My Interactions with Habib Tanvir: Part XIII, My last interaction with him

It was in Raipur that I saw him last. Habib Tanvir was someone who was very good with his welcoming words and goodbyes. So when he would meet you he would say a warm 'Hello' and while leaving you would almost always hear him say 'see you soon'. 

It was strange though that this time he didn't say it , I did and he wasn't his usual self in his response. We had done a show of 'Raj rakta' and I had to rush out to take a flight to Mumbai. Habib saab was standing outside at the gate of the auditorium. I think waiting for his car as I rushed out. I saw him and I turned back to say 'bye habib saab, see you soon'. His face broke into a broad smile. He said 'bye Himanshu, see you soon' and the face revealed sadness as if he knew that this was the last time I was meeting him. 

After he said see you, I waited for a few seconds before turning. He looked down, then turned his gaze up once again, looked at me and said 'whenever'. I didn't meet him after that. I got to know from Nageen that he was very ill, he revived but then his health fell again and he went. 

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir : Part XII Acting, Crowd, What not to do

There were a lot of times when I would sit next to him during rehearsals. He needed a sounding board. It didn't matter who the person was. (or maybe that is not so true, let me flatter myself, probably it did matter who the person was)He would make his notes in his diary( he wrote in Urdu by the way, not Hindi or English)  as also talk to the person sitting next to him. During an 'Agra Bazaar' rehearsal,

he pointed an actor out to me and said ,' He does not know what to do with his hands, why can't the urban actors be simple as the rural actors?' I asked him what he meant. He showed me that a fairly gifted actor, a regular part of the troupe and fairly accomplished, confident person was standing there in the middle of the stage making gestures which were not economical. They were not required. Habib saab said 'These are the things which convert a strong professional performance into an amateurish one' ( I loved this, I loved most of what he told me because being a lazy actor I in any case like to do nothing with my hands and body. If the absurd plays would have been still in vogue I would have been the biggest hit, standing straight, expressionless face, no movement in hands and the rest of the body, dishing out the words written by the playwright- just kidding - it is fairly difficult to do that- express an idea to the audience through your presence and the playwright's words)

Coming back to the current story- There is a poem by Nazir called the 'Reech ka bachcha'. It is sung at a particular point in the bazaar and played out like a normal bazaar situation. 

This is the monkey dance scene though the other scene is also similar in nature.  Look at the actors. They are just standing and looking

So, in the bazaar , a handler gets a bear cub and sings to entertain while the bear cub dances a little.( I remember that in my childhood till very late when we would go from Agra to Fatehpur Sikri, there would be bear cubs in captivity with handlers for entertainment of the crowds. This has of course died out for various reasons. No body needs bears for entertainment any more and also because the animal rights awareness and legislations have pushed this practice out. You still see monkeys in captivity in India- you can see them even at Juhu beach in Mumbai. One thought connects to another thought- a visit to Fatehpur Sikri was a ride in urban solitude and a pleasant meeting with a grand piece of history standing up there in all its splendor - erstwhile seat of power combined with a center of spirituality, with the dargah of Salim Chishti, sometimes there would be 'qawwals' singing there , without mikes of course, it was an experience, you could go all the way up the panchmahal and feel the power that emperor Akbar would have felt, all that is gone now or am I just going on the path of romantic rambling qualifying to be characterized as an old man? But all the same there was a glimpse of the old Agra then, it has changed substantively in last twenty years, but more about that later, let me come back to 'Agra Bazaar' the play and what Habib saab said during one of its rehearsals)

 Everybody in the bazaar is enjoying this dance in the scene. (refer to the picture above) 'Parul' Ramchandar's daughter and 'Daniyal' Wamiq's son would wear a heavy costume and play the character of reech.

  That day I realized that in 'Naya Theater' crowd scenes or being a part of the crowd was particularly difficult. Or maybe crowd scenes are difficult anywhere in any theater. The crowd is doing nothing, an actor playing the crowd is just an embellishment to the main action, nothing else. There is a purpose to the actor which she performs. So, for instance if you have to create a market scene because the main story is placed in the market and the main characters also belong there. You have actors who would pass or come and stand at the shop for a bit, pretend that they are buying something and exit or they would come and just hang around. All this to create the market and make it believable.However, there has to be a motive, the actor has to do something when she is passing or enters the market scene otherwise the audience can spot a dead actor from a distance. By 'dead' I mean whose presence has no energy on stage.( Though energy too is  a word which means different things to different practitioners of the art of theater) But, the actor CANNOT and SHOULD NOT do extra. For instance, if you are watching the dance as part of the crowd  and you are playing a character( decided by yourself, since you are not written in the script)who had come to the bazaar to say get something for the kitchen, saw something happen, got distracted, started seeing what was going on and then moved on when the spectacle was over to whatever you had come to do, in that case, you would just be watching the dance , not appreciating it with your hands and face and sharing it with the other actors on stage and the audience too. 

