There was a time when theatre doyen Aamir Raza Hussain had to move around door to door to sell tickets to his show at a meagre `6. It was also around the same time that he couldn’t afford sets or lights or props. Today, his shows are by invite only and sponsored. His sets too are now seen as fantastic works of art, sometimes with budgets running into crores. The Padmashree recipient director-actor shares his experience so far in an interview with the City Express.
First brush with theatre
My first show was the Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in my boarding school days at Mayo in Ajmer. After I passed out of Mayo with a first division, I studied history at St Stephen’s College. As part of the freshers’ play, I played Pompei to Shashi Tharoor’s Anthony and Mira Nair’s Cleopatra and won the best actor award. There were three directors of repute at college, Joy Michael, Barry John and Marcus Murch, and I was involved in plays with all three. It was here that I realised I could not do anything but theatre.
Defining theatre
For me, theatre is a drug and I am addicted. One needs to be addicted to theatre if he/she wants to do it professionally and the passion for this form of art should be independent of everything else. In the mid 1970s, when I veered into theatre, I was thought of as a complete lunatic. Theatre was not recognised as a profession and it isn’t even today. But I stuck along, doing the kind of theatre I believed in and here I am today.
The audience
I enjoy creating theatre shows for common people because they are the ones who give you the true reviews. Almost everybody in the political milieu has come to my shows, as well as most film stars. Despite the satisfaction of getting such notice, performing for the country’s leaders isn’t really a great experience. Usually the feeling is much worse than a regular show as you’re surrounded by so much security. Its just a chaos.
Favourite genre
My theatre knows no genres, be it historical, musical, comedy, tragedy, political satire and the like. Each play should have the merit to be called a great show. I believe in just two kinds of theatre: good and bad. My audience is the top priority and my duty to keep them engrossed for that one, two or three hours of the show.
Theatre dying?
The world over, theatre is a form of entertainment that has to compete with other forms of entertainment like the TV. The base for any entertainment is the story. Before cinema there was theatre, and before that there were storytellers, and the element of story remains powerful even today. I feel theatre today is larger than life and opulent enough to give cinema and TV a run for their money.
A medium for awareness
The power of theatre is entertainment and when you use it for spreading social messages, the entertainment value dies. I don’t really have a problem with that, but when the director forgets the essence of theatre and when the social message overwhelms the entertainment, the power of theatre is diminished.
After theatre?
A lot of actors see theatre as a stepping stone into movies. But my ambition is only to build better theatre. I’ve got offers for writing scripts, directing films, acting… but I have stayed away from all of them. The thought of doing anything else is frightening.
Criticisms
Oh! A lot of them, but criticisms have helped me grow. I am doing what I enjoy most: dreaming and making my dreams come true. I don’t know failure because I choose not to recognise it. I believe that road blocks can be overcome.
