All for joy

The first impression one gets on meeting theatre artiste Joy Sengupta is that he is very passionate about what he does. Seema Sachdeva meets this 35-year-old, who was recently in Chandigarh for 30 Days in September.

I was always interested in acting. I had formed my own theatre group Act One before doing an advanced course in theatre from Living Theatre Academy run by Ebrahim Alkazi in Delhi. My association with Lillete Dubey began 10 years ago with Dance Like a Man. Since then there has been no looking back.

It is the freshness of a role that attracts me. The roles that I have done so far have been varied. From that of an aspiring dancer in Dance Like A Man to a homosexual in On a Muggy Night in Mumbai, written by Mahesh Dattani, to playing varying characters in Womanly voices, there has been an enormous range of characters that I have played.

The most difficult role so far had been playing eight different characters in Womanly Voices, a theatrical presentation of three short stories. Written in different languages, these short stories — Wajeda Tabassum’s Utaran, Mahashweta Devi’s Shishu and Gita Mehta’s The Teacher’s Story — represented diverse writing styles which made it quite difficult to stage. The issues ranged from sexuality to spirituality.

Although my family has been quite supportive of my decision, however, they had their reservations. Like most Indian parents, they felt that theatre was fine for a hobby but in the long run I should opt for a more lucrative profession. It took them time to reconcile but they finally relented.

It is only for economic reasons that I do TV serials but given a choice I prefer to perform on stage. The small screen lacks the vitality and freshness of theatre that comes with a direct participatory relationship with the audience. TV as a medium does not leave much scope for individual growth and development.

The scenario on the small screen has changed much after Kaun Banega Crorepati. Before KBC, serials like Hum Log, Buniyaad and Tara had lot of substance with their strong characters. After KBC, television has became totally corporatised. The programmes these days have become consumable commodities that project a few prototypes with a certain audience in mind. I acted in a daily soap Bhabhi for about a year but left it after I felt that the 16-hour work shift everyday was taking away all my creativity.

My tryst with acting had been very simple. I was picked by Govind Nihalani for his Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa at a workshop for children at Durga Das Foundation in Chandigarh. His another film Deham, based on Manjula Padmanabhan’s play Harvest, was a great learning experience. After these, I was labelled an ‘art film actor’. Two Bengali films in which I acted received accolades. Abhijit Chaudhuri’s Patalghar got two national awards while Bhalo Theko got three.

What are your latest projects?

I have finished working in Bappaditya Roy’s Sau Jhooth Ek Sach based on J. B. Priestley’s play An Inspector Calls which got the Silver Bear at the Lyons International Film Festival in France. The film is due for release in India by June. Another film that I am doing is by painter-turned-director Anish Ahluwalia Kya Ho Tum.

I am an idealist. I have in me the Bengali idealism, Delhi’s steel and Mumbai’s market sense since I was born in Kolkata, brought up in Delhi and settled in Mumbai. I get my juice from theatre.