How have you interpreted Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet?
The Prophet is a remarkable story of a man who comes to live on an island for many years and then awaits his ship to embark on a “final journey”. Before he goes, he imparts some pearls of wisdom to the inhabitants of the island. It is a beautiful, thought-provoking piece of work. I have changed the setting a bit. The word ‘prophet’ can be misleading. I did not want to give the play an epic or a Biblical feel. There are no bearded men in long flowing robes (Laughs).
So what is the setting for the play?
The play is set in a hospital. The look is stark and bare with only two beds. I perceive the hospital as the final stop, before you go on to the other world. Although depressing and clinical, many a times a hospital can have a strangely mystical atmosphere. It is the place where people collect their thoughts and reflect upon life before meeting the end. In a way, I have interpreted the prophet’s final journey as death.
| “One has to have a great amount of respect for the writer while adapting his work. There is always a subconscious temptation to show off one’s talent. The key is not to use the piece as a platform to show off your acting but to use it to tell a story” | |
Have you preserved the essence of the play?
I have used a bit of creative license and edited out some parts. But only those I thought were repetitive or too long. It is one thing to read a lengthy book and another to watch a lengthy play. I don’t want the audience’s attention to wander. But hopefully, I will have conveyed what the writer originally intended. (After a thoughtful pause) One has to have a great amount of respect for the writer while adapting his work. There is always a subconscious temptation to show off one’s talent. Many times, even I have been guilty of it. It is a natural failing amongst actors. The key is not to use the piece as a platform to show off your acting but to use it to tell a story.
Why an adaptation of The Prophet? Wouldn’t a literal translation have been easier and simpler?Like I said before, the word prophet when translated into Hindi or Urdu has a totally diferrent meaning. I did not want any religious connotation attached to the play nor did I want to deviate from the original intention.
Gibran has a very vivid style of telling a story even though most of it is in speech. Is that what attracted you to the work?
The mark of any great writer is to be able to describe something in word that has a greater impact than a visual. I have always been drawn to plays which are written with some of the things left unsaid, where the writer has to read between the lines and fill up the spaces. It is more challenging. What was fascinating about this book is that the sayings are universal. All that is there is a composite of what great teachers like Buddha have already said.
What role are you playing?
I am not playing the prophet as most would assume (Laughs). I am playing a man who is in the hospital, being treated for some illness. He has heard the prophet speak, and he reports what he has imbibed from the man’s sayings. The prophet is merely a shadowy figure never appearing in form.
Which is your favorite passage from the book?
(Smiling widely) I love the part about children. It says,”Your children are not yours. They come through you but not from you.” That bit blows me away every time I read it.
Why is the story narrated to a young boy?
I wanted a child because in my mind the prophet is a young man. He represents something in everyone of us. The child is also a reflection of the old man that is me. I basically symbolise the cycle of life through the characters.
It’s difficult working with children.
Rishabh Thakkar has been very patient. This is the first play where he has a speaking part. He has been a great help in holding together the thread of the play. I have put him through quite a lot. He says he does not understand any of this now, but I am confident that at some point in his life, he will.
Why didn’t you cast one of your own sons?Well, both my boys are in boarding school and have become too lanky. I wanted a well fed lad like Rishabh.
Your wife’s in the play though?
Yeah Ratna and Randeep Hooda are the only two actors in The Prophet besides Rishabh and me. Ratna’s playing a nurse and Randeep is a ward boy. These are usually the last two people one tends to cling on to in the hospital before one dies.
You are coming back with play after a long break...
The break was because of a miscalculation. We made the mistake of not booking the dates early enough. But looking back, I am thankful for the two-month break. I had time to rejuvenate myself and collect my thoughts.
What other plays are you working on right now?
Soon I will be staging Munshi Premchand’s Bade Bhaisaab and Shatranj Ke Khiladi. I also have Sankraman by Kamlanath. I’m working on Katha Collage too, a series of three unconnected stories. In a way, all three are similar in the sense that they deal with the theme of living in one’s own world. I have to say that there is a terrible shortage of original plays in Hindi and Urdu. There are some good Marathi plays but they are too “area specific”. Unless there is a Hindi equivalent in terms of context and setting, the impact may be lost. I had read a great Marathi play called Maha Nirvan which I was tempted to adapt. But it is so Maharashtrian in its nature that it would be unfair. Speaking Hindi in the Marathi ethos seems so false.
Coming back to films, the corrupt, servile cop in Maqbool was very different from your usual roles.
Yes, Maqbool was a different experience. As Om and my characters (adapted from the witches in Macbeth) are symbols of corruption rather than actual people, there was no need to play them with internal awareness. The performance was more physical and off the cuff, very Brechtian in nature. Om and I had a ball because for once we were not busy trying to get under the skin of the characters.