Gangar confirms that veteran theatre person Vijaya Mehta has already planned a few more workshops at NCPA given the popularity of the subject that attracted cinema and theatre fans alike.
His first workshop on Saturday may have been quite a hit with young theatre and cinema enthusiasts, where Amrit Gangar, film critic, author and a jury member of several international film festivals, discussed the nuances of adapting theatre to cinema.
Gangar confirms that veteran theatre person Vijaya Mehta has already planned a few more workshops at NCPA given the popularity of the subject that attracted cinema and theatre fans alike.
While Gangar for his first workshop discussed the aspects of adaptations using the classic example of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and its contemporary adaptations by famous Japanese film-maker Akira Kurosawa (Throne of Blood) and Vishal Bhardwaj (Maqbool), he plans to introduce Shakespeare’s King Lear and draw parallels with Dadasaheb Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra in his next workshop.
Explaining his project, Gangar points out, “One of the biggest challenges about adapting theatre into cinema is to interpret classical plays from the point of view of contemporary, local flavours.” For example, Gangar points out that Kurosawa heavily borrowed from the Japanese theatre style of Noh to adapt the play
into a movie.
Gangar also reminds us that Marathi theatre has been one of the frontrunners in the Indian theatre circle that has excelled at adaptations from older classical texts. He says, “As far as the Marathi stage is concerned, they have been doing adaptations from as early as the 19th century. For Indians, Shakespeare’s plays have ruled over Kalidasa’s in terms of adaptations.
Back in 1881, Gangar points out, that Ganpatrao Joshi established the Shahunagarvasi Natak Mandal that started adapting from Shakespeare’s famous literary works. One of the effective tools of adaptations according to the film critic is the dexterous use of space and time.
In the process, he raises an interesting point, “Acting may be the primary tool in theatre, but again in its adaptation on the big screen, more than acting it is the concept of space and time that becomes big.” Gangar’s next series of workshops is titled Roopantar.
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