Pune based Nipun Dharmadhikari apart from being a CA student pursuing his article ship, is one of the most talented young theatre people working on the Marathi Stage today. Mumbai audiences have been lucky to have got more than a glimpse of this budding theatre artiste with plays like CYCLE, LOSE CONTROL, CHARU AARO ITYADI and now DALAN. These productions are based on simple enough narratives and yet Nipun and his team make them thoroughly endearing. DALAN opened the 2008 Thespo fest and was immediately declared a success. Here Nipun talks of what it feels like to be in the hot seat and reflects on the time he has spent in the theatre to date.
Deepa Punjani
Congratulations on your success for DALAN. Not only has the play set the mood for Thespo this year but it is already being talked about as a winner play for the competition round of the festival. How do you feel about this?
It couldn�t have been any better at this stage! I was very nervous about this particular show, but all that anxiety seemed well justified after such an amazing response.
I haven�t read DM Mirasdar�s story on which the play is based. But I have a strong feeling that apart from the musical tone that you have given to the text, there is a novelty in your team member, Abhay Mahajan�s dramatization of the story. Would you be able to elaborate on it?
Abhay had visualized some of the situations in the play very well. The main problem in front of me was its crafting. I tend to be overly realistic and �logic conscious� in any presentation. But fortunately this didn�t seem to be working here. So I was forced to break with my normal process and try something new.
You and your team made a zany appearance with LOSE CONTROL. You have done three other productions, including DALAN since then. How has the journey been to date in terms of experience, audience response, criticism, etc?
LOSE CONTROL was staged right after CYCLE, my maiden direction. I can safely say that both these productions were appreciated by those we were able to reach. Things actually became tough after LOSE CONTROL. I, along with many others started expecting a lot from myself. Though I tried hard to be as honest and genuine with the productions as much as possible, they didn�t seem to be working. Plays like CHARU, AARO ITYADI, SHARAM GAYI TOH went unnoticed. That was worse than being publicly criticized.
Were you involved with the theatre in any way before LOSE CONTROL?
I started off with college level productions for various one-act play competitions from my first year (or day) of college. We were lucky to have seniors who made us come out of our shells and interact with various theatre groups in the city. They were the ones who taught us that doing only one-act play competitions wasn�t actually doing theatre. Thus, we became associated with theatre dedicated groups from Pune like �Aasakta�, �Samanvay� and �PDA�. We were also involved in the �Grips� movement patrnoised by the �MCC�.
What comes easy to you- Acting or Directing?
I think I am an actor first and then a director. But, directing has always been more enjoyable
What has been your experience as a Director? Have your actors made the role simpler for you or did you have to call the shots all the way along?
ALL the actors give a lot of inputs; this makes things simpler and harder too! As the director of DALAN, I have never experienced so much fun and at the same time it also motivates me to constantly experiment with it.
Indeed one of the best features of both LOSE CONTROL and DALAN is the element of sheer fun. There is the humour in the scripts of course but yet that humour comes into its own, unique element on the stage. For instance it may come through a simple enough gesture that one of your actors has used or in the manner he speaks or sings his lines...I am just curious to know if this is something you consciously seek as a director or if you have a natural instinct for it or it�s just that you�re blessed with good actors?
I think it�s a combination of all three factors. Seriously..
What other interests do you have apart from the theatre? Have these interests influenced your plays in any way?
I have loved watching Indian films like Guide and foreign films like Seven, The Lives of Others, Pan�s Labyrinth, The Dark Knight...I must admit that I�m addicted to films. But apart from that (and a bit of reading), I just realized that I do not have any other interests.
Are there any theatre people you look up to? Whose plays have you enjoyed?
Quite a bunch in fact. Shashank Shende, Atul Pethe, Quasar and the entire Thespo gang. Need I mention Kakade Kaka, Dubeyji, Tendulkar and the likes?
I have thoroughly enjoyed watching WAADA by Chetan. Apart from that I have enjoyed productions like Girish Joshi�s FINAL DRAFT, Rajeev Naik�s SATHECHA KAAY KARAYCHA and Victor Hugo�s LES MISERABLES, which I recently saw in England.
If there was anything that you could do more for your productions, what would it be?
Whenever I come to Prithvi, I get the feeling that I�m probably missing out on the real action. I have never performed at the NCPA or at Rangshankara in Bangalore. I just read about Sophia auditorium in Mumbai. I have no idea where or what it is like. These are unexplored spaces for me. I would like more and more people to see our productions. There is the need for marketing. If I could I would feature my plays in English newspapers too. Publicity is important but unfortunately like so many other groups, funding remains a huge problem for us too.
What are your reflections on the work of your peers and on the contemporary theatre scene in Pune?
The theatre scene in Pune is definitely witnessing a change. It�s not every year that we see productions like MAATRA RATRA, TE PUDHE GELE and PAANI being staged at an interval of less than 3 months. Each of the aforementioned plays deal with very different topics and have been widely recognized.
What are your plans for next year? Will we get to see more of you in Mumbai?
I plan to direct one of Dharmkirti Sumant�s plays in January or February next year. It�s still untitled. I sincerely hope that this play gets staged in Mumbai.
*The interviewer is Editor of this site, a theatre critic and an academic keenly interested in Theatre & Performance Studies.
Congratulations on your success for DALAN. Not only has the play set the mood for Thespo this year but it is already being talked about as a winner play for the competition round of the festival. How do you feel about this?
