Veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah have much reason to celebrate as their theatre group Motley has completed over 40 years since its first play Waiting for Godot. Over the years the group has done 42 productions with varied plays from classics to contemporary pieces.
They spoke to The Quint about their love for theatre, why Hindi movies aren’t demanding and why the coming years are a scary time for art and artists.
It’s been forty years since the first production of Motley, and when you look back, how do you look back at the plays and at the times?
Naseeruddin Shah: They’ve been mostly good times as far as theatre is concerned because our livelihoods never depended on it. My attachment to theatre is my hobby, a hobby that I am very passionate about. We’ve had a very stimulating journey, very educative and great fun.
But since your childhood did you watch plays and were interested in them versus movies?
NS: Movies and plays both, and cricket - all three I found equally magical. I never got to act in a play till I was fourteen years old, and the moment I went on stage I knew that this is where I belong. I never got to watch too much cricket because only test matches were played then. I don’t know if you know about this, and they were played in places like Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and so on whereas I lived in a small town. So, I never saw any cricket but played a lot of it and it was bliss. Watching movies, I’ve been watching movies since I was, I think, three. My dad, who was otherwise quite a puritan, for some reason allowed us to watch a lot of movies.
Ratna Pathak Shah: I grew up in a theatre family in Bombay, so mine is the exact opposite. I grew up backstage practically and my parents had no qualms about letting me see very bad theatre. But they had terrible qualms about me seeing movies, so I ended up seeing no movies. It was my aunt, my mum’s younger sister and her husband - they were movie buffs. They were also part of the early film club movement in Mumbai called Suchitra Film Society.
But in those days was it considered nicer to be a part of theatre than Hindi cinema?
RPS: Oh, there have always been snooty people who looked down on anything popular. So yeah, sure when films were popular people looked down on films, if theatre was more popular people looked down on theatre also before that.
NS: Well, in my family it was just unthinkable to talk of trying to be an actor and I had never confessed to anyone except my two brothers who encouraged me. Somehow the news found its way to my father by the time I had finished my college. Then I could do what I pleased.
For the full conversation, watch the video!
Camera: Sanjoy Deb
Camera Assistant: Gautam Sharma
Video Editor: Ashish MacCune
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