live that creative high! Isn't the play rather dated for today's viewers? The story may be based in the 1910s. However the emotions and human feelings remain unchanged till the end of time. What happens to a man who thinks rationally and ahead of his times and what happens to a woman who is socially ostracized and tonsured at the age of 12? These emotions are powerful enough to hit the audience even today. So I took it up as a challenge and encouraged a new generation of actors to present it. How difficult was it to cast actors in a play that is so demanding and exacting? On top of it there is your tremendous performance as a benchmark! All actors were cast as per the requirements of the characters. I explained the actors the story, their characters and the inter actions and connections. Within 60 hours I completed the direction. My team is on a roll now. I have asked them to discover on their own something deeper, wider and taller in the play. Shailesh Datar approached me for the role of the villain Tatya Velankar. Since all other actors whom I wanted to cast in the title role were busy in films and television - I had to settle for Shailesh as the Barrister. The villain's role is now being played by theatre veteran Jayant Savarkar. Shaku Naresh, Advait Dadarkar and Shashi a student of mine from Australia are also in it. Which actor was your original choice for the role of the Barrister? Subodh Bhave, Prasad Oak, Aniket Vishwas Rao or Jeetendra Joshi - they are all studious actors. Though a little elderly for the role, I had also tapped Sharad Ponkshe but he backed out on account of not having enough time on his hands to do justice to the role. How did you overcome the temptation of casting yourself? I am now 65 and the role demands that the Barrister be 40-45. For documentation purpose, however, after the completion of 25 shows - I will do one show as the Barrister and the next as the villain Tatya Velankar. This is purely for academic purpose. But I don't want to brag and play the Barrister at this age. I am rather pleased with my new team. BARRISTER has just had two shows so far and it is early days yet to say - but is the audience receiving the play with the same enthusiasm as it did 33 years ago? I am slightly disappointed with today's audience; I feel they are wanting in comprehending the play. They are laughing at the wrong junctures like Nanasaheb's chant of 'Datta, Datta.' That which is supposed to be tragic is bringing out laughs!! You are directing a play, a film (Aaghat) and also acting in the play KATHA and in other films. From where do you get all that energy at your ripe age? I create more time in 24 hours - like there is no need to answer every call that you get or surf the Internet now and then. You can do with lesser hours of sleep and generally get yourself better organized. It can be managed. I am delighted with my film Aaghat set against a backdrop from the medical field. It talks about the prevalent corruption and decadence in the field. It has been nominated for the Pune International Film Festival. *Deepa Ranade is a film and theatre reviewer. She has been an entertainment journalist for over fifteen years. read / post your comments More Interviews Neeraj Shirvaikar Ram Ganesh Kamatham Tannaz Irani Lillete Dubey Sharodiya Chowdhury and Sarthak Sharma Interview With Vishaal Asrani and Jiji Subhi BAKUL THAKKAR AND SURYA GOVLE Devendra Rao Interview Sharvari Lohokare Interview Vijay Kenkre Interview Trupti Thakkar and Ankit Gor Interview Aditya Rawal and Zahan Kapoor Umesh Shukla