A perfect balance

Namak Mirch actor Shivani Tanksale tells Deepa Gahlot about learning how to stand and sleep

One of the most prolific stage actors in town (10 plays last year) and now director (Namak Mirch and The Shehenshah of Azeemo, with Sumeet Vyas), Shivani Tanksale says, “It’s worked out so far. I adjust, because I am committed to theatre.”

Granddaughter of politician Vasant Sathe, a fact she downplays, Tanksale started acting when she was in college with Nadira Zaheer Babbar’s group, Ekjute, then QTP called and she did her first professional play, The Lucky Ones, where “tickets were sold and, for a change, it was not just prize money which was put into another production.”

Like many young actors today, Tanksale has not attached herself too one group, but works with many directors both in English and Hindi. “It’s not hard for me. I have found a balance. When I was with Ekjute, I didn’t even know that to work with other groups you have to take permission. I did whatever interesting offers came my way.”

In recent times, she has been seen in plays like Ji, Jaisi Aapki Marzi, A Funny Thing Called Love, The President is Coming, Aisa Kehte Hain, All About Women, The Vagina Monologues, and in her own productions. There was some television, a tiny part in the film Escape from Taliban. On the way is a film based on The President is Coming, and two indie ventures — Mumbai Cutting and Bubblegum. “It’s a good balance of stuff, I think,” Tanksale says.

When it came time to move to direction, she teamed up with fellow actor Sumeet Vyas. “I wanted to do Night Mother, about women, but that somehow didn’t work out. Then we heard the stories by Pakistani satirist Shaukat Thanvi and it took two months to do the script of Namak Mirch, dramatising the stories and all.”

About the adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into Shehenshah of Azeemo, Tanksale says, “We wanted to do a children’s play and came has lots of ideas — Malgudi Days, Satyajit Ray’s stories, Roald Dahl…Ray’s son demanded five lakhs per story. We had dates at the Prithvi Theatre, so we hunted for something without copyright issues. That’s how we did Wizard of Oz.” She played the Wicked Witch of the West with a false nose and claws.

“I don’t mind the long hours; this is the age to do it,” Tanksale says. “There was a time when I sat home for six-eight months because of a knee injury; from that to be catapulted into a lot of work was a nice change. Now I can stand and sleep.”