How Shakespeare speaks to us about us

When this column celebrates birth anniversaries of famous writers, how can April go by without a column on William Shakespeare (April 23, 1564 — April 23, 1616), on his 460th birth anniversary. It is true that Shakespeare came to us with colonialism, may even have been introduced to India as part of a ‘civilising mission’, may have been seen as a good foundation for an education meant to turn out officials working for the white rulers, but Shakespeare came to occupy a different place in the theatrical (and later cinematic) world and was also seen as a playwright who could be approached and read from various Indian points of view. It is very often said that after the blackout of Shakespeare during the high nationalistic phase, we got back to his plays only after Independence with a new confidence, beginning with translations and productions by Utpal Dutt in Bengali.

While this may be true, early productions and translations of Shakespeare constantly Indianised his plays. While visiting troupes performed Shakespeare in Bombay (Mumbai) and Calcutta (Kolkata) from the second half of the 18th century, his plays began to be performed by Indians in the 19th century. In Mysore, the Maharaja was the patron of the Palace Company which was formed in 1881. They performed Shakespeare’s plays in Kannada and the translations changed the settings and the names of characters so as to not alienate the audiences. This resulted in interesting changes. Ananda Rao, who translated ‘Romeo and Juliet’, writes that many parts of the play would appeal to only an English audience and had to be changed. Most significantly, he changes the ending of ‘Ramavarma-Lilavati’ (1889) by adding a short scene where the friar prays to God that the lovers be saved, and God obliges. The lovers come back alive and live happily ever after. Ananda Rao felt that according to Indian conventions, plays should have a happy ending. You can see such changes in many Indian languages.

While changing names and settings is almost to be expected, it is this imposition of Indian theatrical conventions that make late 19th century translations/performances interesting. Girish Chandra Ghosh, one of the major figures in Bengali theatre, translated ‘Macbeth’ in 1893. The changes he effects in the play start right at the beginning! While he kept close to Shakespeare otherwise, the structure he adopts is of Sanskrit plays. Sanskrit plays begin with naandi, a prayer or benedictory verse, followed by a prologue that speaks about the play to be performed. Ghosh says here that this play of his is his token of appreciation to the great playwright Shakespeare. There are other ways in which Ghosh Indianises the play, making it speak to the Bengali audience.

All this is to point out that we have a history of appropriating Shakespeare’s plays, enriching our theatres, while our conventions and worldview had an impact on the plays. So, while it is true that Utpal Dutt brought insouciance to the translation and performance of Shakespeare, which could be seen later in Habib Tanvir’s versions as well, it is only a renewed attempt by a resurgent Independent India. So Shakespeare was performed not just in different languages, but also in different performance traditions like Kathakali.

Shakespeare has had such an impact that we see echoes of his plays in many of our movies made in India. However, I want to highlight the adaptations of Shakespeare by Hindi cinema which I have seen and liked. Gulzar’s ‘Angoor’ (1982), which is based on ‘Comedy of Errors’, is a brilliant adaptation. I recommend that you should watch it if you haven’t or even if you did a long time ago! Jumping to this century, I will recommend Vishal Bhardwaj’s trilogy — ‘Maqbool’ (2003), ‘Omkara’ (2006) and ‘Haider’ (2014). They are based on ‘Macbeth’, ‘Othello’ and ‘Hamlet’, respectively. ‘Macbeth’ becomes a gangster film set in the Bombay underworld, ‘Omkara’ about the political system in Uttar Pradesh, and ‘Haider’ about the Kashmir conflict in the mid-1990s. Thus, the colonial imposition Shakespeare still inspires and entertains us, nor have his plays lost their political edge under a different sky! He can speak to us about us!