BWW Previews: NASEERUDDIN SHAH'S Motley Theatre Celebrates 40 Years

A casual conversation between two acting stalwarts led to the birth of one of the finest theatre groups in India. Actors Naseeruddin Shah and Benjamin Gilani sat in a coffee shop in Lucknow, the year was 1978 and while a lot of Indian cinema was seeing newer stories but theatre needed that extra push so that versatile stories from across the country and from around the globe could be staged and appreciated. The two decided to produce plays that made them curious as storytellers and story seekers. Not without a surprise, the first play that they wanted to stage was legendary Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. After much planning and deliberation the show finally opened at Prithvi Theatre under the banner of Majma,m which was a company that was seeing a great growth by none other than actor Om Puri.

Both Shah and Gilani found a name for their venture only later and called it Motley. Over time it came to include some of the other most prominent thinking actors and directors such as Tom Alter, Ratna Pathak Shah, Kenny Desai, Shiv Subramanium, Akash Khurana and Jairaj Patil. From 1979, when the theatre company was first came to be know to today, Motley has been instrumental in bringing some of the most pathbreaking Indian plays on stage.

As the company completes 40 long years, in the world of theatre, a festival to mark the achievement has been planned in Mumbai. Motleyana, titled to celebrate Motley's journey will be held at Prithvi Theatre and later at Veer Savarkar Auditorium. The festival would see some of the most enlightening shows that not only revived great stories but also introduced newer audiences to works of literary greats such as Manto.