Vijaya Mehta’s eyes were always twinkling, her smile was always warm, her sari usually a collector’s piece. She put on no elder statesman airs.
But when she was in director mode, she allowed her actors and technicians no slack.
Deepa Gahlot doffs her hat to the undisputed doyenne of Marathi theatre and one of India’s most influential directors and actors.
Key Points
- Vijaya Mehta, known as ‘Bai,’ was a pioneering figure in Indian theatre, particularly Marathi experimental theatre, and is considered one of the greatest directors and actors of her time.
- She received diverse training from figures like Ebrahim Akazi and worked internationally, bringing a modern sensibility to both traditional Indian plays and Western classics.
- Beyond theatre, she made significant contributions to film as an actress and director, and her autobiography, Zimma: Aathvanicha Gof, chronicles the evolution of Indian theatre.
Vijaya Mehta would say, ‘Call me Bai,’ dismissing the formality of ‘Mrs Mehta’.
So when there is talk of Indian theatre and a mention of Bai, everybody knows the reference is to Vijaya Mehta, often labelled Czarina of Theatre in the media, unarguably one of the greatest directors (and actors) of the Indian stage and undisputed doyenne of Marathi theatre.
Her eyes were always twinkling, her smile was always warm, her sari usually a collector’s piece. She put on no elder statesman airs.
But when she was in director mode, she allowed her actors and technicians no slack. That’s why each of her plays is like a milestone.
‘She became a leading light of the renaissance of Marathi theatre’
Vijaya Jaywant was born in a progressive Maharashtrian family that believed in education for girls, and also the choice of career at a time when there were very few women in showbusiness; she was related to acting stalwarts Nalini Jaywant and Shobhna Samarth and her first husband was the son of screen legend Durga Khote.
The influence of Mahatma Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narayan and reformers like Jyotiba Phule and Maharishi Karve was strong on upper class Maharashtrian families, and it was a period of breaking or changing the rules that was liberating for women.
She got her training from people as diverse as Ebrahim Alkazi, Adi Marzban and Madhav Chakyar. She trained and worked in theatre in Germany, the UK and the US, worked with Peter Brook and Fritz Bennewitz. But in Mumbai, she became a leading light of the renaissance of Marathi theatre, and led the experimental movement.
Vijaya Mehta went on to found Rangayan with Vijay Tendulkar, Arvind Deshpande, Shriram Lagoo and Bhaskar Chandavarkar among others, and some of the most iconic work of experimental theatre was done at the Bhulabhai Memorial Institute (in south Mumbai) and later at the hall of the Chhabildas School in Dadar (central Mumbai).
The great experimental theatre movement that started back then has made it possible for theatre in Maharashtra to be so rich and varied today.
Considering that in a relatively liberal state like Maharashtra, female stage directors and playwrights can be counted on the fingers of one hand, Bai’s achievement is remarkable.
‘When she had a relaxed chat, it was with a sense of humour’
Under the cheerful and affectionate demeanour was a tough woman, with ambition, a sharp mind and steely will, who never shied away from confrontation.
She kept honing talent with every workshop that she conducted, well into her 80s, as a way of enriching her own mind and connecting with young people. Both her sons Ravi and Deven Khote, and daughter Anahita Uberoi nee Mehta, with second husband Farrokh Mehta are artistically inclined, so she must have been an inspiration at home too.
The diversity of her training and influences meant that she could bring a modern sensibility to traditional plays like Bhasa’s Mudra Rakshasa, Kalidas’ Shakuntala and Girish Karnad’s Hayavadan and Nagamandala. She introduced plays by Brecht and Ionesco to an Indian audience with her own unique interpretation, like as Ajab Nyay Vartulacha (The Caucasian Chalk Circle), Devajine Karuna Keli (The Good Woman of Setzuan and Chairs.
She was equally confident in directing plays by modern Marathi playwrights like Vijay Tendulkar (Shrimant, one of her earliest plays as director), C T Khanolkar’s Ek Shoonya Bajirao or Jaywant Dalvi’s Purush.
Her discipline and erudition allowed her to take on administrative assignments to head the National School of Drama and the National Centre for the Performing Arts.
Dealing with the problems of running institutions can dull creativity, but Bai never let that happen to her. When she worked, it was with unquestionable authority. When she had a relaxed chat, it was with a sense of humour. Whatever she did, it was with passion and enthusiasm with which she infected whoever worked with her.
‘Her legacy is her pioneering spirit’
If Bai had an enviably accomplished career on stage, she also left her mark on films as an actress (Kalyug, Party) and a director (Pestonjee, Rao Saheb).
Her serial Lifeline was a landmark on Doordarshan.
She wrote a thick doorstopper of an autobiography, Zimma: Aathvanicha Gof, which is not just about her life, but about the journey and evolution of theatre in India, in which she played a starring role.
She worked on it for months, putting into it the same meticulousness which she poured into her plays and the films she directed.
There were awards, of course. India’s highest creative honours, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Direction (1975), the Padma Shri (1986), a National Film Award (1986 for Best Supporting Actress, Rao Saheb), and the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Ratna (2012). But her legacy is her pioneering spirit, her extraordinary vision and the memories she leaves behind with the people she inspired.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