Ramcharan baba, he sang and danced with great abandon, but when it came to being a part of the crowd, he was perfect.

That started happening between two actors. Habib saab pointed this out to me and showed me the difference. The rural actors were just looking at the dance, you could see it on their faces that they were enjoying the central action on the stage and more important contributing to it. As a visual it was complete when everyone in the bazaar was so engrossed in the central action on the stage at the moment. Apart of course the 'kitabwaalah' ( the bookshop owner) 

This is the kite shop owner on stage who is with the plebeian poetry of Nazir, as agains the book shop owner, don't have that picture but he would be either sulking or looking the other way opposed to the kite shop owner's involvement

who had a very snobbish attitude towards the 'popular' or 'plebeian' culture. But the urban actors were interacting between themselves and that took away from the central action of the stage. It also took the audience attention away from the central action. Habib saab did not usually get upset but on this day he was. The reason that he gave me was that it shows that the actor while performing lacks two things- 'basic understanding of the stage action' and 'generosity' to relinquish the attention to the other actor who at that moment is taking the story of the play forward. Important to understand I guess for all those who profess themselves to be actors and story tellers. Reminds me of an earlier tip 'Do your job and get the hell out of there'. 

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir: Part XI People

So, every now and then there are people who get after some of the known directors and say things like ' Mein aapke saath judna chahta hoon' ( literally -I want to be attached to you) I have seen directors dealing with these people through humor, cutting humor, harshness or by simply ignoring them if they think that these prospective actors are getting attracted to the glamour but do not realize the harsh realities of the profession. Meaning thereby that they are not serious.

I have seen Barry John respond to one such ,' Mein aapke saath judna chahta hoon' communication by saying , 'Fevicol laaya kya?' ( did you bring Fevicol, the most common brand of adhesive in India). I have heard Habib saab say 'judiye, kahan judenge? ' ( okay, get attached, but which part of the body) This would put people off when they came with this communication and let the directors be.

Not that Barry John and Habib Tanvir did not talk to new people who wanted to work with them, but this kind of a comment irritated them. They sensed lack of seriousness in the people making these requests. Also, sometimes people just did not see what these directors were doing and thronged themselves on them. This resulted in the cutting remarks from the directors.

One such incident happened in front of me at habib Tanvir's residence in Bhopal. Through a friend a forty odd years', well to do lady arrived to meet Habib Saab. She brought a bunch of flowers with herself. She started making some polite talk with Habib saab and said , ' Mein aapke saath judna chahti noon' ( I want to get attached to you) Habib saab said ,' ab meri wo umra nahin rani ki aapke jaisi khoobsurat mahila ke saath mein jud sakoon' ( I am no longer of that age that I can get attached to a beautiful woman like you) The lady went quiet for a moment, then realized that it was a joke, she laughed and then insistently said again, ' par aapke saath kaam karna chahti hoon' ( but I want to work with you) Now that she directly asked the question, Habib saab told her that he was in the last leg of his life, if she wanted to work with someone she should work with a young upcoming director, not with someone who is waiting to go into his grave. The lady mistook the banter as a sign of Habib saab engaging himself with her. He politely wanted to get rid of her. She insisted again, this time holding out the flowers in her hands,' Mein yeh fool aapke liye laayee hoon' ( I have got these flowers for you) By now Habib saab's irritation level had peaked and he said ' fool nahin phool, aapko itna bhi nahin pata aur aap mere saath kaam karma chahti hain?' ( Not fool, phool- flower in Hindi pronounced differently from fool, many Hindi/Hindustani speaking people make this mistake- when you don't know even this much, you still expect to work with me?) The lady was stumped but she did not understand the nuance of pronunciation…I need not tell you what happened after.

Habib saab did flare up sometimes on incorrect pronunciation and when it came to 'fool' and 'phool', he almost always lost it, so apart from pushing him to say 'yes' to a request of including her in the theater( which she would not have been able to sustain) she pressed another button and suffered for it.

