Pankaj Kapur set to perform Dopehri play in Dubai tonight

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Pankaj Kapur set to perform Dopehri play in Dubai tonight

The Indian film industry thespian speaks to Enid Parker from City Times about his play.

By Enid Parker

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Published: Fri 2 Sep 2016, 5:18 PM

Last updated: Sat 3 Sep 2016, 1:02 AM

Bollywood actor and veteran theatre personality Pankaj Kapur is going to perform his play Dopehri  -- a dramatic reading of a novella written 20 years ago -- in Dubai today evening. 
Here he speaks to Enid Parker from City Times about his play.
Excerpts from the interview:
You have been touring India for a while with your new stage act. How has the response been so far to Dopehri?
Well, frankly, if I say it myself, it will be a little embarrassing (laughs). But I would mildly put it, saying, that it's been good.

What inspired the novella and why did you decide to bring it to the stage after so many years?
The first question is very difficult. Why I wrote it. someday when I meet you in person I can explain it to you. but for my readers I would say that we wanted to do something about women and I thought that if we talk about the loneliness of an older woman, it might be something slightly unusual and relatable to all sections of the audience because all of us have our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers. And we will be able to relate to that kind of a story.

Did you ever consider staging it as a play rather than narrating it on stage?
I think there have been a lot of discussions within the family about whether this should be constructed as a play and done on stage. I have lost five-nil in this battle!

I'm sure there were a lot of people who wanted to see you back on stage.
No, no, see. I am back on stage with this. Trust me on that. The thing is that each time we thought of making this into a play, we felt it will lose out on something that the narration itself has. If you watch the show you will understand what I'm talking about. So that was the reason why we didn't make it into a 'play' play but I would call it a theatrical experience for sure. Except that there are no six-seven characters on stage who are playing respective roles. it's only me who is narrating all those characters.

The story of an old lady who is lonely and on a path to self-discovery, as you mentioned, no doubt resonates with a lot of people across age groups. So can we ask what your personal experience is with self-discovery in life.
I'm still in the process! In the story it's a little symbolic, to be honest, and it talks about the situation of women in our society as well. But for me, personally, it's a process and I think it's endless.

Your thoughts on bringing Dopehri to the UAE.
I'm excited. I've never exposed this to an audience outside of India. But I presume there are a lot of people who understand this language the ethos of such a story. And so I would be quite excited to read it out to an audience in Dubai.

During the course of your career have you ever had stage fright or forgotten your lines on stage?
I would say maybe in the first or second play that I might have done, but it was more like a scare than an actual happening.

The Hindi film industry is receiving praise for experimental and offbeat films. But the eighties and nineties also had such films. How do you feel Bollywood is doing today in terms of stories and innovation?
I think the movement of fine cinema was there probably from the beginning in our country. But it sort of died down in between, or I would say got diverted into different interests of people. And then in the seventies in the name of art cinema it started off again. And today it has blended into interesting content which is being communicated to audiences in a manner that it is both reachable and acceptable.
Are there any contemporary films you enjoyed and found memorable?
I'm quite pleasantly surprised about the recent ones that are being made, with okay, a lot of commercial value etc., but at least with some good content! Even if it is in a broad, or whatever, manner, at least something nice is being said, instead of just sheer stupidity! That's quite heartwarming. I give full credit to stars who are exposing themselves to world cinema, understanding that a different kind of cinema is the need of the hour and therefore that's the kind of thing one should be working on.
Shahid Kapoor has graduated from mainstream commercial cinema to films with meaningful content, like Haider and the recent Udta Punjab. Here's what Pankaj feels about his son's career today:
"I think his career speaks for itself. He did start out as a young boy wanting to make it big as a star, but because he has his head on his shoulders, so over a period of time through exposure to different things he understood what kind of cinema he should be doing, and what kind of roles he should be doing. It was a gradual progression into the kind of work that he is doing today.
"And this is something I said right at the beginning of his career - his forte or his strength as an actor or as a star lies in the dramatic characters that he'll be offered to play in the future, and with God's grace, that is exactly what has happened.
"My personal favourite is Haider - I think it's a very fine performance on his part."

Naseeruddin Shah recently drew quite a bit of flak for criticising Rajesh Khanna's acting. When asked about his thoughts on the issue, Pankaj said every individual has a right to an opinion, particularly in the context of art.
"I'll be honest with you. Every individual has a right to talk about what he or she feels about someone - especially when it's being spoken in the context of development of cinema, development of acting. So, you can have a view about it. I would say maybe what Shah said was exposed in an exaggerated manner, stretched beyond a point. It was said in a very casual manner and not to demean anybody. I mean, all of us have gone through an era where we admired Rajesh Khanna's kind of cinema, but with due respect, sometimes such slips can happen or you can actually mean it. And as someone who is a serious student of cinema, you can have a strong opinion about matters. I think we should be allowed to say whatever we want to say, at the same time we should understand that it can hurt feelings - in this case by and large because he (Khanna) was a big star. I respect that, so I say 'to each his own'. You can certainly opine about matters without wanting to run somebody down.
We are living in a world where we are actually exposed to people being killed: Pankaj on an information overload
"I think honestly people getting so easily offended nowadays has a lot to do with the amount of exposure anything has today. If, for instance, I speak to someone, or we talk about an incident, it dies down with those few people, it might stay with those few people. But when it is blown out of proportion. or even in the name of reaching out to people about what happened in a certain corner of the world, it sort of becomes huge. I remember somebody speaking to me about what we are inflicted with today - on one hand information and the other exposure. Please, please understand that we are living in a world where we are actually being exposed to people being killed. And there are channels and newspapers that are actually harping about who was the first one to reach! Where is the end to this kind of thing, this capitalising? If I hear something of that kind that relates to me, my blood will boil and therefore a chain reaction will start. But if we become responsible - I'm not saying we can control it because that's impossible - there is hope.

"In olden times if someone gets beaten up in a village and the news travels elsewhere after a month or so then the reaction would not be as violent as opposed to, if the news was transmitted immediately!
"I'm also talking about wars that have been shown on television. You're seeing it live! Whether it's about trying to show your channel's superiority or whatever. and then you expect people to be peaceful. These are things which as a society and as members of the human race we need to address. We have to find a way out which is suitable for everybody."


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