Since I started working with Naya Theater in Habib Saab's last phase, I usually worked in smaller replacement parts. Once while I was talking to him, I said that I would like to work in a production with him from start to finish to be a part of the full process. He heard me, then the discussion veered off somewhere else and we started talking about other things. I remembered what I had told him but I was surprised to realize that he did too.
The troupe was in Kolkata working on Tagore's 'Visarjan' with Usha Ganguly's troupe. I received a call from him asking me to come to Kolkata for the production. I was confused. We had recently shifted to Mumbai and wanted to get started here. To be out of Mumbai for two months at that stage did not make any sense. Even so, I gathered all my courage and asked him if there were any roles that he wanted us to do in the play. He didn't say much on the phone but said ' Okay then you don't come'
I thought it was over. Some months later he called again and said that the play is ready and that he would like us to visit Kolkata to see the play and give feedback. ( This he did all the time, he would collect all his friends and ask them for a feedback. It did not mean that these friends were some great voices in the theater. He would just gather ideas from people who saw his initial rehearsals and shows to make certain changes to improve the play) So, we went to Kolkata. He saw us, welcomed us and then he said 'I am really angry with you that you didn't come' I said, 'but you only said I shouldn't come' To which he retorted 'because you asked whether I have a role for you, I wanted you to come for being a part of the process and you started about roles…that gets me really angry'.
He was not happy with the way the play shaped up in Kolkata. The partnership with Usha Ganguly's troupe also did not work out. The acting styles of the two troupes was so different that if you were in the audience you would feel that there are two plays running.
Later the play came to Delhi and then he made many more changes and I came into the play as the sutradhar and Nayan Rai. Wish had gone to Kolkata for those two months - maybe I would have got a better role and also been a part of a naya theater production from beginning to end.
The troupe was in Kolkata working on Tagore's 'Visarjan' with Usha Ganguly's troupe. I received a call from him asking me to come to Kolkata for the production. I was confused. We had recently shifted to Mumbai and wanted to get started here. To be out of Mumbai for two months at that stage did not make any sense. Even so, I gathered all my courage and asked him if there were any roles that he wanted us to do in the play. He didn't say much on the phone but said ' Okay then you don't come'
I thought it was over. Some months later he called again and said that the play is ready and that he would like us to visit Kolkata to see the play and give feedback. ( This he did all the time, he would collect all his friends and ask them for a feedback. It did not mean that these friends were some great voices in the theater. He would just gather ideas from people who saw his initial rehearsals and shows to make certain changes to improve the play) So, we went to Kolkata. He saw us, welcomed us and then he said 'I am really angry with you that you didn't come' I said, 'but you only said I shouldn't come' To which he retorted 'because you asked whether I have a role for you, I wanted you to come for being a part of the process and you started about roles…that gets me really angry'.
He was not happy with the way the play shaped up in Kolkata. The partnership with Usha Ganguly's troupe also did not work out. The acting styles of the two troupes was so different that if you were in the audience you would feel that there are two plays running.
Later the play came to Delhi and then he made many more changes and I came into the play as the sutradhar and Nayan Rai. Wish had gone to Kolkata for those two months - maybe I would have got a better role and also been a part of a naya theater production from beginning to end.
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