‘Now, even paanwallahs are producers’

He brought a play to Mumbai after five long years, but A Bit on the Side was a treat from Padma Shri Aamir Raza Husain and his wife Virat Husain that proved well worth the wait.

Aamir, who shaved off his trademark beard to play the bumbling Dr Boney in this British situational comedy set in a London hospital, admits he received as many comments about his play as his clean-shaven look.

“There’s a scene in which the matron comes on to him and I decided to shave the beard to make it believable. I’m almost feeling naked. I’m going to start growing it back immediately after the last show,” laughs the veteran of over 2,300 shows in India and abroad.

In his St Stephen’s days, he did theatre with the likes of Mira Nair, Shashi Tharoor and Amitava Ghosh. Those who watched his present play feel he has single-handedly held it together in the midst of an eclectic collection of stage enthusiasts — a senior head-hunter, a proud grandmother, a journalism graduate and even a former principal.

“There’s definitely a lack of professional actors in English theatre,” he parries with disarming candour. “Moreover, for a touring play like this one, not everyone can manage a month-long hiatus. Miyan, agar koi full-time theatre karega toh chane khayega.”

But having said that, Husain trashes the perception that theatre faces a perpetual cash crunch. “By the grace of god, funds have never been a problem for me. In fact the truth is there’s no paucity of funds in theatre as long as it is alive to the requirements of the audience. If you’re a painter you can even paint for personal satisfaction, but performing arts need an audience. Once you start catering to your audience you’ll draw them in and sponsors will follow,” he points out.

A self-admitted kissa-goh (storyteller), Amir’s vision for theatre has at times even surpassed the grandeur of the silver screen. For his epoch The Legend of Ram — Prince of India, he laid out a set stretching over a kilometre with the audience following the tale as it unfolded on a platform mounted on a railway track! “Forget Indian films, it’s never been done before anywhere in the world,” he says.

Apart from such innovations, Aamir has always remained true to the essence of theatre. “Theatre is a form of entertainment not instruction. If I were to start making educational plays, people would see them once and swear never to waste their time again. If at all theatre is burdened with social messages, it should be conveyed subtly.”
While film actors doing theatre may be an old phenomenon, Husain is perturbed by some recent developments. “From Prithviraj Kapoor and Prem Nath to Shashi Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah, many film actors have remained faithful to theatre. Whether theatre was their first love, second love or even a mistress, they were genuinely excited by the medium. But now I see that even paanwallahs are becoming producers and putting out a god-awful form of theatre,” he says.

Aamir says he’s appalled at how bad actors are out to make a quick buck from theatre-starved audiences in the West. “I won’t mind even if you say they’ve ‘graduated’ to TV and films,” he guffaws. Aamir’s passion for theatre refuses to either wane or graduate. “I’m overworked, underpaid but deliriously happy,” he signs off.