The Hindu Business Line : Dramatic moments

Bharat Dabholkar recalls how Mumbai audiences gasped and marvelled at the stagecraft brought all the way from Chennai by R.S. Manohar, who passed away recently.

Talk of Destiny. If Mumbai adman and theatre personality Bharat Dabholkar, while on a World Bank-sponsored visit to Chennai (then Madras) in 1980 for a `Nutrition for Development' programme had not gone to a theatre performance of R.S. Manohar's Lankeswaran, the theatre world would have been poorer.

Though they did not understand the Tamil dialogues, Dabholkar and his foreign friends were stunned by the spectacular special effects. Dabholkar quickly made friends with Manohar, saw most of his plays and along with Mumbai producer Ronnie Screwwala decided to stage a play using Manohar's special effects. Manohar took Dabholkar to see the props in his godown.

"The props were unbelievable," Dabholkar recalled. "River of blood 8-ft deep, skeletons which grew from 5 ft to 8 ft, a man being beheaded and his head rolling down, a pushpak viman taking off and slowly disappearing from sight, Shiva's face during the Last Flood when he swallowed everything. These were really illusions but were stunningly life-like."

As most of Manohar's themes were related to mythology, Dabholkar had to write a play with similar overtones and make it funny. The result was Last Tango in Heaven, which portrayed the havoc caused in Heaven with the arrival of an Indian politician! A laugh riot, it spoofed modern politics and gave full scope to Manohar's sets and lighting effects.

"We gave full freedom to Manohar," explained Dabholkar, "and on the eve of the play apprised the local media about his contribution to Last Tango. Audiences gasped when Narad Muni's head was chopped off and fell into a basket. Manohar convincingly argued that Yama, the God of Death, had to be in white and not the traditional black. His buffalo was a work of art and so huge that 15 technical rehearsals were needed for its stage entry. There were further gasps when two full-sized elephants strode on the stage (they had two people inside!).

"Manohar was genius," observed Dabholkar. "Theatre was his god, his love and he removed his shoes while he was on the stage. I had seen every major theatre production all over the world — Cats, Phantom of the Opera, which were produced at enormous cost and using most sophisticated special effects. Manohar's stagecraft was equally good, it was in the hands of dozens of dedicated dhoti-clad Tamilians."

Mumbai audiences cheered the change of scenes. Manohar's charges for special effects were nearly 30 per cent less than the prevailing rates in Mumbai. Thanks to the sets, lighting and costumes designed by Manohar, Last Tango was more like a film with mid shots quickly changing into long shots.

Last Tango ran about 70 shows but then became too expensive because it could not be staged in most local auditoriums or outside Mumbai. But there is good news. Dabholkar plans a sequel without the celestial sequences. Called Lalloo in Heaven it will feature the antics of modern Indian politicians. Of course, Dabholkar had earlier released a film version of Last Tango called God Only Knows, which was a hit in urban centres. For special effects, he did not need Manohar. Computer graphics were adequate.

Dabholkar is among the few theatre people who understand the potential of comedy on stage. This is why most of his 24 plays are meant to make people laugh. They had modern themes and the characters spoke English as spoken by Indians. But his immediate challenge is the re-launch of one of his serious plays, Purush, in English.

Scheduled for a February 18 premiere, the play tackles a controversial theme in a novel way, dealing with the rape of a schoolteacher by a politician. "It will not be the usual loud, protesting kind of play," he promises. . "Purusuh is about compromises not grudges, and the consequences of the rape will be handled in a different manner." Vinay Apte who played the villain in the earlier version will repeat the role in the English play.

Dabholkar's creative talent was long evident in the ad world. For years he was associated with the highly popular `Amul' butter hoardings. "I still do the creative work for my agency," he clarified. He is associated with a new ad agency, Zen, to be launched in Tanzania mid-February.

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