The beauty of Shakespeare's work is its extraordinary simplicity: Salim Ghouse

What is it like to yearn to meet someone for 29 years? The heavy baritone and warm handshake gives you goosebumps as you sink into a chair across film, TV and theatre actor, director and martial artist Salim Ghouse at a suburban cafe by the beach.

One automatically asks him about his missing long locks that have etched a deep memory in the minds of pre-satellite TV audiences, along with the title track for the TV series Subah (1987), sung by the inimitable RD Burman. "I was anyway wearing so many wigs for various roles. It was getting uncomfortable, so I decided to shave it all off," he laughs.

Ghouse can easily slip into the skin of any Shakespearean character on stage. Is that why he's staging a tribute to the Bard on his 400th death anniversary, with his Shakespearewallah over the weekend?

"It's important to keep finding newer ways to pull younger audiences out of the trap of screens – cellphone, computer, tabs and TV – to come back to the joy of Shakespeare. Shakespearewallah is my humble way of doing that," he says and adds, "Unfortunately, all of us are introduced to Shakespeare in school in a way that makes him inaccessible. Yet, he remains the most adapted playwright, with several other films and plays drawing inspiration from his writing."

Ghouse, 64, underlines how the Bard who died 400 years ago continues to resonate with a contemporaneity not many current writers can match. "And mind you, he achieved it despite living a rather short life of 52 years." He insists, "The beauty of Shakespeare's work is its extraordinary simplicity: a direct seeing as it were into the very heart of things, without the frills and foppery of grandiose design. His genius is beyond consummate craft and skill."

Ghouse, who has performed at Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford Upon Avon, likens the playwright-poet to legends like Sufi poet Amir Khusro, composer Beethoven, painter Van Gogh, Begum Akhtar, Bala Saraswati, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Mohamed Rafi, among others. "It is as if life chose them as expressions to reveal its grandeur."

According to him, the arrival of legends in one's life helps one discover oneself through discovering them. "Shakespeare's exactly like that. I see him as my teacher. And dead teachers or masters can be more powerful than living ones. They aren't going to come back and change or make things easy to suit your weaknesses. You have to work on them and elevate yourself to their standards."

Most people remember Ghouse as the actor Shyam Benegal chose to play both Krishna and Ram for his series based on Jawaharlal Nehru's Discovery of India, Bharat Ek Khoj. "When I worked on those 42 lines that Krishna delivers during the battle of Kurukshetra, I was determined to do it right. Though this was pre-1992-93 and we were living in not-so-polarised times, I didn't want anyone to say I didn't give it 100 per cent because of my name," he remembers. And sure enough, he got it right in the first take, leading to both late cinematographer VK Murthy and Benegal giving him a standing ovation. "Despite the one-take okay, Shyambabu requested me to give another take just as backup. So I went again and did it in one take," he reminisces.

Within two months, Benegal would reach out again to get him to play Ram. "After that, I was approached to play Ram and Krishna in mythological dramas, but I said no. Unlike Benegal who kept both characters as human as possible, their approach was edificatory and I wasn't comfortable with that."

Ask him why he's not doing TV, and he questions: "And play what?" Regularly sought after by TV production houses, he has refused to bite the bullet. "It's scary that the lines and scenes are written just minutes before rolling. Not even the characters are aware of any more than the two lines on the teleprompter. I can't work like that."
Ghouse also played Ravan in Amir Raza Hussain's Legend of Ram in 2004. "Ravan is demonised by many. His character makes mistakes and that leads to his downfall, but how many people know that his ten heads actually symbolise the ten disciplines of art and science he had mastered?"

Yet, his own theatre productions are known for their threadbare props and minimalist sets. "If folk theatre artistes draped in dhoti with stretched-out saris in the backdrop can become anything from a king, dacoit, boatman or demon, why can't we? Elaborate sets are for those unsure of their art. When you have nothing to fall back on, you dive into the character and become him/her. Only when the curtain falls and the applause begins do you realise what you've achieved."

This PhD in martial arts is also a polyglot, with a command over Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, making him a natural pick for regional films. "When filmmakers want to slot me in villain and character roles, I beg off. I want to feel challenged. Till that doesn't happen, I will find that platform in theatre. True, it doesn't pay as much, but it's keeping my soul as an actor alive."

One wants that voice to keep talking. Especially since it makes such profound sense. But he has to leave. Reluctantly, we let him go. Until next time...

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In reel time

Mumbai resident Salim Ghouse was born in Chennai and graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. His claim to fame was his role as the college-going Bharat in Bharat Rangachary's acclaimed TV series Subah (1987), which aired on Doordarshan and was based on a novel by Tamil writer-activist Sivasankari.
Apart from essaying Rama and Krishna in Shyam Benegal's Bharat Ek Khoj, Ghouse also played Tipu Sultan in the same series and acted in Rakesh Roshan's Koyla, Bharathan's Malayalam film Thazhvaram, Mani Ratnam's Thiruda Thiruda and the Kamal Hasan-starrer Vetri Vizha, among others.