When familiarity breeds happiness

Mona

Having played Krishna many times, Nitish Bharadwaj has imbibed two tenets from the Gita. Nishakam karam (work without desiring results) and practicing sanyam (control). With make-up on, Nitish resembles the ever smiling Krishna one saw in the late eighties’ serial Mahabharat.

He donned the Krishna avatar once again, on Wednesday, for play Chakravyuh as part of the ongoing Rang Chandigarh Theatre Festival. A flight delay, stage settings and make-up left little time for Nitish to interact with the media, for once he is in his get-up he inhibits his own world.

“Each time I take play Krishna, some divine power takes over,” admits the actor-director who speaks ‘chesht’ Hindi and it’s after ages one hears words like ‘anttogotava’, ‘pralobhan’ in a regular conversation.

Divine calling

Trained to be a veterinary doctor, Nitish had learnt the tricks of theatre during his school days and was a regular in acting through the years till he ‘became’ Krishna in BR Chopra’s epic Mahabharat. He played Lord Vishnu in Vishnu Puran too. In Chakravyuh, he brings Krishna alive again and admits that small screen and stage are two entirely different mediums.

“You just can’t falter on stage for theatre audience is not tapori crowd that you can please through camera medium but dardi (aware).

Human vs technology

Though mythology has been tried again and again after the stupendous success of the serials, Ramayan and Mahabharat, nothing has clicked much with the audience. “Mahabharat is essentially a human drama. The current mythology outings are too technologically driven. In our time, it was the characterisation and interplay of characters that got way more importance and worked to win audience.”

Fan-tastic move

A huge fan of Zeenat Aman, Smita Patil and Sanjeev Kumar, Nitish himself has enjoyed a huge fan following. So much so that considering him to be Lord Krishna in real, many brought their newborns to be named by him, and he did name them. “I honour sentiments of all my fans,” he shares.

Future perfect

Apart from television, Nitish has acted, directed and produced films. His Marathi film Pitru Roon won him much acclaim. He is writing his next, a commercial film, in Hindi and insists that human drama would be central to the project. “It would have the frills of the mainstream cinema, but soul of any project is its story.”

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Calculated move

Trained to be a chartered accounted and lawyer, Atul Satya Koushik’s first love has always been theatre. He completed his studies and worked but never let theatre take a backseat. “Over the years the junoon has only led to pagalpan,” he laughs as he instructs his crew to set the stage at Tagore Theatre.

He has brought mythology alive in his plays Chakravyuh and Draupadi; comments on relationships today in Couple Trouble, and presents an emotional drama in Wo Lahore.

“I select my themes keeping in mind the audience of a particular city,” says Atul, who has staged stories by Prem Chand and Manto. While his partners take care of most his work, this theatre enthusiast makes time for more plays and is currently working on three — one on Vivekananda that he is sure will be an inspiration for India’s youth; another on strong female leaders right, from Razia Sultana to Sushma Swaraj and Sonia Gandhi, and the last one is a commercial outing called Fun Intended!

Rang Chandigarh Theatre Festival is on at Tagore-18 at 6:30 pm till April 13.

Photos: S Chandan