ALL ABOUT THE ART
Insisting that for him theatre should be seen primarily as a medium of entertainment, Husain elaborates that the art form, which he considers most alive and intimate, is all about “presentation” today. “The first encounter of theatre in anybody’s life today is the school classroom. The guy whose classes you enjoy the most is doing good theatre. That’s it. It makes very little sense to talk about other dimensions of this art form. Being a performing art, it has to hold people together. If it fails to do that, you don’t know your job well. Frankly, I don’t like performing for 10 people when the auditorium’s seating capacity is 500. Someone like me wants to see 510 people there.”
But when reminded of the contribution of organisations like IPTA, which worked on a shoe-string budget and took up strong political themes, in making theatre popular and taking it to far-flung parts in the country, Husain interjects, “Well, they did give the film industry excellent actors and ensured that the leftist banner flew high. However, the plays they performed seldom gained popularity.”
For him setting up state-level theatre repertoires where theatre persons are given a basic salary to survive is not really the right way to encourage youngsters towards the art form. “It is just that most youngsters are no longer willing to sweat it out. This is the capsule age where they want everything taken care of. That’s the reason you see so many stars emerging and very few actors. What struggle does is enrich, don’t we all know this simple fact?” Insisting that during his student years when he started doing theatre, he would also sell tickets and approach companies for sponsorships, the director remembers, “Besides acting, we contributed immensely in every aspect of the production. From backstage work to marketing, and making posters. How can youngsters think that they can sit at a pedestaland demand a salary just because they are interested in this art form? They will never shine unless they go through a hard grind.”
Insisting that there was no need to set up more theatre schools in the country, Husain fumes, “If you ask me, even the National School of Drama in Delhi should be bombed. It’s a pathetic place where people are not encouraged towards excellence. You make a place great by getting brilliant professors and not giving reservations. Where teachers go on strike for TA and DA, when will they teach acting? And what is the admission policy? Some kind of a fruit salad—get one kid from the South, one from North-East? See what has happened to the Film and Television Institute of India under the government. See the kind of a person we have as its chairperson.”
Husain thinks that things can improve in top arts institutes only if the government gets out of them completely. “The state should just fund private individuals and expert organisations to run these institutes. We do not need unintelligent bureaucrats telling us how to go about things. Do they even know how to spell culture? And then they lecture artists on art,” he says.
Touch upon his association with BJP, and Husain does not hold back. “I joined the BJP of AB Vajpayee and LK Advani. Not the one that is led by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The party of today is all about dividing the country on communal lines.” Stressing that he still had friends in the party and that he cherishes the time spent with the party, the director says that the lack of any solid alternative is harming the country. “Congress needs to start looking beyond dynasty politics and get its act together,” he says.
Insisting that school system in the country has done little to encourage children in art forms, the director and actor adds that despite the fact that Central Board of Secondary Education added theatre in school curriculum three years back, nothing has translated on the ground. “They called me for a conference. It’s a very well designed syllabus. When I asked the school principals if they planned to make English teachers teach theatre, most of them said yes. This, you see is the problem. Theatre is not to be read but performed. When something as basic as this is not understood, no matter how well conceived the course is, nothing concrete will emerge,” says Husain.
Husain is happy that things are changing in the country when it comes to corporate support for theatre. “A long time back I decided not to publicise and sell tickets, and started seeking corporate sponsorship. Considering the fact that there is little support for this art form from anywhere else, it is only major business houses that promise some kind of energy to go on. Without them, people like us would find it almost impossible to live our dreams.” he concludes. BEST-KNOW FOR PLAYS LIKE (2000) BASED ON THE KARGIL WAR AND THE LEGEND OF RAM (2004) BASED ON RAMAYANA. OF STAGEDOOR THEATRE COMPANY, HE HAS STAGED 91 PRODUCTIONS AND MORE THAN 1100 PERFORMANCES. HE WAS THE BUT QUIT AFTER HE CRITICISED NARENDRA MODI IN 2013