• LEHER KALA: Would you begin by speaking about your experience as the director of the National School of Drama (NSD) from1962 to 1977?

For me it was an extraordinary change of atmosphere, coming from Mumbai, and the kind of people with whom I was associated. NSD was located in what was then known as the outskirts of Delhi — Kailash Colony. At the time it was called the Asian Theatre Institute. The building belonged to a tent-wallah who used it to make wedding arrangements. I was amazed to find that there were paan stains all over the place, the walls were flaking, the place exuded a peculiar kind of atmosphere. I had to clean the toilets myself — they were filthy. I thought it was important for me to do that, it’s basic, it’s where you start.

Also, to my horror, I discovered that we had an advisory committee and that our finances and money were with the Sangeet Natak Akademi. In order to get our monthly budget, our finance officer had to go and stand outside the door of the man who was responsible for dishing out the money at the Akademi. I found Delhi to be a bureaucratic city, but since I was from Mumbai, with no clue about the bureaucratic structure of Delhi, I just cut through the red tape.

The place was run-down and without hope. I took up the challenge and I started work there. I realised I had to bring people together, to make them aware of their own self-respect, of their own dignity. I started out with a production of Ashad Ka Ek Din. People dismissed it as a radio play but I thought otherwise and went ahead. However, the problem was that there were no theatres. In those days there was only AIFACS. It was not air-conditioned, loud air-coolers were used, and there was a lack of lighting equipment. As a result, nobody knew what was going on onstage. So we built a stage in the yard at Kailash Colony. We put up the stage and the sets together ourselves and that helped to develop the confidence of putting a production together. At the same time we had created the right environment by sensitively responding to the playwright’s direction.

... contd.