Bangalore based director and producer Arjun Sajnani, who is also a restaurateur, will be in Mumbai with a new production based on Robert Bolt's 1960 play, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. The production, like Sajnani's former work such as KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, and THE FIRE AND THE RAIN is a big scale production. Here, the director-producer who also essays the role of Cardinal Wolsey in the play, talks about his new venture. Please click here to read about the play.
Deepa Punjani
You have returned to theatre after a hiatus. Was the break deliberate?
The break was necessary as I had to concentrate on earning a living and making sure my business thrived. I can only then indulge in theatre, especially in English theatre of quality. Bangalore where I work also underwent a huge change. The traffic had become impossible and there was easy gratification for actors with opportunities in television and other entertainment avenues. So theatre for everyone I knew seemed to take a back seat in terms of commitment.
In one of your previous interviews, you have mentioned that you found the subject of MAN FOR ALL SEASONS to be relevant even today. Can you elaborate?
I think that a play like MAN FOR ALL SEASONS does not ever lose validity because of the issues it addresses. We will always relate to its central, moral issues of corruption, greed for power, the relationship between politics and morality and a sense of one's own conscience. And yes, today's situation in our country makes this play and its concerns deeply relatable. We need to be reminded about our conscience, especially those who go about conducting the affairs of the country.
There has been criticism against Bolt's play such as depicting Thomas More's positive qualities and not his negative aspects. Did you think about that or have you left it to the original to convey what it does?
I have left it to the original piece to convey what it does. Thomas More's arrogance is dealt with and the play deals with a specific part of More's life and struggle. The rest of More's personality is for historians to ascertain and judge. The play is placed only a couple years away from his execution and thus does not delve into his life as such, but there are indications of how he might have lived it. And martyrdom never comes without the kind of hubris that More had.
There are supposed to be two endings to the play. Have you preferred one over the other? Why?
I have only known one ending from my college days when I studied the play, and that is the one I have stuck with. There is the character of the Common Man in the play who fulfils various parts. At the end, he steps out of his executioner's dress and addresses the audience. It's a moral message but not without its intended sarcasm.
How do you manage the challenges of working with British and American plays in their original form in India?
Theatre has a universal language and I believe strongly that we should be able to work across boundaries. I think we are fortunate with our background in the English language. We can go from an Indian setting to a Tudor one with a kind of ease. As a school student, when I first saw the production of Jean Giraudoux's THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT by Pearl Padamsee, I was transported to Paris that in no way seemed alien.
You are known to do large scale productions in the tradition of the West End and the Broadway prototype. Tell us about your romance with the spectacle.
Well, I can't say when my love affair with big productions exactly started, but it was certainly reinforced by my experience on Broadway. There is the big show with many actors and a big set and music and all of that...and yes, I do find it difficult now to get away with something small since my audiences have come to expect something big from me. In a way, it also makes sense as I do a production maybe once a year (that's the plan for the future) and I too need the 'fix' of a big production! But I do really try to respond to the demands of the script and see what I can put in to make it exciting for audiences as well as for myself. Must be something in me since my movie (Agni Varsha), though not a big budget film, was a big kind of show with plenty of sweep and style.
You have returned to theatre after a hiatus. Was the break deliberate? 
