Massage at the NCPA: Adaptation of the Vijay Tendulkar play enters its tenth year

“Learn to rise on the occasion, and not after it.”

This is just one of the many prescient, innuendo-filled observations in Massage (2003), a Hindi adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar’s Marathi original, The Masseur (2001). Massage was staged for the tenth consecutive year this weekend.

Over a span of two acts and two hours, the audience witnesses twenty-five characters. One actor, alone, plays them all. While minimalism—whether in the number of actors or the diversity of theatrical property (props)—is increasingly rare in theater today, Massage delights audiences for its very abstemiousness. “He’s amazing,” said Ruma Banerjee, a viewer, referring to the veteran film, television and theater personality Rakesh Bedi, the sole actor of the play.

The play illustrates the journey of the hapless though optimistic Happy Kumar, who enters Mumbai to become an actor. Kumar does find a job in the film industry, though as “fourth assistant director,” a position that, as he soon understands, entails being “a bina paise ka coolie,” a coolie without money. From fourth assistant director, he moves to an administrative job at a gymnasium, before settling to become a “freelance massagist,” a masseur based out of his home. 

Directed by Harbansh Singh, the play lampoons facets of city life, such as unsympathetic employers, unyielding competition, and corruption. It also illustrates the unusual circumstances an unassuming individual can find himself in, from being forced to massage his boss’ physically unpleasant wife, to having to humor an actress’ coercively amorous mother.

Through the performance, the audience convulses with glee. But the laughter and applause are a result, as Singh explains, not of crude jokes or colorful language, but perceptive wit and realistic humor. The play’s comedy revolves around day-to-day matters such as love, going to a toilet, living alongside one’s partner, the desire for physical litheness, and the abysmal reality of one’s shape. Both Singh and Bedi attribute the play’s merits to Tendulkar’s uncompromising genius, which they compare to that of Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen.

With its intelligence, wit, and reality, Massage, without surprise, continues to be popular even in its tenth years. Produced by Pratik Arts Theatre, it was staged at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) on the nights of June 16^th and 17^th. The play will be staged in various parts of the country and the world in the coming months, including at the Assam Drama Festival on August 7^th.

ONE YEAR LATER: REMEMBERING M.F. HUSAIN [1915-2011]

Since Saturday, June 9^th, two public tributes have been held in Mumbai to mark the first death anniversary of Maqbool Fida Husain, commonly known simply as MF Husain. The commemorations have sought to celebrate arguably the most recognized Indian artist in the world who, in addition to honors as diverse and considerable as his art, has won admiration for his unyielding élan. But the first death anniversary also possessed the uneasy shadow of that great Indian shame and the events surrounding it. In pandering to religious zealotry, India had expelled Husain in his final years.

TAO ART GALLERY EXHIBIT:

On the evening of the anniversary, Tao Art Gallery launched an exhibit titled Imaging a Legend: A tribute to MF Husain. A collection of images illustrates Husain’s idiosyncrasies, charms, and brilliance. The pictures capture, for instance, various among Husain’s well-known physical aspects. The long paintbrush he carried and used as a walking-cane finds its way; his elegant sartorial preferences are on display, as is his penchant for avoiding footwear. The images capture various intimate moments of the artist. Some, for instance, illustrate his childhood self, and others display his more evolved form at his nighty-fifth birthday.

Pictures depict Husain at work. He seems equally engaged with the canvas and brush at public stages, studios, and even a cricket stadium. Some photographs capture the artist with long-held associations: for instance Madhuri Dixit, his longtime inspiration, as well as his paintings of the equestrian form. There are pictures, as well, that present Husain in scenes and with personalities one would not commonly expect. One, for instance, captures him alongside Indira Gandhi.

Even as the pictures are eclectic, they possess at least one constant: Husain’s vigor for and celebration of life. A picture depicting a smiling Husain by his red Ferrari epitomizes the youthful exuberance that runs through all the pictures.

The exhibit’s curator, Niyati Shinde, who knew Husain for several years, planned the tribute with a specific purpose. “I’m a photo-historian, and the aim was to mark his memory,” she said. The idea behind the exhibit, she continued, is to “bring together carefully taken pictures of him.” The exhibit displays images from more than fifteen photographers.

Shinde has also had to keep in mind possible concerns. The gallery has received threat mail over the exhibit. Since the time Husain put brush to compromising interpretations of various Hindu deities, several Hindu groups have targeted events associated with Husain. One such instance took place at an event in Goa, two years ago, also organized by Shinde. Concerns over untoward responses to the present exhibit led Shinde to refrain from publicizing it too widely. “We purposely did not organize a wine and cheese gathering,” she joked, “though he (Husain) would have liked red wine to have been there.”

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JOY SHOES’ TRIBUTE:

Husain won hearts and designed places one would not commonly associate with him. Who would have guessed, for instance, that the design, lighting, and artwork of Joy Shoes, a shoe store in the Taj Palace Hotel, Mumbai, was all done by Husain? Every aspect of the shoe store seems to have a story associated with him. Munna Jhaveri, the owner of Joy Shoes, chuckles when asked about the footprint inscribed at the entrance to the store. “Oh, that is an old one. I took his footprints in 2004.”

Jhaveri and Husain were friends of forty years. “He offered to design the shop,” Jhaveri recounts. “I was shocked,” he exclaims, and then laughs. The shop in its present form is entirely Husain’s work. Jhaveri reminisces over Husain’s personable disposition. “He said let me do whatever I want with the store and then you would be at liberty to demolish it.”

To commemorate Husain’s first death anniversary, Jhaveri has been at work on sculptures depicting Husain. Two are ready, and on display at the store. Both are tributes to actual events. The first represents Husain with a nail and hammer in hand; while designing the store, Husain had insisted on personally nailing his artwork to the store’s walls. The second portrays Husain with his knees to the ground, crafting a sculpture on dancing girls; Husain often conducted his work with knees to the ground and Joy Shoes contains the sculpture on dancing girls.

When asked whether he had to endure any threats for commemorating Husain, Jhaveri dismissed the matter. “This controversy is almost finished. It’s not there now. It wasn’t there before also. No one cares.”

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Evidence, unfortunately, suggests otherwise. That only two public tributes were held for Husain in India’s most cosmopolitan city, of which one received threats, suggests various things. The one thing we can be sure about is that extremists are winning. Fear of extremists has increasingly silenced many among those who believe in aesthetic beauty and freedom of expression for their own sake. India had expelled some of its heritage when it expelled Husain from the country. Today, given the broadly muted response to his death anniversary, India should understand that it is increasingly allowing itself to be influenced not by its heritage, but by philistines such as those who threatened the Husain tribute at Tao.

Imaging a Legend: A tribute to MF Husain is open at the Tao Art Gallery up till June 24. It can be viewed everyday from 11am to 7pm. Munna Jhaveri at Joy Shoes is looking to put for sale a limited edition of his sculptures on Husain. While he has not finalized details, he is confident that the idea will be well received.