Mime Nemo, the ambassador of the World Mime Organisation, was on stage to award Niranjan Goswami, the founder of Indian Mime Theatre, but there was a problem.

“The award hadn’t reached me by the time I left for India,” said the septugenarian from Germany. So true to his art, Nemo walked up to Goswami and mimed out the act of handing over an imaginary award. Goswami too, graciously mimed out receiving it as an EZCC full of audience sportingly applauded the effort.

The occasion was India International Mime Festival, organised by the CK Block-based Indian Mime Theatre. Performers had come from Germany, Mexico, Turkey, Japan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh besides many from around India. They also held week-long workshops and seminars to teach and learn the art from one another.

Teaching mime without words

“How else should I teach mime,” wondered Mime Nemo, whose students had no trouble following him. “I’m asking students to be original in every performance. In fact, they needn’t even copy other mime artistes and wear the black cat suit.”

The Japanese artists taught a lovely mimicking exercise whereby Hiromi Hosokawa used her palm and fingers to create different shapes (picture right). Her partner, Kumiko Abe, mimicked the shapes but with her face and body. The audience laughed as she opened her eyes and mouth wide, contorted her face or slumped.

Selen Lun, who had come from Turkey, focussed on the preparation before a stage performance. “I go off sugar and carbs a week before my shows. It helps me regulate my energy level and feel light,” said Selen, whose workshop combined mime, theatre and butoh, a Japanese dance form.

Sandip Mishra, a theatre artiste from Surat, said he loved what Mexican artiste Kakool taught about making an impact with minimum movement and maximum expression. “I have no experience in mime but know they hold the key to expression,” he said.

Vaishnavi Karale, another theatre artiste from Maharashtra had a similar experience. “In Maharashtra and Chattisgarh, where I usually perform, mime is stuck at the college fest level. I’m gaining a lot from the international exposure here,” she said.

But it’s not just the Indians who took back lessons. “The foreigners have greater scope of learning from us,” said Asif Sher Ali Khan, a mime artiste of Do Kadam in Jaipur. “They may be racing ahead in terms of technique, but when they stop to assess they have nothing greater than Indian tradition to fall back upon,” said Khan, referring to Natya Shastra, the treatise on performing art written by the sage Bharat some 2,500 years ago. “It’s exhaustive.”

A Japanese artist in action (The Telegraph picture)

Hilarious to heart-breaking

While the workshops took place at the CK Block institute in the afternoons, the shows were staged at EZCC after dark. They brought out various moods and styles.

Kakool’s theme may have been dark, about the spirit of a departed man, but he had the audience in splits with his introduction.

“My stage name is Kakool but real name is Raul. Naam toh suna hoga?” teased the Mexican artiste as the crowd roared with laughter at the reference to Shah Rukh Khan’s dialogue as “Rahul” from Dil To Pagal Hai.

The Japanese team put up six mostly light-hearted stories and the Turkish act was a poignant but inspirational tale called “Growing pains of an old athlete”.

The Indian performers made a mark as well. Minanka Deka of Guwahati had the audience in splits with his piece called Mandir Darshan. Played out with an instrumental rendition of Om jai jagdish hare as backdrop, Deka mimed out a “devotee” pushing his way through the temple queue, dealing with priests trying to squeeze out money, clicking selfies with the tika on his head and finally walking out wearing someone else’s slippers!

Sristi Mime Theatre of Jalpaiguri mimed Tagore’s Kalmrigaya and besides applause, one of their members drew murmurs from the audience. You see, he shared his name with the then corporation mayor — Sabyasachi Dutta! “Yes, I know about it,” laughed Dutta, “and I feel quite like a king in Salt Lake!”

The host institute put up acts too.

Mime Nemo performs a piece (The Telegraph picture)

Gestures galore

What with the language barrier, some artistes had to resort to mime whenever away from their interpreters.

“When I was thirsty I had to mime out a glass of water but Mexicans must have a reputation of being big drinkers, for someone handed me a glass of wine instead!” said the 6.5ft tall Kakool, through his Spanish interpreter Saptak Ghosh, who couldn’t stop laughing.

The Turkish Selen generously used words like “namaste” and “dhanyavaad” and the Japanese women, who said they loved how colourful Indian clothes were, wore salwars throughout their stay.

Poor Nemo’s face looked flushed in the heat but his lips never stopped smiling. “It’s about 30 degrees colder in Germany than Calcutta right now,” he said.

To new beginnings

The ambassador of the World Mime Organisation said he wanted India to join the body, given that the country has a high reputation in the field.

“It has been our dream to hold an international mime fest in Calcutta,” said the institute’s founder Goswami, a Padmashree awardee who has performed in places as remote as Afghanistan and North Korea.

• Salt Lake Theatre will hold its 18th annual theatre festival from December 5 at Laban Hrad Mancha in BD Block. Six plays will be staged, including one by Nandikar. The opening play Babai will have Debshankar Haldar and Subhasis Mukherjee in the lead.