By RAMNATH N PAI RAIKAR | NT NETWORK
Sakharam Binder, a 1972 play starring Nilu Phule and Lalan Sarang, and written by Vijay Tendulkar was banned by the Maharashtra government in 1974 for its powerful sexual overtones.

Sakharam Binder, the protagonist, does not care for the system and has no regard for culture and societal values. A bookbinder by profession, Sakharam picks up discarded married women, the cast-off wives, who would otherwise be homeless, destitute or murdered with impunity, and takes them in as domestic servants and sex partners.
He rules his home like a dictator. However, each woman is told that she is free to leave whenever she likes. In such cases, he is even willing to give them a sari, 50 rupees and a ticket to wherever they want to go. “Everything is good and proper, where Sakharam Binder is concerned,” he says, arguing that he is no husband to forget common decency. What he does not anticipate are the moral and emotional complications of this arrangement, which prove heartbreakingly ruinous to everyone involved.
Let's begin with your latest play, 'Sex, Morality and Censorship'... It's a very interesting play primarily as it is based on a true incident, or a series of incidents linked to 'Sakharam Binder', a revolutionary Marathi play written by Vijay Tendulkar in early 1970s, and secondly as this particular production has play within play format... The play also went through research and rehearsals for almost a year. How difficult was it to bring this play on to the stage?
The process of arriving at a text ready for production took about 8 months of work. In the beginning Shanta Gokhale, created a detailed structure of ideas and possible characters around which we could work. Then Irawati Karnik worked on the research, and when we had sufficient material we worked on fleshing it out into a playable script. Through the 8 months, all three of us were engaged in intensive discussions about how the play could take shape.
And then you adopted the folk theatre of Maharashtra - Tamasha to narrate the tale of this play. Don't you think if the play was in Marathi instead of being in Hindi, it would have made more impact? Did you want to reach a wider audience with Hindi?
Yes, the credit of bringing the Tamasha tradition into the framework of the play goes to Shanta. She was very keen that we explore a tradition that has now been sanitised, and robbed of its political and social vitality by the conservative forces of society. Of course, the ‘natural’ language of the play is Marathi, but you are right, we wanted to reach out to wider audiences across the country. Nevertheless, we have learnt over a period of time how to colour our texts with the ethos of Marathi, so that many people remember as having seen the play in Marathi rather than in Hindi.
Making a statement on, or rather against the government of Maharashtra's Stage Performance Scrutiny Board created under the Police Act and administered by the State Cultural Affairs Department was a risky proposition. Did you face trouble in getting 'Sex, Morality and Censorship' on stage?
No. We have had no trouble either from the state, or sections of society while staging over 50 performances of the play across the country. In fact, we had the active co-operation of the Stage Scrutiny Board in accessing important documents relevant to the Sakharam Binder case!
Now coming to your career, how did your initiation in the world of theatre begin?
I was always interested in theatre from my school days and had the opportunity of being inspired by stalwarts like Roshan Seth and Dina Pathak, who worked with us in school. When I returned to Mumbai in 1973, I met Satyadev Dubey for the first time, and when I saw his brilliant production of ‘Hayavadana’, I knew at once that I wanted to do theatre for the rest of my life. I worked with Dubey as an actor, assistant, colleague for ten years, and then began to direct independently.
You formed your own drama unit 'Arpana' in mid 1980s. Is it necessary for every theatre director to run a drama unit, especially for coming out with productions of his choice?
I think, it was important for us to find our own voice at one point in our growth, and Dubey always encouraged people to move away from him. In fact he asked us to leave his theatre group and work independently. He wanted us to make our own mistakes, and take credit for our own successes.
You were a protégé of the legendary stage personality, Pt Satyadev Dubey; his most favourite disciple, like Arjuna to Dronacharya. Panditji, unfortunately, is no more with us. Can you share some of his memories with us?
I was 17 when I began working with Dubey and the association continued until he passed away. So really I have known him for the better part of my life. It’s hard to relate discrete memories. Suffice it to say that he was the powerful influence on my theatre life. He had the ability to reach out and touch people of all kinds, and especially the young.
You acted in a movie - 'Kalyug', then went to write episodes of the television serials - 'Bharat Ek Khoj' as well as 'Yatra', and also turned to documentary making - 'The Sword and the Spear' and the national Award winning 'Malhar Raag', but did not stay for long in these mediums... Any specific reason...
I moved to making documentaries in 1994 after many years in television. I still make documentaries. It’s just that my theatre work is more public!
From 1980s to 2012, how has the Hindi theatre or rather, Indian theatre evolved, in both positive and negative ways? Has the technology overtaken the content, as it has done in every other field of creativity? And most importantly, have you allowed it to happen in your own plays?
I don’t really see theatre in terms of language anymore. I work, for example, comfortably in Hindi, English, Marathi and now even in Gujarati. It’s really the kind of theatre that is being done that has become important. In Mumbai, we have had a boom in theatre making, over the last several years. Many, many plays are being done now. Quality varies, of course! Theatre today is often seen as yet another entertainment product in the marketplace. And this is not a bad thing necessarily, but as practitioners we need to find our own place in this new scenario. The challenge is to be able to do the kind of plays we want to do, and at the same time survive without dependence on corporates or the government. 
Does today's theatre miss people like Dubeyji, Tendulkar, Mohan Rakesh, Badal Sarkar, Habib Tanvir, Chetan Datar... Or it has found replacements according to changing times?
Oh yes, we have many, many new people of talent and tremendous potential working in the theatre today.
One final question, do you like directing plays which are linked to true incidents, especially as you have directed, 'Sex...', 'Cotton 56, Polyester 84', based on the textile mill culture of Mumbai and 'Dreams of Taleem' exploring the stage personality, Chetan Datar.
I am very interested in history, yes, and in social contexts, so that does colour my choice of plays. But my next production is an adaptation in Gujarati of Shakespeare’s play, ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’... So that is something different!