Driven by creativity

Nonika Singh

“I am not an intellectual….” With these words Chandigarh based, prolific theatre person Zubin Mehta lets us into the method behind his large body of work, including his films Bus No 7 and The Usher. As the 60-minute Bus No 7 makes it to the online edition of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM), he not only stands a happy man but also at the cusp of new tidings. For someone who has dedicated nearly two decades of life to theatre, at the young age of 39, he is now interested in filmmaking. And as with theatre, his motto remains — “Training, formal or informal, is paramount.”

“Intention and passion alone are not enough. You have to master the craft,” he says. This sagacious advice he proffers to not only students at his Wings Theatre Academy but practices it on his own self. Thus before turning behind the camera he self-trained himself in the art of filmmaking. Fully aware that theatre can often be too verbose, he ensured that his movies are more visual and paid much heed to imagery.

“The difference between the two performing arts,” he feels, “is not too stark for at the end of the day in both its eyes that watch and ears that listen and both appeal to the head and the heart.” His movies, in fact, are slice of life, inspired as much from personal emotions as his keen eye for observation. A true incident in Chandigarh led him to imagining one of his key characters the female attendant in Bus No 7. Produced by Vivek High School, it talks of class differences as well as how three persons, including two students, dealing with voids in life, come together.
An avid bike rider, for his second film The Usher the seed was sown during one of his sojourns when he encountered a 13-year-old boy filling up for his ailing father at a dhaaba in Rajasthan. Starring Samuel John the 14-minute film is self-funded and he sure is looking for sponsors. Indeed, for indie makers, film festival is the best route. As Bus No 7 has also made it to yet another prestigious festival Tasveer South-Asian Film Festival, he shares, “Not only you get exposure and audiences at film festivals but also avenues for finance.” Interestingly, his ideal is renowned Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi whose film Children of Heaven he adapted for a play.
With 80 plus productions to his credit, Zubin’s theatre innings has been most satisfying. Beginning his career on stage at the age of nine, his mentor has been the late Gursharan Singh. Only over a period of time he felt that aesthetics need to be as integral a part of a play as passion that drives it. Associated with stage productions of several elite schools of the City Beautiful, he insists, “Schools don’t impose diktats and have allowed me to do theatre the way I want to and the kind I want to.” But, yes, one adverse fallout could be, “People tend to see your work as child’s play and don’t take you as seriously.” An avid theatre buff himself, he is an ardent admirer of theatre czarina Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry and is especially taken in by her visual language, “so brilliant and stunning that often cinema can’t achieve the same effect.”
What he intends to do through his newfound ardour for cinema is to tell simple stories and engage with people emotionally and artistically too. When he set up Wings Theatre Academy, the idea was not to create professional actors but to create empathetic human beings. As the world is moving towards corporate order of ‘profit, profit and profit,’ he feels theatre can make us sensible and sensitive. In his new flight as a filmmaker he may have bid adieu to school productions but theatre will remain his first and abiding love. Much of his life may have gone into creating plays in English but in the world of cinema he is aspiring to make a Punjabi feature film.

First love
Acting may have been an occasional foray for Zubin Mehta whose love for theatre began with donning the greasepaint in his formative years. But he thoroughly enjoyed his acting stint in acclaimed web series Kohrra. Especially, he loved his rapport with one of its leads Suvinder Vicky.