After a long gap recently Shekhar Suman returned to the Delhi stage with Deepti Naval in “Ek Mulaqaat”. Directed and designed by Saif Hyder Hasan, those who missed on the fine play and nuanced performances by the two veteran artists can watch it at the ongoing Old World Theatre Festival.
Describing himself as a “quintessential professional theatre person”, Shekhar emphasises that the prevailing perception of his going back or moving away from theatre is totally wrong. In fact he is at pains to drive home the point it was stage which helped him develop his acting acumen and finesse. “Stage helped me to develop and modulate my voice besides ingraining the use of imagination, teaching me how to tackle a role and interalise it,” he says acknowledging his debt to the craft.
Talking about “Ek Mulaqaat”, Shekhar says, “I am thrilled to essay Sahir Ludhianvi’s role, the iconic literary figure and sharing stage with a senior actor like Deepti. It is a very gratifying and cathartic.” Having done 25 back-to-back shows Shekhar is thrilled with the appreciative audience and was pleasantly surprised to know among them were those who had watched it more than once. The play has been staged in Mumbai and Lucknow besides Delhi and everywhere it has drawn people in droves.
On his reduced appearance in different genres of art, Shekhar admits that he has slowed his pace now and apart from television programmes makes an attempt to do a film or a play a year. Having “learnt and unlearnt” a lot during his acting career he is now hungry for roles which require maturity and experience and these are few and far between. “My predilection is for dark characters.” How does Sahir’s role fit into that? “Not an ordinary person, there is a dark side to him as well as he was non-committal, nonchalant and had grey shades. In order to deliver those nuances I had to get into his mind.” He observes that acting requires constant honing. “Therefore I keep experimenting and take up singing, dancing, hosting, judging, directing, writing, etc in my quest to deliver a better performance.”
With the country warming up to the forthcoming Bihar Assembly elections, one could not help but ask about Shekhar about his home state. Expressing surprise he wondered as to why I had not brought this up earlier, he says, “It is an interesting and important election and is a clash of titans. I sincerely hope that people rise about caste considerations and cast their vote.”
A man with a sharp memory and a penchant for film history, Shekhar will now be seen on the small screen narrating interesting film anecdotes encapsulated in a three-minute show titled Lights, Camera, Kissey on Sony LIV and Sony Max 2. “I am a storyteller who narrates untold, unheard, inspiring and interesting stories about films and those connected with them, like, producers, directors, composers, lyricists and others bringing to fore their struggle, resilience, determination and greatness. These are random and not connected to the movie being telecast on the channel,” explains the anchor. The tales cover the period from 1950 to 90s and includes films like Mother India , Sholay , Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Parinda among others.
Though an appropriate choice as an anchor for the show, many are however, surprised to see Shekhar in the 180-second filler. “We all have a responsibility of taking the legacy of the film industry forward. I felt so and as I emotionally connect with these films and the personalities it deals with.” As a part of the industry it is a poignant journey for him. “I felt this every time I presented the stories like the one which narrates Vidhu Vinod Chopra persisting with R.D. Burman for the film 1942: A Love Story even when the latter’s initial composition ‘Kuch Na Kaho’ was not to the former’s expectation. Vidhu’s confidence was rewarded as Panchamda went to score fantastic compositions,” elaborates Shekhar.
Busy last year with his directorial debut Heartless the actor is now working on two scripts and looks forward to making his second film.