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir: Part X Actors

I started working with Habib Tanvir towards the end of his career. This was the time when he was reviving some of his old productions including 'Agra Bazar'. I was part of this play. An actor of legendary fame on Delhi stage is Vijay Shukla. You ask anyone who had to do anything with Delhi stage when Vijay Shukla was active in the theater circuit and you  would hear just one comment- 'He is GOD on stage'. Vijay shukla was returning to stage after a long time. He used to play 'Kitabwallah'(book seller) in Agra Bazar. It is a long role and holds the play together. The 'kitab ki dukaan'( book shop) and the 'patang ki dukaan'( Kites shop) are two locations on stage directly opposed to each other. While the 'patang wallah' ( the kite seller ) gave Nazeer a voice and almost represented him without bringing the poet on stage,whose poetry is the basis of this production, the 'kitab ki dukaan'( the book shop) represented those who knew their literature and were seeped in the elite literary practices of the time and rejected Nazeer's plebeian poetry, a poetry written as a voice and for the masses but with great depth.

We were rehearsing during the day in a small room in 'Sainik Vishram Grah' ( army rest house) in Bhopal. This was one of the initial readings of the play. Vijay Shukla was returning to the stage after a long time. He was missing lines and improvising at certain places. Habib saab tolerated it for a while and then gave it to Vijay Shukla. A veteran, experienced actor and a natural talent like Vijay Shukla almost had tears in his eyes. Habib Saab realized he had erred in making such a strong rebuke. He then sat down with Vijay Shukla for almost half an hour and talked to him about the play and how he should focus on the written word. This calmed Vijay Shukla down as also ,he realized that he was going wrong and he had to correct himself in terms of knowing his lines.

I learnt two things from this- an actor , like a sportsperson can go wrong at any time. The body and mind can play tricks especially if the actor goes out of practice. Also, the actor is putting herself out there and thus is extremely vulnerable. To point out flaws is easy, to deliver a role is a challenge. What I learnt about direction is that every actor needs a different input from the director. Vijay Shukla needed a calm, one to one talk to make him understand that he was coming back after a long time and that he needed to do the basics right- know the lines. Habib saab was very careful in that- he understood his actors and dealt with everyone differently- gave them what each one of them needed. 

Also that 'humiliate the actor to get her to perform' theory is so much of bull, people who practice that, should be shown the door from theater, it is theater, surviving as a theater person is tough enough- sometimes amounting to torture, the relief , release, satisfaction and joy comes from what you do on stage- the freedom that you feel there, but if you lose that too, then why do you exist as an artist. Thus those who take that away from you in the name of being tough etc ought to be rejected. 

Coming back to a question related to  this situation, I asked Habib saab once, 'you never screamed at me, but you meet Chait and you give him harsh words, what's that about?' He said , ' If I scream at you, you will not be able to handle it, but if I don't give Chait those words, he will think I am upset with him and that I am ignoring him. Actors are different individuals, a part of the director's job is to give the input in the best way it will be received.'

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir : Part IX Another Rum story

After he had the hip fracture, Habib saab was recuperating at the then Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dixit's bungalow. They were old friends from the time Habib saab was a member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha. She offered her place to Habib saab since it was difficult for him to travel to Bhopal in his  condition and he got sick of AIIMS pretty fast. But , not the one to stay alone he would get his friends to keep going and visiting him. These were mostly all 'theater wallahs'. At the Delhi chief minister's bungalow, there is a very strong security detail. There is physical frisking then your bags go through the X-ray machine. The police people in charge of security found us, the theater wallahs to be quite funny. We, on our part made sure that Habib saab had his quota of rum in that room so that he did not have to get anyone to get his rum for his two evening shots.

As it happened, one day Shalini and me went to meet him with one full bottle of 'Old Monk' during the day and towards the evening - Sudhanva, Mahmood and one more friend came carrying a bottle each . The police man was quite bewildered. He let the first one go , then the second one but when it came to the fourth bottle of 'Old Monk' he could not help himself and asked- How much does the old man drink?

This only led to laughs in Habib saab's room when slowly these bottles were consumed. 

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir: Part VIII

Habib saab liked to drive. He liked to feel that he was in control of things. Once I asked him the question 'Who drives your car?' He was offended and said 'Why, of course, me. I drive my car. I have driven all across India in my old fiat'. But after Monica di passed away and he had a hip fracture, he kept a driver. The fellow lived in a jhuggi cluster( pakka jhuggis, not like any other urban slum) adjoining the wall of the society in which Habib saab lived in Bhopal.