Interview Interview With Juhi Babbar Soni Mallika Shah Interview J BRANDON HILL INTERVIEW Anahita Uberoi Interview Interview with Jeff Goldberg Dr. Shweta Pendse Interview Interview with jamini Pathak Ashok Pandey Gagan Dev Riar Interview Taranjit Kaur Pankaj Pathakji Interview Vipul Vithlani Interview Saurabh Nayyar Interview Mukta Barve Interview Vihaan Samat Interview Vijay Kumar Interview Umesh Kamat Interview Jatin Sarna Interview Debanshu Shekhar Interview Vandana Bhushan Interview Vikas Bahari Interview Trinetra Tiwari Interview Anand Ingale Interview Deshik Vansadia Interview Kapil Dev Interview Arvind Gaur Interview Niketan Sharma Interview Ipshita Chakraborty Singh Interview Ramesh Talwar Interview Nivedita Bhattacharya Interview Jeff Goldberg Interview Ajeet Singh Palawat Interview Amitosh Nagpal Interview Ajitesh Gupta Anshulika Dubey and Aakash Prabhakar Ulka Mayur Shiv Tandan Interview Hemant Jha Interview Sangita Joshi Interview Akarsh khurana Interview with Parul Rana Satchit Puranik Interview Raell Padamsee Interview Simar Singh Interview Siddharth Randeria Interview Chandrakant Kulkarni Interview Trishla Patel Interview Danish Husain Interview Anju Makhija Interview Swati Das Interview Paromita Chatterjee Interview Akriti Singh Interview Vivek Raj Tandon Interview Avneesh Mishra Interview Imran Rasheed Interview Choiti Ghosh Interview Ila Arun & KK Raina Juuhi Babbar Sonii Interview Jay Upadhyay Interview Bhakti Rathod Interview Chandrashekhar Gokhale Interview Preeta Mathur Interview Denzil Smith Interview Rajendra Butala Interview Amitesh Grover Interview Vighnesh Joshi Interview Rajesh Deshpande Interview Mohammad Ali Baig Interview Dolly Thakore Interview M. Sayeed Alam Interview Gaurav Singh and Akshay Raheja Interview Ramanjit Kaur Interview Vinay Varma Interview Daisy Irani Subaiah Interview Bhamini Oza Gandhi Interview Sapan Saran Interview Rasika Agashe Interview Shreyas Talpade Interview With Parul Rana Puneet Issar Interview Dipti Bramhandkar Interview Atul Kumar Interview With Parul Rana Ravi Mishra Interview Alpana Buch Interview Lalit Parimoo Interview Nimesh Interview Sejal Shah - Interview Mehul Buch Interview Sanat Vyas Interview with Jahnavi Pal Dayashankar Pandey Interview Deepak Gheewala Interview Darshan Jariwala Interview Feroz Bhagat Interview Roopa Divatia Interview Apara Mehta Interview with Jahnavi Pal Rajul Diwan Interview with Jahnavi Pal Sachin Khedekar Interview with Jahnavi Pal Sanjay Goradia Interview with Jahnavi Pal Utkarsh Mazumdar Interview With Jahnavi Pal Vandana Gupte Interview Bharati Achrekar Interview Manasi Prabhakar Joshi Interview Rohini Hattangadi Interview Meenal Patel Interview Pravin Solanki Avantika Shankar Interview with Deepa Punjani Rakesh Bedi Interview with Deepa Punjani Dhwani Vij Interview with Deepa Punjani Joy Fernandes Interview with Deepa Punjani Vikram Phukan Interview with Deepa Punjani Deepika Arwind Interview with Ayushi Shah Rohit Das Interview with Omkar Bhatkar Sukant Goel Interview with Omkar Bhatkar Sneh Sapru Interview with Ayushi Shah Puja Sarup Interview By Ayushi Shah Gurleen Judge interview by Ayushi Shah Faezeh Jalali Interview with Ayushi Shah Sophia Stepf Interview With Deepa Punjani Geetanjali Kulkarni Interview with Manvi Ranghar Gabriel Emanuel Ramu Ramanathan Interview With Deepa Punjani Manjari Fadnis Chandrakant Kulkarni Sunil Barve Interview Ira Dubey Interview with Manvi Ranghar Arundhati Nag Interview Malavika Rajkotia Purva Naresh Interview Shaili Sathyu Interview Bharat Dabholkar Rajat Kapoor Interview