Neil Bhoopalam cannot stay away from theatre for too long. Soon after Masaba Masaba season 2 and Four More Shots Please season 3 started streaming, it is the Indian production of British playwright Tom Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour that the actor is looking forward to.
Directed by Bruce Guthrie and to be performed on the NCPA stage, the play sees Bhoopalam in the role of Alexander Ivanov, a political dissident who is thrown in a mental asylum for voicing his opinions.
The actor spoke about the blurring of lines between the mediums and his training in theatre which has prepared him for them. Excerpts:
You play a political prisoner in Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. What drew you to the text and the part?
I had met Bruce Guthrie briefly earlier. Then a friend told me about the play and asked if I could come for a reading. I read it and loved it. I have performed in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound, and I have seen Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
This is a play with an orchestra. There are actually two scripts, one with dialogues and another with music. For some of our monologues, we need to fit that rhythm, and I have never been trained like that. Perhaps internationally, actors are trained in acting, physical movement and music but I don’t have that kind of training.
To have this, and then to have top-notch set design and costumes was a plus. I knew they had done readings with many people. I was just hoping it would come my way and fortunately it did.
Can you take us through the rehearsal process?
I have always liked the rehearsal process. Even if you go on a film set, I love the preparation for the role. I always feel it’s like cooking a biryani; it takes that much time. If you hurry it up, it won’t be good.
Our director Bruce is really good. He has patience and at the same time, he means business. It is a five-week rehearsal with two weeks of shows. So it’s a seven-week project. There is a fair amount of movement in the play, and we have movement director Rachel D’Souza for that. For instance, if one is on a hunger strike, how will they move after that? So even that kind of specialised work is new for me.
We have seen you on television, in films and now on OTT platforms but your training ground has been theatre. Was it a conscious decision to continue doing theatre?
Post Shaitan and No One Killed Jessica - which is the beginning of me getting film-related work - I wanted to understand how to balance everything. Should I give up theatre? My family is not from showbiz, so there was no advice coming from home. I had to figure it out for myself. I have these calendars at home. I counted and realised I have 75 days on set and 75 days in the theatre - that’s 150 days of productive work in a year which is not bad at all. I would like to maintain that mathematics because the arts have no structure unless you give it some structure. The training I am getting here - I will be able to use it for the next ten years until I start training again for something else.
Do you think lines between mediums have blurred now?
I am a performing artist. It doesn’t matter which stage I am on. Initially, perhaps, I had to remind myself what I am. Am I a film actor? A theatre actor? No, I am an artist. Wherever one gets an opportunity to showcase their skills, one should take it.
We saw you recently in 'Masaba Masaba' season 2 and then in 'Four More Shots Please' season 3. Are you enjoying the romantic comedy space?
Yes, I never got it earlier! My seniors are still romancing 20-year-olds, so I still have time (laughs). I like comedy. Initially, most of the work I was getting was more to do with looking the part. I want to make silent comedies for India. I would not like to leave before doing that.
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour is on at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, from November 4-6, 2022.