But the two of them were very different from each other. Habib saab was more towards atheism in his response to God. The driver was a devout muslim. Whenever Habib saab needed him ,the driver would say ' mein aata hoon, namaz padh ke saab' (will come back in a bit, got to read the namaz)and disappear despite the fact that Habib saab got furious at this. This would happen almost every day. Can't call it like a daily spousal banter but there was a similarity as far as the regularity of this banter was concerned. Habib saab would say 'kambakht phir namaaz padhane chala gaya hoga' (The fool must have gone to read his namaaz again)

Sometimes in the evenings too, during the rehearsals, he would disappear without a trace. If someone from the theater had to use the car to go to New Market to bring some costumes or any other adornments, our friend would be missing. He never missed his namaz, come what may. So, once I asked him, 'bhai, habib saab itna naraaz hote hain, tum gayab kyun ho jaate ho?' ( habib saab gets angry, why do you disappear?) Pat came the reply, ' wo to yahan ke saab hain, daant lenge, naukari se nikaal denge, par wahan jab jaayenge to jo inka bhi saab hai wo jawaab maangega to kya jawaab doonga' ( Habib saab is my boss here, he can scream at me, throw me out of the job, but on the other side, when the real boss asks me questions, I should have the answers)

So, this continued till a time and then there came a point where both of them got fed up with each other. The driver bought an auto rickshaw on loan. Habib saab got a new driver- not that devout ,that he would leave work for namaaz.

I met the driver again when I had to use his auto rickshaw one day- I asked him- ' so how is it going now?' He said- 'Very good, now I am my own boss, If I don't want to drive on a day, I don't, no one to scream at me any more, got tired of it.' I said ,'And then there is the other benefit.' He said, ' Yes, now no one can scream at me if I miss work for reading my namaaz, I just park the auto near a masjid at the time and do it'

Habib saab who never cared for religion in the time that I know him, or at least the practice of it through rituals, once he passed away, had to go through all the rituals, the rituals don't leave you, if you don't accept them when you are alive, they catch up with you when you die.

As far as the questions asked by the real boss on the other side, I think Habib saab would be just fine the other side. Doubt many questions would be asked of him. 

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir:Part VII

As I said earlier, Habib Tanvir was obviously focused at his production. He enjoyed and preferred working with actors who could perform. ( flattering myself) He would say that - I am not a great teacher. I like actors who bring something of their own to the work, that helps me direct them. But his other focus was that theater should be done in the spirit of almost a 'carnival', people had to have a lot of fun. Thus unlike the typical proscenium theater where blocking was sacrosanct , in Naya theater you could go up to him and tell him  that you would like to try something different, and he would almost always encourage you to do that. Of course, once the light design etc was done , it was expected of the actor to stick to the blocking.

This incident is about his making theater a bit of a 'carnival'. It was a professional relationship. You were expected to perform on stage. However, the personal relationships were equally important. So, we were at Bonn in Germany for his retrospective. There were some five plays that we performed at Bonn. I was still in the mould of a typical urban actor. What is the need of saying 'hi' ? When my entry comes I will go on stage. Habib saab had come into the auditorium, everyone went up to him to say 'jai shankar' ( naya theater greeting) He asked everyone how they were, if they were rested, had eaten, who drank how much the night before etc. I did not walk up to him to greet him. Normally, I didn't think a director would make much of it but not habib saab.

In the middle of the rehearsal I saw him walking towards the back of the auditorium where I was sitting. I thought maybe he is just trying to check the sound and the volume, so I remained where i was and then I saw him walking towards me. That made me nervous. He walked up to me and said 'Hello Himanshu' , I said 'Hello Habib saab', he said 'Is everything alright?' I said 'Yes, what made you doubt it'. He smiled and said 'Well, you did not come to greet me, so I thought maybe something is the matter'

I realised, it was important for him to meet everyone , ask them some questions- relevant and irrelevant so that he got a sense of what was going on with each actor of his. The carnival had to begin with some fun and then it had to continue in the same spirit. I made it a point after this to always walk up to him and say 'hello'. 

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir:Part VI

Okay so here goes another one in the series.


So, if you are acquainted with the urban proscenium theater, you are also attuned to the discipline of it. There are a few things that happen in that kind of theater- you read your script, you reach the rehearsal spot in time, the director arrives, he/she either briefs you or asks you where and what you would like to rehearse on the day. The rehearsal usually starts dot on time. When a scene is being rehearsed, the other actors are waiting in the wings for their entries. There is silence, not much movement and usually no smoking, could there be kids and animals on stage in a rehearsal like this? Well, never!!!

