His maiden appearance at the prestigious Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards Festival ended with the coveted award. That was a dream come true for director Kshitish Date whose Hindi play Item received the Best Play Award along with Nona . What made Item stand out was its sensitive handling of the burning issue of commodification of women, and memorable performances, specially by its lead protagonists — a superstar of B grade films and a light man who doubles up as the narrator. The former was played by Deepti Kachare while Sainath Ganuwad won the Best Actor in a Lead Role for lighting up the stage with his powerful performance.
Talking about how Item came into being, Kshitish brings to fore the issues it touches upon and how he trained the actors to do justice to their roles.
Excerpts:
On the genesis of the play
Item reflects how we treat women. Media through its reach and impact has been altering our idea of gender, sex and its power structures, setting bizarre physical standards for us to follow. We desperately wanted to tell this story through this character Sapna Shetty (essayed by Deepti Kachare), an under-skilled dancer who is chosen by a filmmaker to be the heroine for his film. She eventually becomes a superstar in B grade film industry. Over the years, she exposes her body for performances and gradually starts believing that she is a great actor and that her fans adore her acting skills. So deeply ingrained this is in Sapna that while making a comeback after a setback, she declares that her return is no less than that of Amitabh Bachchan.
I agree that the sensitive issues concerning gender, its stereotypes, objectification have been there since long but today they have reached another level, begging serious thought on our part. Through Sapna, the play brings to fore what actors like her feel, their pathos, insecurities and whether they are satisfied or are suffering from guilt. Hence, the play was named as “Item” to emphasise that the way women are treated. The original concept is mine and Siddesh Purkar wrote the script based on that.
On using bed as a metaphor to highlight the intentions of the industry
In the play, the camera, plots, the story and its sub text, dim lights, dirty props, polished chairs, men and women, all revolve around the bed. It becomes the central character. In B grade film industry, there is barely any storyline and logical dialogues with the final aim being to show a man and a woman in bed.
Kshitish Date
On striking at the patriarchal notions about women
The patriarchal society views women as an article and sets certain standards of beauty. Thereby compelling women to do everything to conform to those standards. This is reflected in Sapna undergoing several cosmetic and plastic surgeries to look fair, young and beautiful. To look gorgeous, she decks herself with lot of make-up. All this results in health problems.
We touch upon on male chauvinism when we depict the way a heroine is chosen. With no concern for acting or talent, the entire focus is on beauty. It is men who decide based on their parameters of what woman’s height, weight, figure and shape of the nose, lips and body ought to be.
The play emphasises how women resign to their fate instead of fighting against the system. Sapna, initially reluctant to do intimate scenes, ultimately gives in. The play ends when she starts directing the cameraman to focus on her different body parts.
On the research undertaken for the play
Having decided to have a B grade film industry set up for the play, we watched several films in that genre in order to understand the common line they follow. We met people connected with this industry to understand its nuances. All this helped in making the sets and props authentic. So one can observe the use of props that look dirty and rundown. From chairs, sofa, table, curtains, everything has been placed the way B grade movies are shot without any concern for these objects. The aim of the filmmaker is to satisfy the voyeuristic inclination of the audience.
On using a narrator to unravel the story
It was writer Siddhesh’s idea. He had written a monologue for L. Rakesh (the lightman and narrator); and from monologue, the play emerged. Since L. Rakesh is portrayed as being sensitive to the issues dealt with, he narrates the story of his madam (Sapna). This made good sense in terms of storytelling.
On training actors for the challenging roles
Sainath and Deepti, the main characters didn't know each other. I gave her number to Sainath and told him to start texting her as if he was her secretary. So on their first encounter as Madam and Rakesh, he comfortably started saying “Madam aaj shoot hai...aap ke liye kaunsa juice? Aap kya khaaogi? Drive karna hai aapka?”.
This established their hierarchy, and it helped in sustaining the tone of the play.
We did a lot of exercises for voice modulation and body movement. The actors were made to watch B grade movies. We also made a draft script for a B grade movie as an exercise. These things worked well for them. Deepti had to transform herself in order to portray a bold and overt person. Achieving that body tone, language and movement was important and that was based a lot on mutual discussions and observation.
Dual challenge
Sainath Ganuwad says as a light boy and later Sapna’s assistant, Rakesh provides a close up of her life. “As a narrator I keep coming out of that zone addressing the audience to take the plot forward. It was tough to keep moving back and forth in these two zones.”
Sainath Ganuwad
On his preparation for the role, Sainath says he attended several shootings of such films and observed the light boys closely. “I spoke to them at length to get to know their diverse experiences and perspective of the industry. This helped immensely in understanding their mental make up. I also worked a lot on my Hindi diction.”
As a narrator, he adds, he had to hold the play, setting its pace. “I could not sound monotonous and harmonised my voice with the dialogues and script. Kshitish helped me prepare for the role by explaining the subtext of the story.”
