People have mistaken Feroz Abbas Khan for Bollywood's erstwhile style icon, the late Feroz Khan. And yet those who know of him will be quick to point out that he is one of the most successful producer-directors in Indian Theatre since the early nineties. In 1983, he was head of the Prithvi Theatre Festival along with Jennifer Kapoor and Akash Khurana, and in 1990 his company Platform, produced its first play, Peter Shaffer's THE ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN. He has had one success after the other with plays like ALL THE BEST, EVA MUMBAI MAA CHAAL JAIYE, SAALGIRAH, TUMHARI AMRITA, SALESMAN RAMLAL, and MAHATMA V/S GANDHI. Recently, he has directed DINNER WITH FRIENDS, a Pultizer prize winning play by Donald Margulies. From first reports it seems that he has cracked it again.  Deepa Punjani Over the years, you have made a successful name for yourself in Theatre. Some of your productions have even proved to do very well at the box office. What do you attribute this success to? I have kept myself alert to all that is happening around me. Eventually we have to share the anxiety and the joy of our times. Success has been accidental. Pursuit of excellence has been the endeavor. How did it all begin for you? Did you have any mentors? It all began in Narsee Monjee College at Vile Parle in Mumbai. Directors like Mahendra Joshi and Shafi Inamdar have been my reference points, and Jennifer Kapoor my inspiration. Ratan Thiyam's plays were simply mind-boggling. I was stunned with the power, beauty and the possibilities of Theatre. Amongst the plays you have produced and directed so far, which is your favourite, and why? SALESMAN RAMLAL is my favourite.The story of a middle class man holding on to his dignity and family, while the world around him is crumbling rapidly affected me deeply. I knew everything that was happening to every character in this extra-ordinary play. Satish Kaushik's performance is a master class in Acting. What has your experience taught you? That we are always work in progress and nothing fails like Success. Tell us about your recent direction of DINNER WITH FRIENDS? In it, I have tried to get the actors to perform without the visible effort of Acting. While directing a play, what is the thought process that you bring to the floor? I try to distill the complexity of a dramatic work by getting its simplicity to the surface. Is there a dream project you are waiting to produce and direct? There are many dream plays to be realised... In the contemporary theatre scene, is there anybody whose work you have liked or admired? I am a great admirer of Ratan Thiyyam. For me, he is one of the ten best theatre directors in the world. Waman Kendre's work is always challenging and provocative. Does Film motivate you as much as Theatre does? I am a theatre director who has turned filmmaker. In Theatre one can say something very important with small resources, whereas Cinema needs a huge amount of resources to normally say something very small. *Deepa Punjani is Editor of this site. read / post your comments More Interviews Neeraj Shirvaikar Ram Ganesh Kamatham Tannaz Irani Lillete Dubey Sharodiya Chowdhury and Sarthak Sharma Interview With Vishaal Asrani and Jiji Subhi BAKUL THAKKAR AND SURYA GOVLE Devendra Rao Interview Sharvari Lohokare Interview Vijay Kenkre Interview Trupti Thakkar and Ankit Gor Interview Aditya Rawal and Zahan Kapoor Umesh Shukla Interview Interview With Juhi Babbar Soni Mallika Shah Interview J BRANDON HILL INTERVIEW Anahita Uberoi Interview Interview with Jeff Goldberg Dr. Shweta Pendse Interview Interview with jamini Pathak Ashok Pandey Gagan Dev Riar Interview Taranjit Kaur Pankaj Pathakji Interview Vipul Vithlani Interview Saurabh Nayyar Interview Mukta Barve Interview Vihaan Samat Interview Vijay Kumar Interview Umesh Kamat Interview Jatin Sarna Interview Debanshu Shekhar Interview Vandana Bhushan Interview Vikas Bahari Interview Trinetra Tiwari Interview Anand Ingale Interview Deshik Vansadia Interview Kapil Dev Interview Arvind Gaur Interview Niketan Sharma Interview Ipshita Chakraborty Singh Interview Ramesh Talwar Interview Nivedita Bhattacharya Interview Jeff Goldberg Interview Ajeet Singh Palawat Interview Amitosh Nagpal Interview Ajitesh Gupta Anshulika Dubey and Aakash Prabhakar Ulka Mayur Shiv Tandan Interview Hemant Jha Interview Sangita Joshi Interview Akarsh khurana Interview with Parul Rana Satchit Puranik Interview Raell Padamsee Interview Simar Singh Interview Siddharth Randeria Interview Chandrakant Kulkarni Interview Trishla Patel Interview Danish Husain Interview Anju Makhija Interview Swati Das Interview Paromita Chatterjee Interview Akriti Singh Interview Vivek Raj Tandon Interview Avneesh Mishra Interview Imran Rasheed Interview Choiti Ghosh Interview Ila Arun & KK Raina Juuhi Babbar Sonii Interview Jay Upadhyay Interview Bhakti Rathod Interview Chandrashekhar Gokhale Interview Preeta Mathur Interview Denzil Smith Interview Rajendra Butala Interview Amitesh Grover Interview Vighnesh Joshi Interview Rajesh Deshpande Interview Mohammad Ali Baig Interview Dolly Thakore Interview M. 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Interview 2 Timira Gupta Jyoti Dogra Lillette Dubey Mahesh Dattani Chandan Roy Sanyal Sunil Shanbag (ii) Jairaj Patil Jehan Manekshaw K Raja Ravi Verma Sankar Venkateswaran Heisnam Tomba Hariharan Jamini Pathak Hilda David Satish Alekar Vir Das Ranjit Hoskote Om Katare Nipun Dharmadhikari Satyadev Dubey Dipan Ray Stefan Kaegi Zafar Karachiwala Dakxin Bajrange Makarand Sathe Ramu Ramanathann Cyrus Dastur Shekhar Sen Benjamin Juhel Chaitanya Tamhane And Sudeep Modak Sujata Mehta Asif Basra Barry John Nagesh Bhosale Astad Deboo Manhar Gadhia Sandesh Bhandare Usha Ganguli Sushama Deshpande & Suhas Joshi Jyoti Vyas Arundhati Nag Habib Tanvir Ramu Ramanathan Pushan Kripalani Harold Pinter Rajeev Ravindranathan Rajendra Gupta Viji Iyengar Sunil Shanbag Darshan Jariwalla Smriti Irani Atul Kumar1 Ashwin Gidwani Toral Shah Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal1 Shaili Sathyu Sanjay Narvekar Rohini Hattangady Dr. Ashok Ranade Vandana Sajnani Mahesh Elkunchwar Madhu Rye Mahesh Thakur Srimathi Madiman Kinnari Vohra Joy Fernandes C.K. Thakkar Jameel Khan Anupama Jayaram Lilelette Dubey Avatar Gill Dharmendra Gohil Rajesh Puri Kumud Mishra Kumar Shahu Meenal Patel Mujeeb Khan Anant Mudra Utkarsh Mazumdar Shekhar Sen1 Manav Kaul Rati Agnihotri Smita Jaykar Uday Chandra Rahul Da Cunha Atul Kumar Manoj Joshi Jaimini Pathak Boman Irani Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal Naseerudin Shah Joy Fernandez Kamlesh Mota Dinesh Thakur    Discussion Board

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