Naseeruddin Shah, who is performing Ismat Apa Ke Naam this evening, on why creative imagination must break free

It's not every day that you get to see the talented Shah family on stage. Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah and their daughter Heeba Shah bring to life Ismat Chughtai's work by presenting three of her stories Mughal Bachche, Chui Muee and Gharwali at the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall this evening.u00a0

The performance is a fundraiser for the India Foundation for the Arts, an independent grant-making organisation headquartered in Bangalore.

Clad in maroon trousers and printed kurti, petite Ratna confesses that the family had first staged Ismat Apa Ke Naam in Bangalore in 2002 "with fingers crossed". She feared that very few people would appreciate an Urdu production deep south.

"But from the second line itself, the audience was amazingly responsive. This didn't happen in Delhi, where more people speak Hindustani/ Urdu. It's great that Bangalore has a theatre culture. The audience here is open to new ideas," she said and Naseer nodded in complete agreement. Take a bow, Bangalore!

Finding Ismat Apa

That both Naseer and Ratna adore Ismat Chughtai is evident from the reverential way in which they describe her stories. "Witty, compassionate, wry, ironic and feminist, her stories find resonance even 60 years after she wrote them. I am yet to come across a storyteller like her whose every story gripped me completely," said Naseer.
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Growing up, as he did, in small town in Meerut, he connected with the milieu that Ismat Apa wrote about. "I saw members of my own family in her stories. Though Motley Productions, which I co-founded, began work with English plays, I was always keen to do plays in our own language. When I read Ismat Apa, I felt impelled to take her stories to the stage," he says.

Though Ratna and Heeba weren't as convinced as Naseer, worried as they were about audience acceptance, the actor was convinced that with a strong script, presented with as much skill and passion they could muster, they were sure to connect with their audience.

His faith was vindicated. They've performed over 200 shows of Ismat Apa Ke Naam, from Dubai to London to Michigan, to packed houses. Forget the standing ovation every time the curtains come down, they've had people following them backstage, telling them how much they identify with the stories.

"And what is more encouraging is that, every time we stage this performance, young faces comprise 70 per cent of the audience. May be we are doing something right," says Naseer with a gentle smile.

Naseer, unplugged

Naseeruddin Shah is seething. His flashing eyes are the only give away. You're sure he wants to tell off the cameramen trailing him all the way from door to dais, but he chooses to stare straight ahead at nothing, almost willing the flashbulbs to stop popping. And when they do, there's a magical transformation in the man.u00a0
He looks people straight in the eye, he offers generous doses of his wry humour, he listens with endearing and unwavering attention when wife Ratna speaks, and he shoots, straight from the hip, on subjects ranging from 'mindless' Bollywood films to 'frivolous' Broadway productions.