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`Theatre's a viable career'

Lillete Dubey winds back with daughter Ira to days when the family first fell in love with theatre

PHOTO: MURALI KUMAR K.

VIVACIOUS DUO Lillete and Ira Dubey have an easy relationship

She's got over 30 years of hands-on theatre to her acclaim, and believes she's an accidental film actress. Her daughter is majoring in theatre at Yale and started acting when she was barely four. Mother and daughter together can give wannabe models a real hard run for their physique, looks, and attitude.

Lillete Dubey and daughter Ira Dubey sometimes sound like a mutual admiration society. But once they get talking you realise that here's a mom-and-daughter pair that truly recognise each other's talent. Over crunchy salad and penne at the Royal Orchid Central's Paparazzi restaurant, Lillete and Ira talk to BHUMIKA K. about growing up in theatre. Their easy relationship is evident in the way mother and daughter casually light up together, and speak vivaciously of their touring Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai with their production Sammy. It's a contemporary take on how Mohandas Karamchand became Gandhi.

For the first time, Lillete's entire family has come together for the play, in which her husband and older daughter Neha too are acting. Younger daughter Ira and Lillete herself don the director's hat!

Lillete: Ira has worked with me before as an actress, not as a director though. She's been acting since she was four. (Her debut was in Jungle Book.)

Ira: My sister and I have been exposed to theatre since we could barely walk. Theatre's definitely in my blood, but enhanced by the fact that I've grown up around it. In childhood everyone would laugh at me saying, `Ira is mummy's chamchi!' From the time she started Primetime (Lillete's theatre company) I have been at every play, every rehearsal.

Lillete: I was told by people that I used child labour because I used to bring them to the plays!

Ira: (Laughs) We used to be ushers...

Lillete: (Looking adoringly at Ira) Ya... you used to look goody and important... run around and check if the tickets were done. But you started really young. A year and two months!

(Fondly reminiscing) I saw my kids grow up in theatre. You can't run away from it. My husband is an actor whom I met when we were in the same group — Tag in Delhi. Exposure is a big thing — you breathe, think, eat theatre. For the kids it was like osmosis. I was acting till I was four months pregnant.

Ira: (Looking adoringly at her mom) She's a talented woman. I aspire to be the best I can. That's what my parents have taught me. Sammy has a lot to say about that. The Gandhian philosophy that you do something without the thought of a reward...

Lillete: Which is from the Gita.

Ira: Ya... but my nature is a lot like my mom. I like to give my 110 per cent. When I went to Yale I discovered facets of theatre I didn't know about earlier — the theoretical aspect, for example. Certain things I learnt there, I could put into practice here in Sammy.

Lillete: Actually, Ira brought a lot to this play... It was like infusing new blood. I never trained in theatre; and I see the difference. I come from a family of doctors, lawyers and engineers. I was an aberration doing Arts. They would look down on me and say, `Oh my God, you can read Shakespeare at home. Why do you have to waste time studying literature in college?' But when my father realised my passion for theatre he said why don't you go to NSD? But I was practical and said, `I can't live by theatre.' But for people like Neha and Ira theatre's a viable career choice. If you know how to market your work...

Ira: Ya, it's a business...

Lillete: You won't make a lot of money, it's not like films. But if you don't have luxurious requirements, you can survive.

Ira: At Yale I realised that my classmates had big plans, either to study further or work with repertories or companies in New York. But in my heart of hearts, I always wanted to come back to India.

Lillete: You know you're a wonderful actress and that's what you love.

Ira: Ya... that's what I love. Acting. But I want to do my own thing also.

Lillete: I discovered to my happy surprise that she's a good director too. When she went to Yale, my husband asked her to do economics!

Ira: Ya! People ask me, `Wow, you're at Yale. What are you majoring in?' I'm like, `Theatre', and they're like `Oh!' (Both laugh)

Lillete: But what's nice today is that you can multitask. You don't have to restrict yourself to one medium — you can do television and film.

Ira: Yes, but theatre and cinema are two different mediums. Cinema is a director's medium. In films, actors are just puppets. But in a play, it's the actor's night when the play opens.

Lillete: I've directed my husband in Sammy after a long time. He stopped acting 25 years ago when he joined the corporate world. This is my 21st play! Some people feel I can be tough as a director. Which is fine. But I really had to treat him with kid gloves because here was an old actor who'd been on stage before but he was my husband first. So he demanded respect!

Ira: I have to say this. Neha and I will stand by this, that mom has a tendency to be tough on us. We resent it, and argue about it with her later. But I know she's doing it to get the best out of us.

Lillete: On a personal level we are close. Kids are gonna go through a lot. My husband and I were adventurous. It's in our genes. We can't expect the kids to be staid and safe and not want to experiment with anything. I'd like them to experience life. So I want to be well connected with them.

I should know things even their friends don't know. Some lines can't be crossed. Whether you come back at 2.30 in the night or whether your skirt is two or four inches above are not the important things. It's who they are with and what they are thinking in their heads...

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