A Mother's role

A Mother's role

After 24 housefull shows in America, the Hindi adaptation of Ashok Patole's Marathi play, Aai Retire Hote Ahe Maa Retire Hoti Hai finally comes to Mumbai as a full-fledged commercial venture. And its director Ramesh Talwar is confident of repeating that success. "Of course, the overwhelming response is because of the stage presence of Jaya Bachchan. People start clapping even before she utters a single word. They give her a standing ovation. Her fans flock to her after the show."

The story of a typical Indian mother who never retires from her family responsibilities, the play looks at the thanklessness of this job. And when the script landed on Talwar's desk through producer Sanjay Goradia he had no doubt about who would play the lead. "I approached Jayaji immediately after Goradia's proposal came my way. She agreed mainly because she has always been interested in the theme of thankless jobs done by so many Indian mothers."

But Talwar's association with Jaya Bachchan dates back to 1974 when sheassisted him on the sets of Kabhi Kabhi, a Yash Chopra film starring her husband Amitabh. Talwar also worked with her in another film made for ABCL. In fact even the association through Maa... is not a new one. Talwar had met producer Goradia, who had acquired the rights of the play from Patole Patole's original Marathi play, starring Bhakti Barve-Inamdar, was highly successful, as was its Gujarati version starring Padma Rani and with Shafi Inamdar had planned to make a film with Jaya Bachchan in the leading role.

The venture unfortunately was stymied by Shafi Inamdar's death. Also when the project finally fructified with Talwar playing husband to the protagonist taking to the stage was not easy. "Having faced the camera for so many years, Jayaji was not accustomed to the ways of the stage. She wondered whether she would be able to remember an 80-page script for over an hour! But being a seasoned natural artiste, she learnt the ropes in six weeks time."

And yet, the troupe avoided the city for thelongest time. "Financially speaking, it is not easy to consistently run shows in Mumbai. The economics of survival in Mumbai is very different from other cities. Moreover, Mumbai has a regular theatre-going audience with specific demands. It is an audience for which many other star attractions are available, like cinema, television and internet. That's why we did not want to take risks.

Now things have fallen in place." So much so, that Talwar is staging another Hindi play in the US, around the same time Maa... opened last year with Jaya Bachchan again as the lead. "The second play, Doctor Mukta, is also a family drama revolving around a woman." Maa Retire Hoti Hai at Nehru Centre, Worli. On Jan 16. Time: 7.30 pm.