What was it like sharing the screen with Sunil Shanbag?
He is such an endearing person. I had never met him before, but I had heard about him. We talked mostly about theatre, acting, the state of theatre in India, what he was doing, and how I’m not being able to do theatre. We had long chats, it was almost like two old friends catching up despite not knowing each other.
Why haven’t you been doing theatre lately?
I can’t do two things at the same time. I’d like to do a piece of theatre in one go, not in between film shoots. And I could not give that up because I needed to look after my finances. I found the kind of theatre I want to do and realised that I need two to three years to prepare for the performance. I want to do a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, and I want to do it by myself. I need the time.
Have you been teaching? What do you enjoy about it?
I haven’t been teaching regularly. I don’t know whether I love teaching more than acting…I enjoy it equally. I think the word ‘teaching’ probably doesn’t fit well in this profession. It is almost facilitating young actors, it is a joy to help them learn. It is almost like sharing your experiences not verbally but by helping them do things in the space. You realise that each and every actor has a unique approach. I end up learning way more than I can teach. It’s almost like I’m being paid to learn. It’s a secret when we find something very delicate and subtle that no other human being can understand. Only by doing can we find that. That is a reward for me, and that probably kept me going. One discovers so much about life that it humbles you, and I think we all need lessons in humility.