Two top names from Mumbai's theatre scene bond over a Brazilian meal

Quasar Padamsee left and Jehan Manekshaw enjoy a Brazilian meal at Boteco in BKC PicsSneha KharabeOveracircu00c2u0080u00c2u0088a Lunchbox conversation its not uncommon to watch guests bond over a common passion The trajectory of the creative exchange between Quasar Thakore Padamsee and Jehan Manekshaw however is also indicative of the collaborative energy that runs through the citys vibrant theatre circuit today While Jehans decision to return to Mumbai from London to pursue a career in theatre was based on the reassurance offered by one of Quasars productions he watched Thespo the youth theatre festival that Quasar cofounded in 1999 often sees participation by the students of Jehans The Drama School Mumbai DSMOne of their many collaborations is the upcoming series of workshops on physical theatre that will be held across cities in India As the two theatrewallahs catch up over a meal at a BKC restaurant several names from Mumbais art circuit surface in their conversation a heartwarming affirmation of how closeknit and symbiotic the community has grown to beQuasar When we started out theatre in Mumbai was like anything else with minor resources So you became insular mdash my actors my dates my space my ironing person mdash and it was needed then to survive Over time actors began to freelance At the younger generation level a network started forming Someone like an Arghya Lahiri was directing one play lighting another and doing sound for someone elses play all within a festival scenario That changed how we worked with each otherJehan The nice thing about Bombay theatre today is that there is interconnectedness He entered the scene a lot before I did And I never experienced this cliqueyness thanks to the groundwork that QTP Quasars company had laid in their founding yearsQuasar And what DSM students are doing is showing up theatre veterans Much as we love it theatre is the second thing you do because you are doing something else to put food on the table so the discipline gets slack When these students turn up on time and prepared others realise what they have to matchChefcoowner Guto Souza gladly plays guide and suggests an assorted platter of coxinha pork momos salmon gravlax camarao Copacabana and pao de queijo com linguica and escondidinho for starters and mix grillJehan Why dont you tear into this escondidinhoQuasar We are on a date Jehan You take half I take half I think more importantly there are two leftwingers eating beef Thats a real statementJehan I think its buffQuasar Of course its buffSnigdha So where does food fit in for theatrewallahsQuasar My mother loves feeding people and she knows that theatre people are hungry No matter how much food you keep backstage its never enoughJehan I had been to Chennai recently where I watched rehearsals of a young theatre company A theatre veteran would drop by with sandwiches every day because he believed in their workQuasar In fact there is something called Moonlight Cafe in Mumbai which is run by a bunch of actors who all like to cook on the side It is a formalisation of what used to happen at rehearsalsQuasar PadamseeJehan You know the word company comes from compania which means to eat together And a theatre company is a company of people who eat togetherQuasar Theatre is one of those few areas where you work as a community to create something Theatre makes people betterJehan If you are sitting on the magic potion to make a universe full of better human beings then shouldnt it be the job of theatrewallahs to make a bigger impact beyond the stage Everyone can do with a few drama workshopsJehan ManekshawSnigdha You have both taken theatre beyond Mumbai How do you see it at a panIndian levelQuasar For theatre in India everything thats true the exact opposite is also true What however the country needs as it gets urbanised is more small community spaces You need more Prithivis across India because we are building soulless cities These spaces are now coming up in Bombay thanks to artisteled initiatives And that is really interestingJehan I was on a panel discussion with this gentleman and what occurred to me was within a 3km radius of the Royal Opera House there are eight to 10 auditoriums which basically makes it a theatre district Why cant it be that one of the key things that anybody who visits Mumbai does is catch a play in the theatre district like they would in London or New York That would be something