Lilette Dubey: I love doing films and OTT series but deep down my heart belongs to the theatre – Exclusive – Times of India
Tell us about your special connection with ‘Adhe Adhure’.
I saw a version of ‘Adhe Adhure’ when I was in college. It had Surekha Sikri. It was a beautiful play. It was so ahead of its time. It is still so modern and relevant. All the themes of the play are so relevant and topical. For me, being a part of the play was a blessing. I was lucky that I got Mohan Agashe to play the main guy. Ira is also terrific in it. It is a terrific script.
What was the most challenging part about the play?
For me the challenge was that I hadn’t done much work in Hindi. I have done a lot of cable, television and films in Hindi. But I hadn’t worked in a full-blown Hindi play. I was always a part of Indian English plays. It was a challenge for me because my character had a lot of dialogues and it was in full-fledged Hindi. For Mohan too, it was his first play in Hindi. Most of his earlier works were in Marathi. Ira had done plays in English. So when we started rehearsing for the play, we realised that it was the first Hindi play for most of us. It was quite unusual. ‘Adhe Adhure’ is undoubtedly one of the classics. The script is fun, powerful and beautiful.
The play is all set to stream on an OTT platform…
It was amazing to present it on the stage. Now, it is coming on OTT which is great because many more people will be able to watch and enjoy it. I honestly don’t know how many people are watching plays in theatres today. Although watching the play live is an experience you cannot describe, many also record it for posterity. We have also documented a lot of good plays.
For me, nothing is better than watching a play on the stage but if not then the second best thing is to watch it on screen. I would like to urge people to tune it into these theatre platforms and watch all sorts of plays. They are all recorded very nicely and look very good on screen.
What is the best compliment you have received for your performance in ‘Adhe Adhure’?
I have received a Best Actress award for this play and people have loved it. We all have got a lot of compliments for the play. You cannot carry the responsibility of a play alone. The people with you also have to be equally good. I was very lucky that all my co-stars were very good. Mohan, Ira, Anuschka Sawhney, Rajeev Siddhartha and others were all very good in their roles. So yes, I did get a lot of compliments. Many were actually surprised that I pulled off a full-fledged Hindi play. It is one of the iconic plays we have. Many great actors have done this play years ago. So there was this curiosity in people to see how I was going to do it. I am happy to say that the theatre buffs were pleasantly surprised. It is not like I cannot speak Hindi, but people have this perception of me where they think I have this westernised personality. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to do this play and prove that I am equally comfortable doing a Hindi play.
Many actors today just treat theatres as a stepping stone to Bollywood. Your thoughts…
I love doing films, OTT and all that but deep down my heart belongs to the theatre and everybody knows that. Even though I feel that, I completely understand why people treat it as a stepping stone to reach Bollywood. If you want to survive in a city like Mumbai, you cannot do it by working only in theatres. You have to be practical. We are not like western countries where a play runs for one year, six months or three months and they are paid decently. You can survive on it. But even there, the artists who are doing plays are doing ad films, short films and feature films in between their theatre engagements.
As an actor, you don’t commit that you will act only in theatres or films. However, I also see that some use theatre as a stepping stone to Bollywood. They do OTT shows, films and then forget all about the theatres. Although I don’t like that, I also don’t blame them. It is getting more and more difficult to do plays in Mumbai because between OTT, films, short films, ad and dubbings, people hardly have any time for theatres. As much as they love doing plays, they are not going to give up these other projects. People who are very established and who love doing theatres, they will make time. So I don’t blame young people because then how do you expect them to survive in a city like Mumbai. 90 percent of them live alone away from their family. If they really have a love for it, then I believe that they will come back.
Many good actors that we see on OTT today are mostly theatre personalities. Actors like Jaideep Ahlawat, Pankaj Tripathi and others are just amazing. These people have helped in the big change.
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