Pune. May 22, 2001, 930pm, Bharat Natya Mandir. The curtains go up on Satish Alekar’s iconic Marathi play Begum Barve at the Samanvay Theatre festival. The play, whose story revolves around Barve (Chandrakant Kale), an out-of-job actor from the era of Marathi musicals, two middle-aged government clerks (Satish Alekar and Ramesh Medhekar) who both fantasise getting married to the same woman from their office and Shyamrao, Barve’s foul-mouthed friend played adroitly by Dr Mohan Agashe.
The powerful play interspersed with songs keeps us glued to our seats. The actors, who are all from the original 1979 cast, share an easy chemistry with each other.
They were in their elements. Powerful dialogues effortlessly rolled off their tongues and their mere expressions conveyed so much. And when they laughed or cried, we got goosebumps.
However, that particular evening, Dr Agashe seemed to be in his zone. Quite like a Virat Kohli approaching yet another effortless century. His dialogue delivery seemed to have an extra zing, his tears flowed easily and his voice echoed all around the auditorium.
The play ended with the actors singing a song together. We stood up in awe and then there was an announcement. The organisers said that Dr Agashe’s mother had passed away the same evening at 4 pm and yet he had chosen to perform the play. Pindrop silence. Slowly, somebody started clapping and then the applause did not stop.
This was professionalism at its best. Agashe simply said, “My mother had taught me to honour my commitments and I was doing precisely that. There was no question of inconveniencing so many people.” Agashe had presented a most fitting tribute to his mother and perhaps given the performance of a lifetime.
This is the quintessential Mohan Agashe. Committed and dedicated to whatever he chooses to take up. Agashe, for instance deserves credit for importing the Grips form of theatre from Germany to our shores. Agashe recalls being introduced to it by Volker Ludwig, the bossman of Grips theatre in Berlin in the mid-1980s. Grips is a unique form of theatre where you look at the world through the eyes of children or the youth. Typically, Grips themes include authoritative education, school problems, prejudices, pollution, hostility towards foreigners, longing for friendship etc.
It was Agashe who organised a series of workshops in Pune and all over the country in the late 1980s and early 1990s to spread the Grips movement across the country. Today, Pune, arguably the Grips capital of India, has several writers and actors practicing the craft.
Talk Grips and you can see the child in Agashe immediately. This is one topic, beside his other favourite, psychiatry, that the good doctor can wax eloquent about. At the Grips Festival at the Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai in 1996, it was difficult to discern who had more childlike energy, Agashe or Sanjna Kapoor. Needless to say, the festival was a big hit.
This childlike innocence is also visible when he meets people he likes. Having acted in several Shyam Benegal films like Nishant and Bhumika to name just a few, he never tires in asking the filmmaker this question every time they meet in Pune: “So, Shyam babu, when are you casting me in your films again?!” and then whispers in your ear, “Look, Shyam babu is not answering my question. He does not want to cast me!”
The other interesting quality of Agashe is that he seldom gets overwhelmed by a problem or a challenge. For instance, he did not have the easiest of tenures as Director of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) between 1997-2002. I remember sitting with him in his office in the midst of a particularly difficult period. After some conversation, he said, “Jaavu de, tu chaaha ghenaar ka coffee?!” (Never mind all that, will you have tea or coffee?)
Often, we also tend to forget that the actor is a qualified psychiatrist from Pune’s BJ Medical college. It is often difficult to figure out what is closer to his heart, psychiatry or acting? However, if there is one vaastu or building which Agashe adores, it is the British era-stone walled edifice of the Institute of Mental Health at Sassoon hospital. If Agashe wanted to give you a special interview, he simply said, “Meet me at my temple!”
Rahul Chandawarkar, now based in Goa, is a former editor of Sakal Times and recipient of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism award for 2009. Rahul Chandawarkar’s People will appear on Pune365 every other Monday.
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