The first time I went to Bhopal to rehearse with Naya Theater, we were rehearsing in a small little hall. There were no chairs. There were 'durries' spread out. The actors were sitting there, talking, waiting, smoking. Habib saab arrived late, with his entourage - which meant, Monica di and Nageen. Monica Di always came with a small 'kandiya' ( basket) of hers in which she carried water, some snacks etc.

At this point everyone got up to wish them. There was one table for Habib saab where he sat down with Monica di on his side. And actors started talking to him. They were discussing their accounts with him and reporting on other things that they were asked to do by him like getting the costumes together etc. And then suddenly without any further fan fair Habib saab said - shuru kariye ( okay so let's start), the music started playing, a song was sung( the opening song of Agra Bazaar) and the rehearsal had started. There was hardly any change in the atmosphere of the room apart from the fact that we were practicing a play now. I sat there quite in shock, surprise and awe at how easy the whole process was. The other two major directors that I had worked with till then- things happened very differently. NK Sharma made it a point to reach his rehearsal space half an hour earlier than the scheduled time. There was a seriousness and urgency involved in how things were to happen. For some it was a pressurizing environment. With Barry John things were different. He was more like Habib saab in making it easy for the actor to get into the rehearsal process. He would also come earlier than the scheduled time, begin to talk to his actors- this time was basically pulling fast ones at each other ( now I realize this was the time when Barry got us vulnerable but also got us to trust each other through easy banter) and then when it was five minutes left for the rehearsal time, he would get up and start setting up the stage for the rehearsal. Things went quiet at this time and an easy seriousness came about towards the work. The rehearsal always began on time.

With Habib saab it was 'shuru kariye' ( start) and we started. Sometimes he would just let his actors be, they could practise their own moves, scenes before he started a formal rehearsal, but he would always be watching and if you did something that he did not like in this free time of rehearsal , he would say- I don't think you would be doing that…why don't you try it differently. Ram chandar Singh's kids would almost always be a part of the rehearsal. Then there were other spaces that we went to- a roof, a hut , a kali temple space- Habib saab enjoyed dogs entering the stage and leaving at their free will- he worked very hard at making it a lot of fun despite getting performances out of his actors.

On that  first day at rehearsal, I was asked to try playing a character with the script. I was told later that it was the testing ground for the actor. Habib saab looked for two things as I was told later- a strong voice and instincts. I passed the test.( well, it would have been disastrous if I didn't) And now I was part of this most amazing troupe- Naya theater.

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir: Part V

After that meeting with him where he taught Pushan ( refer to My Interactions with Habib Tanvir: Part 1) an important life lesson,  I had a sustained interaction with Habib Saab in Delhi when he was directing a play for the Lady Sriram college. He was also getting some work done on his teeth and he had to go to a dentist about 15 minutes away. I think for no other reason other than getting some company in going to a dentist with whom you were slated to be sitting for about 20 meetings, Habib saab asked me if I could come down in the mornings every third day in that month and take him to the doctor and get him back. I agreed.

These morning drives would be just talking about life in general. Things that I remember being said were like this:

Habib saab is talking about something and his phone rings. Monica Di is on the other side. Monica di is very concerned about his health and she asks him all kinds of questions ranging from whether he is wearing enough clothes, taking his medication, being looked after well at LSR, eating right etc. And Habib saab kept responding ‘don’t worry Monica, I am fine’ The conversation lasted for about 10 minutes as I drove him back from the dentist to LSR. After he disconnects the phone,I look at him and say ‘well, so this is going to go on for ever’ Habib saab said ‘what?’ I said ‘ Shalini calling me and checking on me like Monica di’ Habib saab now had a hearty laugh and said ‘Yes, be assured it will never change.’ Then there was a bit of a silence and then I said ‘ you know,  maybe there is an argument that this gender thing is a hog wash and we are the controlled gender’ ( this was obviously in jest, I realize the magnitude of gender issues across the world that need to change, not just in our country) Habib saab laughed and said ‘between you and me , you may have a point but dare you quote me on that’ ( well, quoting him today ) So, it was this spirit of conversation that had taken off between us and we had become sort of friends. That was in a way the greatness of the man. He loved humor in any way, had an eye for it, was extremely witty himself and would not leave a chance to have laugh.

In another conversation I said ‘ you know if my mother did not push me too much away from theater , maybe I would have realized that it is a difficult profession after spending a year or two in it, and then probably would have written UPSC or something, become a government officer etc’  Habib saab said ‘ Exactly what I feel , if my father did not push me towards ICS, I would have probably taken the exam myself and become an ICS officer’

It was in one of these conversations that he asked me if I would like to work with him and I said , ‘Yes, of course’