Theatre a challenging medium: Pandey

Minna Zutshi

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 24

For an actor, theatre is a challenging medium. It is realistic and affords no retakes. You cannot do any creative jugglery with this medium. It is ‘here and now’. Yet, despite its creative satisfaction, theatre cannot suffice as a livelihood option. These were the observations of actor Sudhir Pandey who was in Ludhiana today as part of the cast of the play, “Welcome Zindagi”, organised under the aegis of the Ludhiana Sanskritik Samagam (LSS).

Pandey said Hindi theatre was unable to flourish as a movement, though random efforts to revive and promote this theatre are on. “Some like Naseer (Naseeruddin Shah) adapt short stories of writers like Ismat Chughtai, Saadat Hasan Manto for theatre performance.”

In “Welcome Zindagi”, Pandey essays the role of a government servant – the man who in his desire to lead a life that is conventionally successful loses out on so many important aspects of life that he has a big load of regret. “In our worry for future and regret for past, we lose our present. We forget to live. We forget that life has different colours that we should be celebrating. In this mix-up of priorities, we lose the ‘moment’ – the precious now,” said Pandey, while conveying the basic idea of the play.

The character played by Pandey learns the value of ‘now’ when on the day of his superannuation, the god of death comes to take him away and he realises that he has a truckload of ‘pending list’ – the things he ought to have done for his family but did not do as he was too preoccupied with past and future! “Desires are endless. And we continue living for tomorrow. In this kind of life, much that is precious is lost. Apney may mat jiyo. Apno may jiyo (Don’t live a self-centred life. Make your significant others an integral part of your life.),” Pandey signed off.