World | India
Celebrating a larger-than-life struggle
Sanjna Kapoor, theatre personality and daughter of former Hindi film heartthrob Shashi Kapoor, beams as she talks about the 30th edition of the annual theatre festival at the family-run Prithvi Theatre.
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 00:08 October 25, 2008
Mumbai: Sanjna Kapoor, theatre personality and daughter of former Hindi film heartthrob Shashi Kapoor, beams as she talks about the 30th edition of the annual theatre festival at the family-run Prithvi Theatre.
This is a special year, she says, explaining the decision to pay tribute to renowned director, writer and actor, Satyadev Dubey, at once the "most loved and most hated man of modern Hindi theatre."
A selection of Dubey's plays will be staged along with other works during the festival, which runs from November 6-16.
This is Sanjna's way of commemorating three decades of keeping alive a theatre that was initially set up by her grandfather, the legendary Prithviraj Kapoor, in 1944, and given a new lease of life by her father and late mother Jennifer on November 5, 1978.
"Dubey is an integral part of Prithvi's story, he is part of our beginning," she told Gulf News at the small 200-seater theatre in suburban Juhu. Earlier, Dubey himself talked to stage performers as well as the media in his affable, humorous style. At 72, he continues to direct plays and be an icon for upcoming actors.
Speaking about the exhibition on Dubey to be put up at Horniman Circle Garden in south Mumbai, Sameera Iyengar, creative director, Prithvi, says, "It is only through working on this exhibition that I have come to know what he truly means to Indian theatre, how he has been instrumental in marking new paths, creating new talent and bringing a sense of rigor to theatre."
Sanjna sums up the mood: "Prithvi has never been able to make ends meet but what is rewarding is what we do - engaging with the practitioners and the audiences. Theatre is live and interactive. Nothing can replace it."
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