Originality his forte
SANJAY KUMAR
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One should write only if one really has a story to tell, says Manav Kaul, the national swimming champion-turned-theatre actor and director.
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PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY
MANY HATS Manav Kaul's play "Bali Aur Shambhu was nominated for the best original script and best actor categories in Mahindra Theatre Festival-2007.
It is not often that a national swimming champion gets to make waves on the stage.
Well, with Manav Kaul, the young theatre actor-turned-playwright and director, this transition does seem to have created quite a few ripples.
His play, "Bali Aur Shambhu", was mounted in Delhi as part of the Mahindra Theatre Festival-2007 and was nominated for the best original script and best actor categories.
"Right from the first time I watched a play at the age of nine, I knew that theatre was my calling," confesses Manav about his passion for theatre. Tracing his Kashmiri roots and school and college days in Bhopal, he recalls, "I did manage to become a popular stage actor in Bhopal, but I desperately wanted to come to Delhi". However, destiny decided otherwise and it was Mumbai that groomed the actor in him.
Manav acknowledges the mentorship of Pandit Satyadev Dubey in mastering the grammar of the stage.
"In fact I was surprised when he cast me in the lead role of an old man in his play, `Insha Allah'", says the young actor/director.
"Bombay theatre made me grasp the `commonsense factor' of theatre, I knew the in and out of the profession", he adds.
However, it was here that he felt an urge to go behind the stage. "I felt during a performance, while delivering a very popular speech in a play, I was in fact cheating the audience. It was called experimental theatre, but somehow I felt dishonest," Manav recounts the turning point in his career.
Thus, he wrote his first original script and directed "Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane" in 1995. It was a runaway success, and he founded a theatre company Aranya. "Peele Scooterwala Aadmi" followed, and Manav also played also a critically acclaimed role in the Marathi feature film "Saat Chya Aat Gharat."
Tell a tale
"One should write only if one really has a story to tell, otherwise it is superfluous. But there has to be a story, else don't try to say it," Manav sums up.
He has been inspired by the renowned Hindi writer Nirmal Varma's works. His latest play is an exposition of the life in an old-age home through two contrasting characters, Bali and Shambu. Full of comic repartee, excellent acting and deft dialogues make it an interesting theatrical experiment.
Manav believes that theatre need not feel shy of borrowing from cinema.
"I used the song `In the mood for love' after watching Wong Kar'Wai's "Chunking Express" in my play `Peele Scooterwala Aadmi.' However, these were two entirely different narratives."
His next project is a play "Ilham" (Enlightenment). "This play tries to prove the point that in our own times the idea of God seems rather unnecessary. Hence the theme of Enlightenment". Manav also played a lead role in the just released film, "1971".
Moving with ease between the worlds of the stage and the screen, he does believe in the presence of the mythical old woman - the spectator for every play. Perhaps, she must be smiling all the way like his spectators.
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