Tea with The Tribune
‘Arts, culture in wrong hands’
Mushtaq Kak
In a tete-a-tete with The Tribune team, Mushtaq Kak, theatre director and actor, shares his thoughts on various issues Born to a Dogra mother and a Kashmiri Muslim father, Mushtaq Kak has carved a niche for himself in the film industry.
But much before that he earned acclaim in his first love i.e. theatre. He has directed as many as 97 plays out of which, 32 for the prestigious Shri Ram Centre of Performing Arts, Delhi. He runs the Amateur Theatre group - one of the best theatre groups of the state.
He has also been honoured with Mahindra & Mahindra Excellence Award. During an interaction with The Tribune team, Kak recalls his journey. He talked about his hard work, contribution of his parents and where arts and culture stood in the state at this juncture.
He has enacted the lead role of a villain in the movie “Hijack”, besides acting in several other films. He has also acted in a Hollywood movie, “Amal”. He is one of the finest stage craft artistes. Besides, he trained child artistes in “Sikandar”, “Black” and “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”.
Two students of Delhi Public School, Akshay Labroo and Shaila Maini also joined The Tribune team and asked questions about Kak’s field in young minds.
Excerpts of the interaction are as under:
Ashutosh Sharma: Today you are an established actor and a theatre director. How tough was the journey?
Mushtaq Kak: It started with a role of Santa Claus when I was at Alexander Memorial School, Srinagar. Later, I took to theatre direction. Then I came in the touch of my mentor and radio artist, late Rattan Kalsi, who shaped my career.
My first play, “Aadhi raat ke baad” was a flop, but it taught me a lot. I keep on telling my students not to look for success in the beginning. I motivate them to commit new mistakes everyday but learn not to repeat those”. My play, “Deviani”, a mythological story depicting war between gods and demons, was the first milestone in my career, as it was a grand success.
Akshay Labroo (student): Do you see yourself more as a theatre director or an actor?
MK: I wanted to be an actor initially, but on the persuasion of my friends and lack of opportunities, I took to direction. Acting was always my first love, but direction gave me immense creative satisfaction. With its success, I got acting roles also both in TV and films. I am going on with both the passions.
My career in films started with a small role of a journalist in “Rang de Basanti”. The character was quite controversial and wasn’t seen in the final print. But I got my fee (chuckles).
Archit Watts: How different was acting/directing in theatre, films and TV serials?
MK: There is a difference in acting for three different mediums. Theatre is more challenging as it is a live performance and there is no scope for a retake. On the stage, an actor has to convey his point through loud dialogues and body language.
But for a TV serial, there are close shots or medium close shots. Your face may be bearing some expressions but the rest of body may be normal.
For movies, there are mega shots, close shots and medium close shots so on and so forth. Theatre is always the most challenging.
AS: How do you evaluate the present state of theatre in J&K?
MK: It is visible more in newspapers. Theatre groups distribute press notes and the same get published with photographs. Theatre is a practical medium of art and it needs to be reported from the stage only. Unfortunately, the media is also responsible for the degeneration of theatre and lack of interest. How many expert drama critics are there in any given media unit?
AW: Are you satisfied with the role of the J&K Academy for Art Culture and Languages in the promotion of theatre?
MK: The academy's prerogative is stick to appeasing bureaucrats and politicians. There are several art forms like Kud and Damali dance. Both of them are dying a slow death in the absence of any patronage.
Those at the helm of the affairs don’t have any distant background in cultural experiences. To sum it up, the custody of culture is in wrong hands.
AL: How can we revive it?
MK: See, celebrated film actors like Nasiruddin Shah, Om Puri, Shabana Aazmi, Satish Kaushik, Jaya Bachchan, Farooq Sheikh and Shatrugan Sinha are still performing on stage. They get immense satisfaction out of it. Theatre just needs to be commercialised to give encouragement to artistes and to extend its reach.
Shaila Maini (student): How can schools help?
MK: Theatre needs to be introduced as subject at the school level in every district. Every year on special occasion, students perform several skits and other cultural programs. If we tap their talent at the base level, they could be groomed well as mature artistes.
DM: The National School of Drama (NSD) had announced to set up regional centres all over the country. Why no such centre has been opened in this region?
MK: The NSD had announced to set up a region centre in Jammu and Kashmir. A team of the NSD had visited the state and held discussions with so-called experts, who unfortunately failed to impress the visiting team. The NSD then abandoned the idea of opening a region centre in the state.
Sunaina Kaul: Talking about schools, even Jammu University has no department of Arts and Theatre or …..
MK: What an irony it is! The university had a proposal for setting up a department of theatre, but it remained on papers only, although the Department of Urdu of the university runs a vocational course on script writing for theatre, films and serials. But yes, there should be a separate department.
SK: Since your roots are in Kashmir. Have you highlighted the plight of Kashmiri Pandit migrants who remained the first causality of terrorism that is affecting our state?
MK: My play “Karoon-Sheen” (black snow) says it all. It is based on a true story wherein a Kashmiri Pandit family has to migrate due to militancy. On being asked by his Muslim colleague as to why he was leaving Kashmir, the head of the family, who is a professor, says that you won't understand it as the barrel of gun is pointed towards us. Some years later, the same Muslim family also leaves the valley under the threat to life.
Another play, “Nagar Udaas” is also based on the historic epic, Rajtarangni, but the play highlights today’s socio-political scenario and is related to migration.
DM: You directed many English and Urdu classics in Dogri. How challenging was it?
MK: The objective was to start a debate on the quality and content of local literature so that the shortfalls can be overcome. It was a serious attempt. Though the scripts were got translated in Dogri, names of the characters were not touched. The response was amazing.
Ravi Krishnan Khajuria: Theatre is a powerful medium of conveying strong social messages. But the plays these days have ceased to be so…
MK: Being a theatre activist, my job is to entertain people and promote art. If I convey some message through my play and it goes well with the audience it is an additional achievement.
The Ministry of Health spends crores of rupees on family planning advertisements. Where the money goes and where the message gets lost, nobody knows.
Resentment brews up when you don’t get your due. And, it is likely to be there when you prefer someone to the deserving by completely ignoring his work.
AL: What are your future plans and what are the projects at your hand?
MK: Presently, I am going to hold a theatre workshop for child artistes. The workshop is being organised by the National School of Drama, New Delhi at the end of this month.
SM: Your advice for the aspiring actors, who want to make career in theatre and films.
MK: First of all, they need to be very clear in mind as to why they want to be an actor. After that, they should strive for getting good education for securing their living before they get established as an actor.
Though there are several fellowships and scholarships for the artists, they are insufficient. I generally suggest the aspiring artists to go back as there is ruthless struggle for any artist belonging to a modest background in establishing himself as an actor.
In Delhi, I have come across several such artists who never went back to their villages as they did not appear on TV or film. Most of my students when come to meet me there, get emotional and at times, break into tears while narrating their experiences as a struggler. Anyone who wants to be an actor, must keep all aspects in mind before making some decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment