BHOPAL: The Free Press Journal talked to some ‘theatre couples’ of the city on World Theatre Day on Monday (March 27) about their journey, their experiences and their hopes – and of course, their disappointments. It was theatre that brought these couples together and admittedly, besides each other, they are in deep love with this genre of art, representing one of the oldest expressions of human creativity.
Rajeev Verma
I met my wife Ritaji for the first time at a theatre workshop conducted by theatre doyen BV Karanth and organised by MP Kala Parishad. After that we did many shows together and are still working and enjoying our work. We have been in the field since 1973, and yes, it’s true somewhere that theatre played an important role to bring us together. Theatre is a medium which helps to give shape to your personality and at the same time it teaches to deal with any problem. I think, the condition of theatre is very good but it can’t be a way of survival. Yes, it is possible in Marathi and Gujarati but not in Hindi theatre. We wish all my fans and readers on World Theatre Day.
Vaishali Gupta
For the past 30 years, I am working in the field along with my hubby Prem Gupta. I met him for the first time in a theatre institution. Both of us wanted to make a career and excel in this field only, so we decided to get married. See, we are from creative field and it is obvious that clashes occur between us at times but they don’t affect our work. At the age of three, I started acting, now I am 53. No doubt, nowadays, a large number of youth are coming in theatre but they are misled due to the lack of proper guidance. Earlier very few people came in the field but they had knowledge of literature and used to work with seriousness and consistency. I think, that stature of theatre has ended somewhere now.
Jyoti Savrikar
I met Vivek ‘Mridul’ for the first time during Russian class. At that time I was doing masters and he was doing diploma in Russian language. Gradually, we became good friends and began to understand each other. Seeing a good chemistry between us, our principal suggested we got married. After marriage, I started doing Hindi theatre with support of Vivek. Before that I used to do Marathi theatre. And for the past 25 years we are working together and we are very satisfied with our work. In fact I feel very lucky to get Vivek as my husband. He is very supporting and understanding. In fact he motivates me a lot. Due to his motivation only, I started writing scripts. Earlier I didn’t know scripting. We always discuss our work. I think, the scope of theatre is very large and a many youth are taking interest in it. In fact, they are doing very well.
Sanjay Shrivastava
In maximum cases, you will see that theatre couples know each other before marriage. But our case is quite different. Before marriage, I did know nothing about my wife Neeti, means what she did or didn’t, although I know her father well, and worked in theatre with him. Our marriage was arranged and after marriage we started working together. Luckily, our guru is same. We both learnt theatre from Padmashree Bansi Kaul. Now, we have been working for the past 18 years together and have good rapport between us. And it is only possible due to our mutual understanding. If we talk about the condition of theatre now then no doubt there is lot of development and improvement but quality is lacking somewhere. Everybody is now busy in doing paper work only not quality and deep work.
Ramesh Ahire
For the past 18 years, we are working in theatre. I met my wife Sunita through theatre only. She was senior to me but I purposed her first. It is true that if your life partner is of same field then to understand life becomes easier. There is more scope to learn and understand each other. Now, my son is also doing theatre. No doubt, theatre is a good medium to express ourselves but as artists it is very difficult to survive.
