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Mahesh Thakur's name needs no introduction to the extent of his popularity on the small screen. He comes from a business family and after having completed his M.B.A. he decided to plunge into acting. He says that he was always interested in acting even while he was with his parents in Panama in Central America. Hence, he decided to come to India to be with his grandmother and to explore his opportunities as an actor in Mumbai. His acting career took off around 92-93' when he started modeling for commercials. He had a short film career following that wasn't successful. However, television gave him his biggest break and since then, he hasn't been looking back. Character roles in films have also been offered to him and currently, he is doing a play called DIL CHAHTA HAI in Hindi. The following conversation traces Mahesh's exposure to the theatre, his perception about the same and about his character in DIL CHAHTA HAI.
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Have you done any theatre before?
I have only done one play before DIL CHAHTA HAI. Around 96-97', I did this play called MADE FOR EACH OTHER, which was directed by Naushil Mehta.
Why did you not do any other play after that?
To tell you the truth, I was disappointed with my first stint with the theatre. We had slogged for two to three months rehearsing our parts and ultimately we did only around four shows of the play. The effort just didn't seem worth it. Hence I did not feel like getting back to the theatre and even when DIL CHAHTA HAI was offered to me, I kept putting it off. Only when I was assured that the play would do at least 50 shows, did I feel comfortable about doing it.
Have you received any actor training?
No, I haven't. But I did do a crash course for three weeks with Roshan Taneja after meeting him. Personally, I feel someone cannot be trained to be an actor. It has to be within you to be one. Qualities like spontaneity for instance cannot be acquired. Most of my training has been on the job or hands-on, as they say.
What would you say about your character in DIL CHAHTA HAI?
Ajay, the character I play, is a fun-loving guy. In tele-serials, I have always been cast as this "goody-goody" guy but in the play, my character is about getting involved with another woman although I am married. It has a human face to it. Besides, doing a Hindi play was a challenge since despite having done Hindi tele-serials, I am more comfortable with English and Spanish.
What is your perception about the theatre?
Theatre is far more superior. To be a good actor on the stage, you have to get under the skin of the character and relate to the person sitting in the last row. There are no re-shots here. It is live and the connection between the actor and the audience has to be made. Unlike Cinema, Theatre is an actor's medium.
 Do you really think Theatre is only an actor's medium?
No, I didn't mean that. Sure, there are other people who play an equally important role like the writer or the director. However, in films and tele-serials, you get many chances. You acquire an image that many people are responsible for such as your make-up artist or dress designer, the cameraperson who captures your face and so on. You are made to look nice and glamorous. In the theatre, it is more about the actor's art than anything else.
But don't you think that these days, commercial theatre is increasingly beginning to resemble popular soap operas with tele-stars wanting to have a slice of the theatre too?
True, it is. But then, these stars bring in the audience. With theatres demanding exorbitant rents, a producer has to recover his basic investment. Besides as against well marketed Hollywood and Bollywood films, an average person may want to spend his money on a film�
I am not talking about the logistics of the box-office here. I am talking about the vitality of the theatre as an art form, as it offering a counter-point to the teeming mediocrity and its importance and healthy survival therefore.
See, star value cannot be discounted. I personally would go and watch a play, which has Nana Patekar or Paresh Rawal in it for instance. The kind of theatre that Prithvi supports for instance is admirable but rare.
Do you see a lot of theatre?
No, I haven't seen many plays. I saw PURUSH, which had Nana Patekar. Have also seen some Broadway productions.
Any favourite playwrights?
I haven't read many plays either but I have read some of Harold Pinter's work. This was while I was doing Naushil's play MADE FOR EACH OTHER.
Pinter's work has been regarded as falling under the purview of Absurd Theatre. Did Naushil's play draw upon the conventions of the absurd or was it performed in a realistic manner?
BETRAYAL, the original play has a story that moves backwards. Things happen from the last scene to the first. I was completely taken aback by it. In Naushil's adaptation though, we performed it in a flashback mode and as such, made it more accessible to our audience.
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