Undiluted reality is his stage
VIJAY SAI
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Multitasking playwright Manav Kaul, whose plays depict a variety of themes, says life inspires him
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Photo: Murali Kumar K.
WRITE STUFF Manav Kaul: `Writing is a difficult job but not impossible'
"This is the first time we are travelling with this play so I am a little nervous. But since it is Bangalore, it is fine. There is a strong theatre-conscious community that has always been a great audience to quality theatre," says Manav Kaul, with a little apprehension in his voice about his third and latest play Bali aur Shambhu.
Senior playwrights and theatre critics rated his first play Shakkar ke paanch daane as the best Hindi play written in the last twenty-five years. His second play Peele scooter waale won the best script award in 2006.
Bali aur Shambhu has already won applause in Mumbai. Manav who writes and directs his plays says: "I am a poet first, a playwright next and a director last."
Ask him about his inspiration and he says: "I have always taken my inspiration from literature. I have a great admiration for the works of writers like Nirmal Varma and Vinod Kumar Shukla.
I also see there are very few original scripts for the younger generation of theatre artistes. So there is a strong need for new writing. How long can one keep on performing the same old scripts?
I remember Vijay Tendulkar asking people not to perform his plays anymore. Those plays were for that era. Now times have changed and even the audiences want to see something fresh and new."
Talking about writing, Manav says:"Writing is a lonely job. You have to see that you make sense of what you write. And in theatre it is important to keep the attention of the audience for those two hours.
It is a challenge because there are way too many distractions. And I usually direct my plays even as I am writing them. I have the form, the content and the imagery in my head. I work with it. And I am lucky to have gotten this appreciation for my work.
It also shows that the audiences are serious theatre lovers and are ready for experimentation."
Manav, whose plays depict a variety of themes, says he is inspired by life. "I take themes from life and from reality.
The first two plays I wrote were philosophical but easily understandable. We did these plays for school children in Sahyadri near Pune and we saw the response.
The children were so involved in the play that they were in tears by the end of it. The audiences refused to leave the theatre even after the show was over.
I wrote Bali aur Shambhu after I visited an old-age home. I wanted to show that people in old-age homes also have fun.
Usually one only finds sad stories of loneliness and depression at such places. But there is also another side to it. I have tried to explore that facet."
When asked about the future of Indian theatre, Manav said: "We need new writers in Indian theatre. I particularly like Ajay Krishnan's work. He wrote Butter and mashed banana. It was fresh and innovative. If we do not have more writers, we will see the number of theatre troupes increasing by the day and the same old work being repeated.
Writing is a difficult job but not impossible. If I could write three plays in two years, I don't see a reason why others cannot. Moreover we live in better times then the older generation did. We have better technology and facilities. So if we put in the effort and focus, we can give a lot to Indian theatre. I am writing two new plays and a novel. I have just started on it," he says signing off.
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