Theatre mujhe zinda rakhta hai: Manoj Joshi

Manoj Joshi, who was in Vadodara recently for a theatre festival organised by Parul University, says that the medium will always remain his first love. Joshi, who performed his acclaimed play Chanakya, shares, “It has been almost 37 years since I have been performing this play (more than 1,700 shows) and it has been staged in almost every corner of the country. But I have never felt bored. I try to do something slightly different with every show. There is a huge difference between doing a film, show or OTT project and performing live. I can’t describe it in words, but theatre mujhe zinda rakhta hai. I am glad to see Gujarat hosting theatre festivals. It’s a much-needed initiative because the medium teaches you a lot about our rich history and culture, and also makes the audience think about relevant issues. Whenever I perform in Vadodara, I am reminded of the immense contribution of Sayajirao Gaekwad III towards promoting arts.”

He adds, “Playing Chanakya has also helped me in becoming a better person. It has taught me how to work selflessly and always put the nation first. One should never be celf-centred and should always think about how they can contribute to society. Doing good plays is immensely satisfying and theatre always inspires me to do good work in other mediums too. There’s something about live art, where the audience participates in real time, that other mediums can never match.”

He was also asked about the language row in states like Maharashtra and Karnataka. Joshi shared, “Har bhasha ka samman karna chahiye. However, our Constitution never supports fighting over languages, isn’t it? We should respect our Constitution.”

‘The audience wants substance now’

Responding to a query about some big-budget Hindi films that had a lot of violence doing well in recent times, Joshi, who says “I hate the word Bollywood,”, shares, “One can’t deny the visual impact of cinema. But overall, it is evident that the audience wants substance now. I believe that for creative people like us, self-censorship is important. I try and do projects where the audience takes away something at the end of it. When you are into performing arts, it’s important to be responsible and think about the impact of your work too.”