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‘GUDDI’ STORMS CENTRESTAGE AS MAA'
Jaya Bachchan’s performance in the play, “Maa Retire Hoti Hai” has received wide acclaim. In an
interview to GIRIJA BAJENDRAN, she talks about her transition from celluloid to theatre.
THE PLAY is the thing as, in the last week of September, Chennai, is set to see Jaya Bachchan as “Maa
Retire Hoti Hai”, a role that is a radical departure from her screen norm. The unit of “Maa Retire Hoti Hai”
led by veteran stage director Ramesh (“Doosara Aadmi”) Talwar, reaches Chennai in the wake of the play
having already won the hearty approval of Asian audiences all over the United States. After a singularly
unlucky run in films, Ramesh has returned to theatre with distinction. For Jaya, the stage is a refreshing
experience altogether. How does Jaya view the switch, what was it that prompted her to try her hand at
theatre at this point in her career? I discovered Jaya to be introspective as she revealed:
“So long as I was in the thick of films, I had no time and space to try out something that demands all my
time and power of concentration. So it is only now, when I am relatively free from my busy career and
other commitments, that I have been able to develop the mindset for doing a play. Interestingly, when
Shafi Inamdar was alive, we had toyed with the idea of doing a Hindi film based on the Gujarati “Baa
Retire Thhaai Cheche’, for ABCL. Unfortunately, Shafi passed away, so I had sort of given up on the idea
of ever being able to get down to it. Then, out of the blue, Ramesh approached me for the title role in
“Maa Retire Hoti Hai’, developed on the script of the Gujarati original. Initially, I did demur, for theatre was
an altogether different medium, one in which I would have to learn no end of dialogue. To be able to do a
play, sustaining the thread through two hours and more, you have to be absolutely word-perfect. But,
since I was already familiar with the script's mainline, I knew how powerful the play and my character in it
were. Thus I struck an instant rapport with Ramesh and soon found myself getting into the spirit of it.”
“Is acting on stage,” I sought to know, “very different from performing on screen?”
“Not all that much, you know”, came back Jaya. “Look, people talk so much about what a radical move,
from cinema, theatre is but, in the final count, you know what my discovery was? That it all boils down to
one thing — acting. Given the parameters of cinema and stage, it is determined by a common factor —
emoting. But, of course, there are a few basic differences in technique. For instance, I discerned that,
while my usual emotion-filled soft voice might be audible on the screen, to be effective on stage, I had to
“project” my voice. It is not all about speaking loudly — not at all. It is all about speaking with expression
and “volume” so that it carries to the last man in the last row, while retaining the same impact for the
audience right in front. Thus I learnt voice projection afresh for theatre. Moreover, I discovered that you,
here, convey a lot through your body language. Having first trained for cinema, where restraint and
control are of acting essence, I had to unlearn certain things. As a result, I feel that now when I do a film, I
would be able to use both my voice and visage with a restraint that should make my acting more telling
on screen, given my new-found ability at voice projection.”
“In which other aspects, compared to the screen,’ I asked, “did you find things to be different on stage?”
“In none!” Jaya surprised me by noting. “For, today, even theatre has adopted a more economic style of
dialogue. Only now do I find myself rounded as an “actor” — and it is studiedly that I use the word. By
which I mean that I approached my role in “Maa Retire Hoti Hail’.’ as an actor. Here I must thank my
director, Ramesh, for allowing me the freedom to improve upon myself as I went along. He is a
freewheeling, democratic director by temperament. His not being dictatorial or stubborn about things
being done only his way, helped me work out a number of things — such as my look and my style, as we
went along. But one thing Ramesh did not allow me to do was to improvise on the spot, arguing validly
that this could upset others interacting with me in that particular scene. Not every actor is equipped to
take in his stride spur-of-the-moment changes by his co-performer.”
Jaya has seen both Padma Rani’s Gujarati original and Bhakti Barve’s Marathi version of ‘Maa Retire Hoti
Hai’ and says she felt enriched by the experience. As Jaya puts it: “I instinctly recognised what to do and
what not to do, on the stage, by watching them. Both Padma and Bhakti being stage veterans, proved
educative, yet I wanted to bring my own ethos to the character and, here, my cinematic training certainly
helped. Thus I used both Padma and Bhakti as guides to weave my screen seasoning into their vintage
stage mode.”
“Maa Retire Hoti Hai” sees director Ramesh double as Jaya’s husband in the play and, given their
combined experience, the two bring off their scenes with aplomb. “There were, observes Jaya,
“rehearsals spread over two months before we launched the play. I distinctly remember, on January 26,
1999, we started reading the play and, exactly two months later, we were in the U.S., taking ‘Maa Retire
Hoti Hai’ everywhere there. I personally feel that my role, symbolising the title, worked out so beautifully
because the character and I were compatible in terms of age and experience alike. That is to say, I was
at the right emotional point in my life, wife-to-mother-tograndmother, to be able to instil a lot of my
day-to-day experience into the play. These were the physical aspects of my persona that helped ‘build’
the character, going a long way in fleshing out the sum and substance of the role.”
“Is this then,” I wanted to know, “something marking a new turn in your career? Does it mean that you will,
from now, be doing more plays and fewer films?”
“My first choice always will be films,” Jaya responded without hesitation. “How much I have evolved as a
stageperson will really be known only when I do another play with Ramesh. The theme has already been
chosen for this. Once again, like in Maa Retire Hoti Hai’, my character suits my age, something that gives
me an easy identity as a performer. I was lucky that, in my last film, Govind Nihalani’s “Hazaar Chaurasi
Ki Maa” as in ‘Maa Retire Hoti Hai’, I was permitted to play my age. An artiste gains tremendously when
allowed this age-match. Every stage of life has a certain pace allotted to it. A young woman playing an old
lady may be that much successful, and no more, for she cannot have truly experienced life at that stage,
nor possess the body structure for the role. For a young actress enacting an old lady, the gait, the
expression, even the lines on the face, can only be imaginary. In fact, by the same token, an old person
venturing to play a very young character might not be effective, unless very carefully handled by the
director. It is in this light that I am happy that my recent roles have been attuned to the phase of life in
which I find myself. Chronologically, this has made adjustment, as a performer, so much easier.”
Though Jaya had been abroad for stageshows with her husband Amitabh quite a few times, enacting a
play in front of an NRI audience was a different trip altogether for this artiste. “We found that we were
appreciated everywhere and that came as something of an eye-opener to me, said Jaya with a sense of
fulfilment. “It meant they were responding to the vitality of the play and my ability as an artiste in what, for
me, was a nascent medium.”
Alongside a second play with Ramesh, Jaya will be doing a film tentatively titled “Fiza” for journalist
Khalid Mohammed. “It is a very good subject and I am looking forward to it,” says Jaya, who made her
debut in films with "Guddi".
“So it is back to cinema, too — with all the energy at your command. “I suggest.
But Jaya is nothing if not practical. “Look. I can only be as active as my age permits,” she notes. “There
may be limitations here for, after all how many mature themes can be planned in today's movie setting?
There always has been, there always will be, a typical slotting for us in mainstream cinema. Even
emotional film makers have turned to current subjects. As an artiste, I have not lost my zest for
meaningful work and am open to challenging offers. Both Kerala’s Shaji and Kumar Sahani want me to do
movies with them. Let us wait and watch what lies in store. For the time being, I am going to be quite
occupied with my second play with Ramesh and with “Fiza” even while engaging in more shows of ‘Maa
Retire Hoti Hai’ abroad, including parts of Africa.”