META Perspectives: The Director – Main Huun Yusuf Aur Ye Hai Mera Bhai

Mohit Takalkar, Director of Main Huun Yusuf Aur Ye Hai Mera Bhai, gives his insights of theatre and META.

1. What is your backstage routine before a performance?
A. What happens is that there is no set in Yusuf, there is a lot of property that we use that is set property, so it takes time to set property. What we do is the lighting takes quite some time because it is a complex lighting design. After that, before entering the stage, there is a short exercise that we have been doing for the past couple of years and before the performance begins where the entire team assembles on the stage and we do a small exercise of about 10 minutes and try and concentrate and focus on the show.

2. What does META mean to you?
A. META means to me a wonderful platform where we can showcase the plays, the best of what is happening in the country. It also means seeing each others work and the main thing which I find amazing is that you know all that 10 directors, 10 technicians, actors from different groups they come and meet each other, they mingle with each other and that is the bond , the diversity that is working right now.

3. What are you looking forward at META this year?
A. The mix of this years META, the plays that are happening, is a very very good mix. You have plays from Kerala and Karnataka. The play from Karnataka, Akshayambara is what I am looking forward to, I have heard very good reviews about it. There is this play from Bengal, which is based on this story and it is very fascinating. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari I have heard that has this amazing design and sound and very nice setting which I am looking forward to. And Agnes of God and A Friends Story from Bombay, those are friends and I have known them for years. But why I am interested is because the play — A Friends Story is an old play by Vijay Tendulkar one of my favorite plays and favorite playwrights, so I am looking forward to a modern take on that wonderful script.

4. Have you had any memorable experience with any Fan/audience during your performances?
A. I can talk about this play because we have had some wonderful shows in 3 festivals. It is a story of Palestine so initially we were very apprehensive of how the audience in India would take it. But we received some wonderful responses, after the show so many people come and hold the hands of the actor and they have nothing to say, their eyes say so much, and its just heartening to see that response. And there is the other incident I remember from META when we performed Matra Ratra in 2008 and it is a very small intimate performance and we were given the honor to perform and we invited the entire audience to sit on the stage and we performed in a small circle and all the audience was sitting on the stage on all the 4 sides. So that was a very, very rare experience, the space that was created and the intimacy, it was so lovely.

5. What is the message you have for the upcoming actors and directors in theatre?
A. There is no message because that is not my status that I can give a message.

The only thing is that theatre is different. It cannot be a stepping stone to category of options and it needs a lot hard work, a lot of patience and a lot of focus. So a good thing would be if you want to do theatre you have to have a lot of patience, it requires a lot hard work and only then can you achieve something. It is a very complex art where you have to have to give a considerable time of your life to achieve that small magic of theatre to happen on stage. It is a very, very tough job.

Watch the META plays from 6th-10th March! Click here to book tickets.