The lovely Lillete Dubey will be back on the Calcutta stage this Sunday with her directorial venture Vodka & No Tonic, a collection of pieces from Shobhaa De’s Lockdown Liaisons. The theatre veteran and power-packed actress who we think deserves well-fleshed-out content, written just for her, now with the virtual space booming and a whole new breed of writers and directors exploring novel concepts more than ever, chatted with t2 on adapting De’s work for the stage and what’s nourishment for her soul.
How did the project come about?
Basically, during Covid, Shobhaa said she wrote this book in a mad fury. I think this was the middle of 2020 and by the end of that year, she wanted to launch it online and Simon & Schuster was keen to launch it. We didn’t know when Covid was going to disappear. She asked Ira (Dubey; daughter) and me to read two stories and that’s how this whole thing began... there was a good response and people said why don’t we do something on stage with them.... I was itching to do something. So, when the Covid fog started lifting, I decided to do something simple, with few people, manageable, simple production in terms of costs also. Let’s test the waters when we are going-back-to-theatre kind of thing.
After nearly 50 years of theatre, I have never really done a monologue... It was something new for us. We chose these five stories from her book. Initially, it was called Lockdown Liaisons, but people started associating it with something sad and depressing. Then we changed the name to the first story called Vodka & No Tonic. Though it is from Lockdown Liaisons, my idea is not to explore and delve into the lockdown. To me, what’s interesting in a piece is the human relationship element. The theme is the backdrop. We have pulled out a lot of layers from the stories and added more depth and layers in the characterisation because we dramatised it for the stage.
This is being brought to Calcutta by Showhouse. We have done at least 35 shows already.
Ira Dubey in Vodka & No Tonic
What are the stories we’ll see?
I chose five stories which to me were nice varieties of subjects. Two were the same that we read for the launch. The first one that Ira does is Vodka & No Tonic, which is probably the most relatable too. It’s about a young couple who are doing well in life, are earning and independent but what happens to the relationship in this pressure cooker they are put together in, in an enforced kind of togetherness. Ira plays this Hariyanvi girl.
The second one, A Quest Ends, is done by Joy (Sengupta) where he plays a simple Bengali banker who is also married. It is also a charming little story about a couple who are in sync. They have been trying for years to have a child and what happens to their relationship.
The third story is an unusual story, but I liked it. It is called A Whiff of Eternity and is about a girl who is lesbian. Her parents are conservative professors and she has left home and been her own person. She has a breakup and is lost and decides to come home and then gets stuck because lockdown happens. Ira performs this one too.
The fourth is in Hindi, called Leaving. It was written in English. The most work went into the Hindi one, which is about a Bihari migrant. It is a powerful and moving story. The story of the migrants was most exceptional.
In a way, they are all love stories. A love story gone sour, a love story that has beautiful rediscovery, a love story that is a gay love story....
And, though the pandemic was a difficult time for most people, the play has a lot of humour and I keep underlining this because humour is an important element. It keeps us all sane in life.
Ira is terrific and Joy is very good. Mine is probably the quietest. It’s more Miss Havisham and Dickens. It’s called Lockdown Funeral, in which a woman’s husband who left her 22 years ago for another woman, dies during Covid and coming to the funeral, makes her go back and remember everything. She belongs to the highest strata of society and is posh and cultured. They were the ‘it’ couple who had it all and she was never able to get over why this man, the epitome of taste and refinement, left her for a woman who is diametrically opposite. This is a reflective piece.... In the end, she meets this woman. She had met her once in the beginning and meets her now and what happens.... It’s quiet but moving in its own way.
I love the way I have placed Leaving next to mine. It could be someone sitting at the bottom of my high-rise whose story is the migrant story and then you move to the story which could be in the 50th floor of a penthouse. I have tried to do as much as I could.
Ira Dubey and Joy Sengupta in Vodka & No Tonic
Did you notice any changes when you came back to the stage after the lockdown?
I think it’s pretty much the same. In fact, I feel that they’ve had such a glut of screen time... frankly, we had no choice... and I think art is what saved us all to some extent. Of course, people had other hobbies, but this was a great source of sustenance. I feel they came back with renewed vigour. When we had shows at Prithvi Theatre in February ’21, it was absolutely packed... wanting to get out, wanting human contact and wanting to see something live....
There is an explosion of OTT content now. Why haven’t we seen you in something meaty, given this platform is completely up your alley and you are such a powerful actress?
In fact when I have done some things... I have often wondered who is sitting and watching all this? There is such a plethora of channels. All of it is not even great stuff. Yes, there is some good stuff....
You have to think about which roles I could have done that I didn’t. I find there are not that many roles. One is also not getting any younger. People always have this story: ‘Ma’am we don’t come to you because we have to have a really meaty part’. In the last few years, I have started saying you don’t have to wait for that. If it’s interesting and even if it’s not the main role, it’s okay. I do that for the nourishment of my artistic soul in theatre. Yahaan nahin hai toh nahin hain. Luckily, this is not what sustains me. My heart belongs to theatre.
A film is also very visual. You get categorised by what you look like. They can step out only 10-20 per cent. That’s another problem. There are three films of mine that will come out, including Noorani Chehra with Nawazuddin Siddiqui.... So, you will see me.
BOX
What: Vodka & No Tonic, from Shobhaa De’s Lockdown Liaisons
Where: GD Birla Sabhagar
When: December 11, 6pm
Directed by: Lillete Dubey
Cast: Lillete Dubey, Ira Dubey, Joy Sengupta
For tickets: BookMyShow