hen I bump into actor Ratna Pathak Shah at a book launch, she is listening carefully to the people on stage. One of them is her husband, actor Naseeruddin Shah, who is here to show his support for the author, and read a few excerpts from the book.
As the event comes to a close, she is at ease by herself. Unlike Maya Sarabhai, her on-screen persona in the popular television series Sarabhai vs Sarabhai , Shah does not care to announce her presence to one and all, or seek the attention of media persons armed with microphones and cameras.
“Frankly, I do not get offered a great deal of roles,” Shah tells me. “But from what I get, I pick carefully.” Shah will soon be seen in Shakun Batra’s film Kapoor and Sons , scheduled for release on March 18.
Shah, who was also part of Batra’s earlier outing as director, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu (2012), says, “I would have been an idiot if I hadn’t taken up this role. What I love about Shakun is that he is interested in exploring relationships instead of making plot-driven films. That is unusual in the context of Bollywood. He, and his writing partner Ayesha Devitre, have done a great job with the script of Kapoor and Sons.”
Shah plays a character called Sunita, a name that reminds her of another Sunita: a character she played in Idhar Udhar , a sitcom in the 1980s that also featured her sister Supriya Pathak. “It was fun for me to discover another kind of Sunita this time. She is a woman who has spent her entire life being mother and wife. Her kids have grown up, and now she doesn't know what to do with herself,” says Shah. “This is common among a lot of educated women of my generation. They are full of energy and have ample time, but they miss having a sense of purpose.”
Rajat Kapoor, whose work in theatre Shah has been following for several years, is cast as her husband. And she has two sons in the film, played by Fawad Khan and Siddharth Malhotra. Kapoor and Sons is also her second film with Khan, after Shashanka Ghosh’s Khoobsurat (2014). Shah remarks, “Fawad is an interesting fellow to watch, especially with the kind of response he generates from women of a particular age. I have seen elegantly dressed, middle-aged ladies going weak in their knees at the very sight of him.
On personal equation
Speaking of their personal equation, she says, “Fawad is a happy Lahorewala. Much of our talk has been about food and some common acquaintances.”
One of Shah’s fondest memories of Pakistan goes back to 2013 when she took play that she directed, A Walk in the Woods to Lahore’s famous Alhamra Arts Council.
Shah, an alumna of Delhi’s National School of Drama, is a firm believer in the potential of art to open up dialogue, and to get people to confront their prejudices. She says, “This play has become even more relevant today. Unless there is people to people contact between Indians and Pakistanis, the situation between countries will not change.”
Shah performs regularly in Mumbai, as part of Motley Theatre Group’s Ismat Apa Ke Naam , which is based on short stories by the Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai. What brings her the greatest amount of joy is the fact that almost 75 per cent of her audience is under 40. “I used to think that in a city like Mumbai, where speakers of Urdu are either dead or dying, young people won't be interested. But they are! They like to talk about ideas. They like to question. If there is any hope left for India, it lies in young people. People of my generation have made a mess. Look at how people are fighting and bickering all around. Come on, Indian culture is far more inclusive.”
Shah’s unflinching faith in young people is also what motivates her to continue working with the Avehi Abacus Project that serves municipal schools and non-formal education centres in Mumbai. She has been on the core team since the inception of this project in 1990, and has been closely involved in the work of curriculum development and teacher training.
She says, “It has been extremely satisfying to work with Avehi Abacus: the close bonds that we have developed with teachers and supervisors, the teaching- learning materials we have produced, and the experiences of children who have a chance to respond instead of passively consuming information, and to connect what they learn to their own environment.”
It appears that, unlike Sunita from Kapoor and Sons who lacks a sense of purpose, Shah seems to have her plate full. “I can still empathise with Sunita. I too have gone through a time when I wondered what to do with myself. Like Sunita, I have two sons, who are both grown-ups. There is great bonding, and a lot of love. But there is unhappiness too, and the struggle to accept people as they are.”
Later this year, Shah will be seen in Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s film Nil Battey Sannata . She says, “I love the title of this film. I was told that Nil Battey Sannata literally means ‘zero upon silence’. It is slang for ‘loser’in Uttar Pradesh. The film is set in Agra, and is about a young mother’s struggles while bringing up her daughter. I play the lady in whose house this mother works as a maid.”
Another release that she is looking forward to is Alankrita Shrivastava’s film Lipstick Wale Sapne , which revolves around the lives of four women living in Bhopal. Shah plays the owner of the house in which they live. “Yes, I’m going to be a landlady twice this year,” she jokes.
What about television? After all, it is a medium that she has enjoyed and excelled in. “I would love to do more television. It is such a powerful medium, But, in India, this damn Bollywood behemoth has flattened out everything. I like the kind of television shows England produces. Look at us, we have no programming on the arts. We have no reviews of plays. And what we hear of films from critics on TV is usually some rating in terms of stars, no analysis in terms of social context, or in relation to other art forms, or with reference to the work of other filmmakers.”
It is this sensibility that makes you respect Shah as an actor. She is interested in how her creative work intersects with social realities. She does not imagine herself acting in a vacuum, oblivious of political climate or the pulse of the moment.
The author is a freelance writer
Published - March 02, 2016 12:00 am IST
