Students, acting legends and theatremakers will congregate at Prithvi House today in a celebration of one of India’s individual theatre talents, Satyadev Dubey, on his 87th birth anniversary
Satyadev Dubey and Neena Kulkarni in Educating Rita
To some, he was the enfant terrible of Indian theatre; to others, the greatest teacher of the stage. To veterans, he dragged Indian theatre into modernity. To a younger generation, he remains a mythical legend; but to everyone who will gather at Juhu today, Satyadev Dubey was a name that defined theatre.
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Born on this day in 1936, Dubey emerged as one of the most piercing voices in Indian theatre. That he shared the stage with names such as Vijay Tendulkar, Girish Karnad, Ebrahim Alkazi, Badal Sircar and Safdar Hashmi raises his standing further.
The playwright conducts a workshop for the cast of Ken Ghosh’s film Ishq Vishq Pyaar Vyaar in 2003. File Photo
Gathering of friends
Theatre was everything to him, shares director Hidayat Sami who took over the famed Theatre Unit after Dubey’s demise in 2011. “He was not very keen on tributes. This is just a gathering of friends to celebrate his memory through short pieces from plays and writings he loved or worked on,” Sami shares. Having spent over two decades in Dubey’s company, Sami reveals that the playwright is still revered and loved by his students. It only took a request to get everyone to agree. “There were no baggages, no tantrums and no questions asked,” he says.
A young Dubey
This year, it will be the seniors such as Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Akash Khurana and Neena Kulkarni among the other performers. “Dubey loved to bring everyone together,” shares Kulkarni who was part of seven productions with Dubey. Recalling his passion for the stage, she says, “Theatre was his entire life. But he was also a very giving person. He would be a friend, philosopher and guide to people who shared the stage with him.”
Sami agrees, and shares, “He would look after his actors. He was a father figure to everyone, whether that meant having to pay out of his own pocket for meals or dropping them home after late night rehearsals.” No wonder, says Kulkarni, that he has a country of actors who are always ready to turn up. Sami recalls names such as Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Girish Karnad and Amrish Puri pitching in with support during difficult times.
Teacher par excellence
For Divya Jagdale, Dubey was a creative catalyst. “He would challenge me to think. He would tell me, “Don’t speak if you don’t have anything new to say,” she remarks. This, Jagdale adds, was his way of pushing her to do something different and better. So, not being a poet, she will be presenting two poems with Sonali Kulkarni at the gathering. “Some of my best memories are waiting for instructions by post from London while we — Kumud Mishra, Manav Kaul and myself — were preparing for Bekaar Ki Bakbak.”
Divya Jagdale, Sunil Shanbag and Hidayat Sami
Theatre maker and student of Dubey, Sunil Shanbag, remarks, “For him, the written word was everything. As young actors, we were drilled on how we spoke the text and interpreted it.” Shanbag points out that Dubey’s multilingual talents allowed him to access scripts across the country. “Before communication was easy, he obtained scripts from Bengali, Kannada, Gujarati to be translated and produced. He was the centre of a pan-India theatre scene,” he says.
Yet, to all of them it is the teacher in Dubey who stands out. “He trained over two generations of actors, many of whom have gone on to become theatremakers of renown,” says Shanbag. Tonight, some of them will gather in the quiet neighbourhood of Juhu to recall memories of the old master.
On: Today; 7.30 pm
At: Prithvi House, Prithvi Theatre, 20, Juhu Church Road, Janki Kutir, Juhu.
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