The Hindu Business Line : Queen of arts

As the elder brother, Shekhar has always been bossy," says Sohaila Kapur, theatre actor-writer-director and the younger sibling of internationally acclaimed director Shekhar Kapur, at her tastefully decorated home in Delhi's Maharani Bagh. "But he's protective too. Even as a youngster, I remember," she continues in between ordering frothy coffee and acknowledging the dhoti-clad `masterjee' who has ambled in for her riyaaz, "though Shekhar himself had a rollicking social life, going around with his American and British girlfriends, I wasn't even allowed to date! But we've always vibed fantastically."

Well, it's a synergy the two hope to harness effectively as they embark upon an ambitious and spectacular sequel to the musical Bombay Dreams, which Kapur will produce from London. "It's a theme that will not only strike a chord with the Indian audiences but also appeal to the West," says Sohaila who has wrapped up the script and lyrics for the West End extravaganza that will premiere next year and travel across the globe, including Broadway. This is not the first time that she is cutting her teeth on international theatre. Her musical Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan premiered at the Traverse Theatre in Scotland during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2002 to favourable reviews. She was subsequently invited by The London Arts Council to perform in five British cities and also by the Singapore government where extra shows had to be squeezed in for the sold-out musical.

Her foray into television has been fairly fruitful too. Sohaila has written and anchored South Asian Newsline, a live newscast of political developments in South Asia for channels Omni 1 and Omni 2, owned by Rogers, the media network in Canada, where she moved after her marriage to her entrepreneur husband in the early 1990s. She was also coordinator and writer for two other hugely successful programmes — Bollywood Boulevard and South Asian Newsweek.

Of course, what worked in Sohaila's favour abroad — even though she had to re-orient herself in India after her three-year stint because of her husband's sudden death in 1999 — was her richly textured background. An alumnus of Modern School, Delhi, and Lady Shri Ram College, Sohaila was constantly exposed to kaleidoscopic influences early in life. She would accompany her father (a family doctor to many erstwhile Indian Presidents) and mother (senior executive with the International Wool Secretariat) to parties where she moved with the capital's rich and the famous. And also the glamorous filmi parties thrown by her flamboyant uncle — veteran actor Dev Anand.

Young Sohaila wanted to become an actress. "But my family threw a fit," she recalls. "We belonged to a conservative Punjabi family where actresses were considered to be of questionable stock. To top it all, Shekhar made sure that nobody even looked at me, forget about offering a film role. In fact, he was so protective that Shabana Azmi — Shekhar's close friend — used to comment in chaste Urdu, Shekhar ki behen ko to tum rehne hi do (Leave Shekhar's sister alone)." So she was sent for training in journalism at The Times of India in Mumbai. A decade-long stint with Femina saw Sohaila write on socially relevant topics, even managing an occasional scoop. "I wrote about corruption in the CBI, and also did an expose on the exploitation of extras in Bollywood," she says. "But then people started objecting that I was changing the character of the well-entrenched magazine."

Sohaila has tried her hand at theatre too. "Drama has always been my first love," she explains. "Even as a 10-year-old I'd congregate the mohalla children to direct them in plays." Her favourite were `concerts' where friends and relatives would be invited after they purchased her 50-paise tickets, which the little girl would meticulously type out on her father's ramshackle Remington typewriter.

Nobody was surprised, therefore, when she launched her own theatre outfit later — Ruchika Theatre Group — where she directed six plays including Catherine Hayes' Skirmishes starring Zohra Sehgal, three short stories by Roald Dahl and an adaptation of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit. She has also held four shows of dramatic readings, adapted from German plays at the Max Mueller Bhawan and the India Habitat Centre in Delhi. She also scripted and anchored social documentaries for Doordarshan, even managing an investigative show on witchcraft for the National Geographic Channel.

While dabbling in TV, the exciting vista of acting opened up before her yet again. And she agreed to a significant role in Govind Nihalani's national award-winning film, Rukmavati ki Haveli. Substantive roles in 18 TV serials followed thereafter, including the Doordarshan-sponsored serial Bharat Ek Khoj. She has criss-crossed the country along with M.S. Sathyu, Amal Allana, Feisal Alkazi and Satish Kaushik "doing theatre that had a pan-Indian appeal".

The wheel seems to have come full circle again for Sohaila with the launch of yet another theatre company Sohaila Kapur Productions. She conducts theatre and creative writing workshops from her home for eight to 13-year-olds that teach them the nuances of drama, speech, creative expression, music and even gardening "because it helps kids get in touch with their instincts." Then, of course, there's cinema. She is looking forward to a project with music composer A.R. Rahman, even as she wraps up research for The Ramayana, a play for the HBO Channel. She is also writing two books — one on the Anands and their production company, Navketan, and the other, a book on the warrior queens of India, who were India's first feminists. "Life," as Sohaila puts it, "has never been fuller." Make that busier.

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