Writer-Director-Actor Manav Kaul Explores The Conflict Between Love And Revolution In His Latest Play

Writer-director-actor Manav Kaul’s latest play, Ek Hare Hue Kavi Ki Safal Kavita, seems to have Shakespearean dilemmas with a twist: To love or not to love. To revolt or not to revolt. His protagonist is racked with doubt, but not the kind that made Hamlet a tragic figure. The poet in Kaul’s play, his press brief says, has to choose between writing a love poem or a revolutionary one. On the face of it, it seems like a simple conflict, but going by Kaul’s track record, it will be anything but simple.

The playwright has been writing this play for over two years and will stage it at the forthcoming Prithvi Theatre Festival on November 8. When one reaches out to him a few weeks before the show, the writing is still a work in progress. “I have no idea what is a revolutionary poem and what is a love poem in current times,” is his amazing reply when you ask him to elaborate on the theme of his play. And then, like an afterthought, he points out, “Eventually you have to choose between revolution and love. The play revolves around this debate.” 

At another level, Kaul’s play is about the act of writing. “It is about what a writer wants to write and what gets written. What he wants to write, woh aapse kuchh kadam door pe khada rehta hai. And what gets written is not what he wants to write,” he states. Kaul’s responses get curiouser and curiouser as Lewis Carroll’s Alice would say.

“They say a writer’s head is a messy space. But I think it is the most fun space. The way the writing plays hide and seek with the writer in his mind is great fun. I want to depict this in my play,” continues the playwright who has numerous short stories, novels and poetry collections to his credit. Who would know better how the mind of a writer works! But for this interviewer, this abstract, philosophical discussion of the creative process is making her mind a messy space. So, she decides to zero in on specifics. That is Manav Kaul as a writer.

How does he overcome a writer’s block? Does he have a disciplined schedule as a writer?

“Writing is not a job that I have to do. It is something I enjoy doing. So if I don’t feel like writing I don’t. I may not write anything for months on end. I have, therefore, never experienced a writer’s block. I don’t have deadlines and I don’t feel the compulsion to finish writing a piece. I write as long as I enjoy writing.  

“I don’t know if it is discipline but I have the habit of waking up at 4-5am, making myself a cup of coffee, putting on music and sitting in front of my laptop. I feel very energised at this time of the morning. Whether I write or not, I have to put on my laptop, with many files being opened simultaneously. This has been my routine now for many years,” replies the author of 18 books. 

One begins to understand the man and so we re-wind to when he first put pen to paper or fingers to laptop to write a creative piece…“I was 17 or 18 when I wrote a poem. It was a terrible poem. Most writers start with writing poetry. Then they progress to short stories. After that they write plays. When that gets exhausting they explore a longer format. And then you come back to poetry. It’s circular. Writing is a fascinating process because at some point you don’t decide what you will write. The format dictates itself to you.

“I have been writing this play for more than two years. There’s zameen aasman ka pharak between my first draft and what I have in hand now. It’s a long process. I’m still tweaking it, making changes. I love the ongoing relationship between a writer and his work, between a poet and his poem. I have always been piqued by the idea of a poem talking to the poet. What will be their conversation? Ek Hare Hue Kavi Ki Safal Kavita delves into this,” concludes the playwright who has, cyclically, returned to poetry, skilfully weaving it in into a theatre format. Quite clearly, a lot of fun is taking place in his head as he delineates a defeated poet’s trajectory to triumph. One guesses the audience, too, will have a fun time, as they watch him perform this complex role.