‘No one’s interested in writing’

Actor-director-playwright Manav Kaul on how theatre has spoilt him, yet how money drove him to films

BITTEN BY WANDERLUST Manav Kaul Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Heralded as one of the few in Hindi theatre to be doing original writing, actor-director-playwright Manav Kaul has also made space for himself in Bollywood with Kai Po Che (as Bittu Mama the politician- uncle) and more recently City Lights (Vishnu Sir). In Bangalore for MPTF 2014 with his play Colour Blind , Manav traces the beginnings of the play and visualising a play to the time he directed the Kannada play Hakki Harutide Nodidira . No one is interested in writing anymore of any kind, rues Manav. He seems most delighted talking of the joy of getting books to read, time to read them, and the privilege of spending time in the mountains pretending to write. Excerpts from an interview

How money drove him to films after more than a decade of theatre. In 2000 I started my group Aranya, but before that, from around 1994, I was doing theatre in Bhopal. From then, till 2012, the feeling was that there was no money in theatre. In 10 years I had written about 11 plays. It is a hard life. It got to the point where it got tiring. I was looking for something that gives me a break. I directed my first film Hansa .

When I got the call to audition for

Kai Po Che , I thought the script and scenes were good. I got the role and did it with utmost honesty. I thought ‘Let me give the kind of performance I want from my actors.’ It worked! When I saw the film, even I was like, ‘Is it me?’

In terms of preparation for the role…They had already started shooting when I came on board. I took the help of a Gujarati language coach to get my pronunciation right. I rehearsed and recorded the accent. I lived in Ahmedabad for the shoot and would observe people around me. I’ve seen young politicians, especially when I was in Bhopal.

I go with the director’s vision When I’m directing, I want actors to behave a certain way. But the small details that make a character work — that — only an actor can add. For Hansal Mehta’s City Lights I gave suggestions for my character within parameters; we complemented each other. I have a lot of ideas. I’m lucky I’ve always got director who sees what I can do and pick from what I have to show. I don’t say yes to a role if I can’t add anything to the script or if there’s no breathing space. It should also be a kind of role no one has done before.

I’m spoilt because of theatre It is about your ideas, your life, and luckily I’ve always done what I’ve wanted to. So yes, in way I’ve been picky about movies. I don’t need much money. I’m only a coffee addict.

Cinema did bring me notice In theatre people know me. I have a dedicated audience in Pune, Bangalore and Delhi. But common people who don’t go to theatre, they have started going to theatre to see my plays after watching me in films. The kind of Bollywood offers coming my way are mostly to play villain. I said no because I can’t do what I already have. But after City Lights , the offers are more interesting. I’m meeting directors. I’ve written and directed another film Tathagat . It’s stuck in the post-production phase. It’s a Hindi feature film.

Hansa I had 12,000 in my pocket for Hansa , and even though I knew nothing about filmmaking, people gave me money, somebody lent me a trolley, someone gave me lenses, the DoP worked for free… I thought let’s have fun, lets make coasters of the DVD if no one buys it. And then PVR released it! And it won an award at Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival!

There’s not much original writing in Hindi theatre And it’s not just limited to playwriting. It’s also the case with short stories, poetry…no one is interested. You have to accept you’re mad to be writing.

I love to travel, I go away to the hills where my generous friends host me. Everybody thinks I go away to write… (laughs) but I must confess I just sit around, and enjoy myself, meet people, read. I can write only at home, at my desk! As a person I can’t do things I’m tired of. Next I’m directing Kafka’s Metamorphosis ; my interpretation of it. We’ll start staging it in May next year.

I directedHakki Harutide Nodidira, a Kannada play based on a translation by Prema Karanth of Vijay Tendulkar’s Ashi Paakhre Yeti in 2009 for Ranga Shankara. I know that play very well in Marathi. And I had done it as an actor a long time ago. I said I’ll do it as a musical and it worked. We re-wrote the script, and it was the best learning experience – because I didn’t know the language I started interpreting through visuals. As a director, Colour Blind is a result of what started then; earlier the writer in me was dominant.

I never trained in anything. Neither acting nor direction. I was bad in school. I learnt everything on the go. I just started one day. That’s why my work has flaws and that’s what makes it interesting. I started doing theatre in Bhopal and I was doing it for three years, before moving to Mumbai. Theatre actors always have lots of time on hand, so I read a lot. I would go to people’s homes and look at their bookshelves…people gave me books for free and then I got hooked.