When you belong to Naseeruddin Shah’s family, talent seems to flow in your veins. Along with actress wife Ratna Pathak-Shah, Shah’s three children Heeba, Imaad and Vivaan are part of the Bollywood actor’s profession, including the theatre company Motley, which he started with good friend and actor Benjamin Gilani.
“We [Naseer and I] carry work home with us and that has never come in our way in any way,” said Pathak-Shah, who turns director with the play Walk In The Woods, which will be performed this weekend as the Naseeruddin Shah Theatre Festival, told tabloid!. “And because our children are also actors, it’s a great bonding feature in the family. Having theatre as a link has been great. Our children have seen rehearsals take place in the house ever since they were born and know how much work is required in putting up a performance”.
“Benjamin Gilani came up with the concept of Motley,” Shah told tabloid!. “In fact, he’s responsible for creating the name Motley and pushing me to be part of it”.
The theatre group which comprises various well-known Indian theatre and television personalities was started in 1979 and has put up several performances of plays written by William Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett, among others. In fact, Imaad debuted on stage with Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
“I must have been around four when I first acted on stage,” said the actor who debuted in films with the 2006 Yun Hota To Kya Hota and was last in the 2013 The Reluctant Fundamentalist. “But Waiting For Godot is what I most connect with. I remember reading it as a three-year-old and know it by heart now. I’ve acted in several productions of it, and in Julius Caesar and Katha Collage – though I’m not in the current production. Vivaan is doing it this time. We’ve been part of theatre because everything happens at home, from rehearsals to costumes to sets’ conception — we do everything ourselves. Growing up in that environment is brilliant exposure for an actor”.
“Because he’s been an actor I think [my father] as a director, is very understanding, sensitive to others’ feelings,” said Heeba, who plays one of the central characters in Ismat Aapa Ke Naam. “Since he knows how delicate and awkward actors can be he’ll tell you exactly what he wants but in a way that does not puncture your ego or hurt your conscience or make you feel nervous. I don’t know how he does that, but he brings the best out in you”.
While Shah is in the director’s seat for plays such as Ismat Aapa Ke Naam, Katha Collage, By George, Shatranj Ke Khiladi, and taking on acting too, Pathak-Shah has been a “jack of all trades” for the group.
“I’m a multipurpose person who does costumes, sometimes works with the set and lighting,” said Pathak-Shah. “And when there’s a suitable part for me I act”.
“I enjoy theatre more because of the nature of the work, because everyone pulls together, the way there are no lines drawn as to who is playing the lead and who’s doing the lights,” said Shah. “It’s all one team. We laugh and cry together, and work and have fun together. We create something which is truly a joy, which films can never replicate. In films the actor comes, sits in his air-conditioned cocoon, gives his shot and goes back in his air-conditioned cocoon. I don’t think there’s much interaction with the rest of the unit”.
Yet being a stage actor carries more responsibility, feels Heeba.
“It’s a lot of hard work,” said Heeba. “In fact when I read the story [of Ismat Aapa Ke Naam] for the first time, I couldn’t really understand it because it’s written in colloquial Urdu. It took me a week to figure out most words. Then you need to read it over and over again till it becomes second nature — till the time you can say it aloud if you are woken up in the middle of the night. It should get into your psyche. My father believes in extensive reading and rehearsing. He worked on this for about nine months before he put it up. He insists on not learning by rote, but understanding and making sense of the words. Basically, it’s one person narrating the story so the actor on stage has to make sense of each and every word. If the actor switches off, the audience will not connect either”.
“I wouldn’t call either [film or stage acting] easy. I don’t, however, subscribe to the view there’s any difference between theatre acting and film acting,” said Shah. “It’s mainly a question of connecting with your viewer. In the theatre you have to do it enmasse, yet individually. Only then can you consider that the play is going down well”.
“In theatre you have a script which clearly states the ideas of the writer. The actor’s job is to communicate those ideas and situations to the audience in the most interesting and effective way possible. I don’t think the actor’s role is to draw attention to themselves as performers, in short, to show off. A lot of the actors do that, especially when they begin. But as you grow older, you realise your job is not to make the audience feel ‘Wow, what wonderful acting’ but ‘Wow, how well the thought has been communicated’. I think that’s the most crucial thing an actor should think of. I find our children make fewer mistakes than when I started acting. But Imaad and Vivaan are still developing as actors. Heeba, on the other hand, has become a really interesting actress to watch. In all the roles she’s done, I’ve seen a constant growth in her talent,” said Pathak-Shah. Vivaan, who is part of Katha Collage was busy with Farah Khan’s Happy New Year and will be in Dubai just prior to the show.
“We are always looking for – although we don’t always find them – plays to work in together. And Inshallah we will”.
Don’t Miss It
The Naseeruddin Shah Theatre Festival featuring three plays in Urdu, English and Hindi: Ismat Apa Ke Naam, A Walk In The Woods and Katha Collage will be performed on Thursday, January 16, Friday, January 17 and Saturday, January 18 at Ductac, Mall of the Emirates. Show starts 7pm, doors open 6pm. Tickets priced from Dh200-700. Entry 12+ only. Call 056-2746089/055-9100468.