Yuki Ellias Sébastien Heins Akarsh Khurana Interview Juhi Babbar Soni Harish Patel Mirjam van Djik Asad Lalljee Sheeba Chadha Ila Arun - Interview Mallika Taneja Anurupa Roy Vipul Vilas Mahagaonkar Sneha Desai Suruchi Aulakh Geetanjali Kulkarni Sushama Deshpande Interview Choiti Ghosh Naveen Kaushik Nadir Khan Roberto Frabetti Anuja Ghosalkar Saurabh Shukla Interview Sunil Shanbag Interview Jean-Michel Adam Sachin Jadhav Rajat Kapoor THE META 2016 Festival Interview with the Directors of the Plays Pritesh Sodha Nimmy Raphel Shena Gamat Aniruddha Khutwad Gagan Dev Riar Paromita Chatterjee David Goodale Happy Ranajit Simon Reade Daniele Bartolini Glenn Hayden Ramu Ramanathan Interview Vikram Phukan Kalki Koechlin Interview Uttam Gada Adhir Bhat Vikranth Pawar Sudipto Chatterjee Ellen Rees Chris Edmund Iqbal Niyazi Sanjay Goradia Vinay Sharma Shafaat Khan Sanjukta Wagh Interview Sanjoy Roy Interview Tushar Pandey Anupama Chandrashekar Interview Deepa Gahlot Interviews Tony Adigun Ila Arun Interview Kare Conradi KK Raina Manoj Shah Interview Luckyjee Gupta Ajit Kelkar Syv Bruzeau Rupesh Tillu Vikash Khurana Jim Sarbh Mahesh Dattani Interview for SDDS Education Krutika Desai Dalip Sondhi Daniel Goldman and Benjamin Samuels Vir Das Interview Asghar Wajahat Deshik Vansadia Sushama Deshpande Rajiv Krishnan Interview Neeraj Kabi Tom Alter Ashvin Gidwani Interview Pip Utton Achyut Vaze Interview Deepak Kurki Shivaswamy Satish Alekar Interview Jaimini Pathak Interview Neel Chaudhuri Meherzad Patel Mahesh Dattani interview for THE BIG FAT CITY Nandini Trivedi Akash Mohimen Deepika Arwind Manjima Chatterjee Kath Mainland Anupam Kher Bijon Mondal Manoj Mitra Georges Banu Sudhanva Deshpande Interview Eric Vigner Deepa Gahlot1 Premanand Gajvi Rahul Varma Om Puri Nissar Allana Om Katare Interview Rajiv Krishnan Rashi Bunny Nandita Das Farooq Chaudhry D'Lo Shankar Tucker Ranvir Shah Ira Dubey Interview Ashok Patole Mathivanan Rajendran Saurabh Shukla Ashok Hande Nandu Madhav Sujata Goel Ratha Pathak Shah Shaili Sathyu(1) Shubhrajyoti Barat Preethi Athreya Corinne Jaber Rajesh Kumar and Rana Pratap Senger Arjun Sajnani Arundhati Ghosh Sudhanva Deshpande Raamu Ramanathan Sayeed Alam Zane Dalal Jumana Kapadia Shernaz Patel Satyadev Dubey1 Makarand Sathe1 Sankar Venkateswaran Sabera Shaik Achyut Vaze Hassan Abdulrazzak Amrita Lahiri Avaan Patel Neeta Reshamiya Ira Dubey Ila Arun Meenal Kapoor Shubha Mudgal & Aneesh Pradhan Kedar Shinde Khalid Mohamed Deepa Gahlot Sameer Vidwans Low Kee Hong Waman Kendre Andrea Gronemeyer Pradeep Vaiddya Padmini Chettur Kumud Mishra(1) Faruk Kabir Nandesh Umap Zuleikha Chaudhari Nausheen Ali Sardar Naseeruddin Shah Ahlam Khan Sunil Barve Saif Hyder Hasan Shweta Tiwari Neena Kulkarni Judy Hegarty Lovett Sunil Vishnu K Chetan Bhagat Ketki Dave Atul Parchure Vikram Gokhale Azaad Bharti Dr. Mohan Agashe Mahesh Manjrekar Chandradasan Lillette Dubey-I Kuljeet Singh Juhi Babbar Rajesh Khattar Gaurav Chopra Payal Rohatgi Feroz Abbas Khan Swanand Kirkire Vandana Sajnani-II Kevin Tayebaly Vahan Badalyan Chetanya Adib Payal Kapoor Rakesh Bedi Sameer Iqbal Patel Om Katare-II Shifalli Shah Simon McBurney Mujeeb Khan-II Akarsh Khurana Preeta Mathur Thakur Makrand Deshpande Manoj Shah (II) Manoj Shah Saumya Joshi Quasar Thakore Padamsee Mohit Takalkar Hari Mina Bala Jehan Manekshaw - 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

Schedule Theatre Workshops Register a workshop | View all workshops

List Your Play

Get theatre updates in your inbox
subscribe to Mumbai Theatre Guide weekly updates