Actress Neena Gupta returned to stage after a long gap with Rakesh Bedi’s Mera Who Matlab Nahi Thha alongside actor Anupam Kher. Gupta shares that she’s never had the opportunity to play such a character in her life while Bedi says he doesn't believe in ‘pseudo things’ and neither endorses them. By Team Viva
How does it feel to be back in Delhi to performIJ
Neena: Great (laughs). It is my city.
What was it about the play that appealed to youIJ
Neena: Rakesh (director) narrated it to me and it is an amazing play written after a long time in Hindi theatre. The story is of these two ex-lovers meeting after 35 years. The most beautiful part of it is that it has all the emotions, it has thenavarasas (nine moods). It is not a sad, drab story of old people meeting. It has happy moments as well as sad, angry moments. The scenes are written so beautifully that one moment you’re in tears and the next you’ll be laughing and life is also like that. Plus, anybody can identify with the scenes, be it a youngster or an older person because emotions are the same for all.
How has the woman protagonist been defined in this playIJ
Neena: She’s not been defined at all. She’s a real woman who has gone through a lot in her life. She’s meeting someone and is being herself. There’s no facade in this play. Haste-khelte-rote play kar lete hai hum. It’s a simple story with different moments that range from happiness, sadness and fun. Similar to life.
What inspired you to write a playIJ
Rakesh: My prime emotion was first love. It is a spark which never extinguishes irrespective of your age or social stature. There is a beautiful line in the play where Neena says, “35 sale ho gaye judaa hue aur mein yehi sochti rah ki tumne mujhko dhoka diya par mere dil ka ek kona humesha kehta raha ki tum aise nai ho.” She’s lived in a dilemma that he was such a wonderful man and he left her but still a part of her heart says that he couldn’t have done that. Now, she is going away from this country forever and no longer wants to spend rest of her life with the similar emotion that he left her and wants to give a clean chit.
You haven’t lost faith in that person...
Rakesh: If a person, whom you loved and admired the most, has betrayed you, you will keep pondering over the thought that this couldn’t have happened and there must be a reason. Plus here, the two spent their childhood together, grew up together and also their love blossomed in adolescence but when the question of getting married came up, everything was overIJ A man can’t betray someone like that but the man had no intention to exploit her or anything.
The three of you have established yourselves in cinematic excellence, in TV, et al. Why did you choose to bring this delicate emotional interplay though a theatre productionIJ
Neena: First, not much has been written when it comes to Hindi plays and even now NSD production are still doing Mohan Rakesh’s plays or some other adaptations. Who is writingIJ There are a few plays being written in regional languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati or Marathi. This is our medium, I am from a drama school and Rakesh had done theatre throughout his life. Nothing can match a live performance.
People say only comedies or slapstick comedies work in cities for shows to be successful
Rakesh: I don’t agree with it at all. You can do a comic play which might have around 30 or 40 shows but it won’t be a show which you’ll think of even 10 years later. You might have a great laugh but is there anything that you’ll take away from itIJ There is nothing. It ends there. But as a theatre person, I always choose work which will show the public a mirror to look into and tell them who they really are and whether they’re good people or not, they can decide.
Neena: People after watching the play would say that they can’t believe what they saw and never thought they’ll be undergoing such an experience.
Rakesh: last week when we were staging the play in Mumbai, four women from Nagpur flew to Mumbai to watch the play, stayed in a hotel and left the next day. If it was only about laughter, would this have happenedIJ
Why are such plays not being stagedIJ
Neena: Because people are not writing. The reason why they are not writing is because even if a person who is talented enough to write may work on something but there is no money. One would rather do TV because you get the money. One has to run their family as well. There is no money in theatre. We have been lucky that Anupam (Kher) produced this play and has put in everything to promote it.
Writing a play is a difficult task because it has a structure.
Rakesh: Also I don’t do anything in life without humour. The humour in this play oscillates with every sentence. When you go back in memory lane, there will be such funny moments you’ll come across. A lover’s memories are not just filled with sadness.
How would you rate this character as a performerIJ
Neena: I don’t think I’ve done any role so far where I play with so many emotions which are very real. I’ve never got a chance to play such a character in my life.
Rakesh: She plays the character of Hema Roy with fantastic ease and grace but in the play, she is beyond her character.
How are you managing your rehearsalsIJ
Rakesh: Once you’ve written and finalised the play, you need to do a few readings.
Neena: We also went to Anupam’s set for one week when he was shooting for Prem Ratan Dhan Payo because he had no time. Whenever he was free, we used to rehearse. We even rehearsed in his vanity van. Such was our commitment.
Rakesh: I thought of these two actors because I needed their star power and their way of thinking. I also needed their discipline. We rehearsed for two-and-a-half months for this play and we used to do it from 10 am to 12 pm. All three of us were always on time.
What about the reception you got in the USIJ
Neena: Kamaal tha. People went crazy there and it was as crazy as it got during Mr. Modi’s Wembley speech.
Rakesh: When the play got popular after 10-12 shows, people realised that there is a great production which can be watched. We were doing one show in Washington and a woman came to me after the play and told me that there was a blind woman sitting next to her during the show and had come with a help. She then asked her why was she there and the woman responded with “I’ve come to listen to the play since I've heard so much about it.”
Neena: My mum-in-law watched the play for the second time and she’s 91.
What is your take on theatre and NSD todayIJ What can be done to give it a liftIJ
Neena: They should do plays like these (Mera Who Matlab Nahi Thha) (laughs).
Rakesh: I don’t believe in pseudo things and neither do I endorse them. I believe in simple things and that a common person should understand what I'm trying to convey. I have another play called Shimla Coffee House and I am a waiter there. In the end, the coffee house turns into a courtroom and I’m appointed as a judge then. There is a person in the play who says that the amount of common sense that is there in a common man is not present in any other individual and he would also give a correct and a common judgement. Just like that, if a theatrewallah would be stuck on a his own conviction then it is a problem.
People would ask me that why did I pick a starIJ But what did the star doIJ He managed to attract the audience and then the stardom is over as the performance on the stage would begin. Then the play and the performance has to speak.
You used to do television but then dropped it. WhyIJ
Neena: I cannot work for daily soaps because it is a 24X7 job. That means if I take up a role today, I cannot do anything else in life. Also, what I want to do, the producers and the channels don't want to do it.
Do you think there’s a devaluation of mass entertainment in TV industryIJ
Neena: I think it is a vicious circle. When we started, it was all so good with DD Metro and there was a sense of competition where people would say that they want to create something better. Now, the cost of production is also very high. Someone told me to launch a serial, Rs10 crore is required for publicity and other things. They cannot take a risk with me because what if it doesn’t workIJ The money would not return.
Plus, when a show becomes a hit, they start creating similar shows.
nBut India has progressed and the audience doesn’t want such shows. People won’t relate to most of the things shown in the shows.
Neena: They do because in India, the mothers-in-law would do similar things shown in soap operas. I have heard of incidents from my own family people. Yes the content is exaggerated but don’t think that these things don’t happen in society.