His illness restrained him from climbing down the stairs for a few months but when theatre veteran Gopal Sharman did so on his 75th birthday — on August 19, he was stunned by what he saw. The posters, book covers, advertisements, furniture and stone sculptures, all made by Gopal at different junctures of his life, had been neatly laid out in the room which otherwise serves as a venue for Akshara's Diksha workshops and intimate recitals for small gatherings.
His wife and senior theatre personality Jalabala Vaidya, along with her daughter Anasuya, granddaughter Nisa and students of their Diksha workshop, had secretly put it all together to give a surprise to the artiste who has spent his life creating a cultural landmark of the city in the form of Akshara Theatre.
Sitting amidst his creations, referring to the striking ‘3x1 cms column ad', he says, “It used to take five to six hours to make an advertisement. It had to be rushed to a block-maker, who would make the block and deliver it to us at Odeon, from where it would be taken to the newspaper office.” An emotional Gopal tells us how overwhelming it is to see different facets of his life together in one place.
The rosewood and teakwood Akshara Theatre that the couple founded in the early '70s in itself is a specimen of Sharman's fine creativity and imagination for every single thing — from the architecture to stage design to the electrical work, the woodwork and furniture, everything has been handcrafted by Gopal. Celebrating the occasion, Akshara has come out with a poster that aptly describes the multi-faceted Gopal as poet, playwright, director, musician, designer, electrician and carpenter, to name a few.
“You know, Gopal wanted to be a magician as a child and one needed wooden boxes for the show and that's how he learnt it,” says Jalabala, the lone actor of “The Ramayana”. The one-woman performance based on the traditional Indian ‘katha' or storytelling style has come to be known as Gopal's most powerful work and has had 2,000 performances so far. Jalabala is now planning to publish a book of his five other plays — “Karna”, “Hit and Run”, “Let's Laugh Again”, “India Alive” and “Anekanta”. The book cover, too, is part of the show.
Also displayed are images of Gopal from several plays that he acted in, a collage of the stills from his path-breaking documentaries and features such as “The Kashmir Story” and “The Sufi Way”. “Gopal is an excellent comedian. He even did a striptease in the play ‘The Lampoon Show'. There were several Supreme Court judges among the audience. I don't know how the judges today would have taken it,” says Jalabala.
A string of performances giving a glimpse of his work on stage has been created. It weaves scenes from the well-known productions — that Gopal has directed, scripted or given music to, his poetry and even his favourite songs.
In the 11-year-old Diksha workshops run by Gopal and Jalabala together, a few children come from the slum areas of the city. Joining the other kids on stage, they will present excerpts from “The Ramayana”, “Vishnu Sahasranama” and verses from Isha Upanishad every evening from September 3 to 12 at Akshara Theatre.
(The exhibition too will be on view from September 3 to September 12 at Akshara Theatre. For details contact Jalabala Vaidya on 9313994368.)
