Alkazi revolutionised theatre, brought regional languages to NSD

MUMBAI: “He was not merely a teacher, he was a life coach,” says Shabana Azmi, of the theatre legend Ebrahim Alkazi.

Initially in Bombay and later in Delhi, Alkazi — who died in his Delhi home on Tuesday, aged 95 — developed a reputation as a director who brought a new sense of realism and modernism to Indian drama.

As a teacher, he nurtured some of the leading talents of the age, including Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Rohini Hattangadi and Manohar Singh, all of whom were students at the National School of Drama (NSD) when Alkazi served as director from 1962 to ’77. He was a truly exceptional teacher, says actor Neena Gupta, who joined the NSD to learn from him.

“I was very unfortunate because Mr Alkazi left as I enrolled. But I remember watching Alkazisaab directing Satish Kaushik in a play and thinking to myself, I want to learn to act from this man someday.”

Alkazi revolutionised theatre, bringing a visual approach to the form when most others were concerned with a literary approach.

He dazzled with lavish productions and minute attention to detail. He brought regional languages to the NSD.

In Bombay, Alkazi did powerful renditions of Greek tragedies, Shakespearean plays, works by Ibsen, Chekov and Strindberg, the global greats of theatre. When he moved to Delhi, he realized that the language of his presentations would have to change to Hindi.

He began looking for contemporary Indian plays, and these were the grand spectacles that he would come to be known for. His most renowned of these productions included Girish Karnad’s