A documentary film relives the rehearsal
process of a successful stage show and pays
tribute to the veterans of the Parsi stage
Farrokh Jijina
Director-producer Divya Cowasji had never intended her celluloid footage on The Show Must Go On to be a film. "I went to the cast’s rehearsals with one camera… I thought I would shoot some scenes and give it to the production team as a keepsake… I wondered if it would be of interest to a larger audience… But I kept going back every day…We ended up with 100 hours of footage.” The young director spoke before a select audience at the National Centre for the Performing Arts’ (NCPA) Godrej Dance Theatre on February 3, 2023 after a screening of her film. Co-director and co-producer, Divya’s brother Jall stated that when they "seriously” started editing the 60-minute film during the pandemic, "we spent the first three months just looking at it again and again.”
In communication with Parsiana after the show, Divya said that for the siblings the "biggest highlight of making this film has been seeing the way it has resonated with audiences…This experience reached its pinnacle at the screening at the NCPA… It was so special, being in that room, feeling the raw emotion from each person… Having the cast and crew present was nerve wracking and delightful in equal measure… Though Jall and I have seen the film what feels like no less than a million times, we too were watching it with fresh eyes… It was so overwhelming that just like the compere (Jim Vimadalal) we could barely speak after it was over.”
Top, clockwise from l: Bomi Dotiwala, Shernaz Patel, Meher Marfatia, Moti Antia, Sam Kerawalla,
Jall Cowasji, Divya Cowasji Photo: NCPA; inset: cover of brochure
Top from l, 1st row: at a rehearsal; Dinyar Contractor with Kerawalla;
2nd row: Dolly and Bomi Dotiwala Photo: Meher Marfatia/ Laughter in the House;
audience Photo: NCPA; above: Burjor and Ruby Patel
Divya told Parsiana on the sidelines of the screening that her interest in Parsi theater started when she was interviewing community members for her previous award-winning documentary Qissa-e-Parsi: the Parsi story in 2014. "So when I got the opportunity to be at the rehearsals, I jumped at it.”
Co-directed and co-produced by the siblings under the banner of Bhai Bahen Films, The Show… describes the cast’s antics during the rehearsals of Laughter in the House produced and presented by NCPA and Ardeshir Dubash six years ago (see "Hilarity in the house,” Parsiana, March 7, 2017). A revue, much like an Adi Marzban production, Laughter… featured skits, sketches and musical performances by some of the veterans of the Bombay stage such as Sam Kerawalla, Ruby and Burjor Patel, Dolly and Bomi Dotiwala, Moti Antia, Dinyar Contractor along with new talent like Jasmin Siganporia, Rashna Karai and Meiron Damania. The cast included Naushad Buchia, Danesh Irani, Danesh Khambatta and Parinaz Jal.
Laughter… found its inspiration in journalist and author Meher Marfatia and photographer-filmmaker Sooni Taraporevala’s eponymous coffee table book on Parsi theater down the ages. The book birthed two successful seasons (2012 and 2017) of a revival of performances by old stars, singers, directors and technicians of the Parsi stage. All the black and white archival photos in The Show… are from their book, Marfatia told Parsiana. "I volunteered at rehearsals and with the creative team,” she stated.
The joie de vivre of the seniors while rehearsing, their support for new talent and for each other come alive under Cowasji’s camera, as do memorable little asides: the cast’s recital of Ashem Vohu before the final show; singer Hormuz Ragina’s clowning around; singer Kayo Billimoria’s frustration with his grey hair; Kerawalla teaching a young actress to flirt with an older man ["Jarra vaaki chooki thaa (sway your body a little…bend towards him)”]; the snacking together during breaks; jitters before the opening night and minor temper tantrums.
As stated the Cowasjis’ press kit: "The ageing icons of Parsi theater return to the stage, putting aside their walking sticks and wheelchairs for one final curtain… The players want to put up the best show they can, not merely good enough, given its ‘senior citizen’ tag.
"A great tragedy befalls the cast on the eve of the final show,” the press note stated. The cast lost Dolly Dotiwala suddenly; her husband Bomi, unfazed, turned up for the staging after her uthamna and even touchingly sang "Tehmina tu paachhi aav (Tehmina come back)”
The pervading presence of the late dramatist and editor Adi Marzban is palpable in the film. The senior actors spoke of him in reverential terms: Ruby shared how Marzban taught her to project her voice; Kerawalla talked of their relationship that "soured,” but the respect that continued. Marzban was not averse to "insulting his players in front of everyone,” said one actor, a vignette repeated when, in the film, director Kerawalla angrily insists that an actress "should have had the courtesy to inform him” if she left rehearsals early.
"Overwhelmed”
Vimadalal, who had compered both the 2012 and 2017 versions of Laughter…, coordinated questions from the audience after the show. Kerawalla, Bomi and Antia were in the audience. The now-frail Kerawalla spoke of being "overwhelmed” after seeing the film. "All the actors could emote — without rehearsals,” he jested. Bomi was more voluble: He admitted he "would not have been here” had he taken Marzban’s temper tantrums to heart. "I have worked with two of the best directors on stage, (dramatist) Feroze Antia and Marzban,” Moti mentioned. Choreographer Hormuzd Khambata said about the senior actors, "These are the people one needs to aim to be like,” while Rajit Kapur, who was production controller with Ruby and Burjor’s daughter Shernaz Patel for Laughter…, shared: "They are one of the reasons I still go on… They taught us that the most difficult situations can be faced with a smile.” Buchia, and veterans Ruby, Burjor, Dolly and Dinyar Contractor have passed away since the staging of Laughter...
Parsiana queried Divya about what the learnings were from the making of the film. "I was deterred by how rudimentary my camera work was and how bad the quality of sound recording… We struggled to raise funds as without a spiffy narrative or script… not many could see the merit in what we were trying to do… How to make a film without any budget, with subpar technicals and no discernible story? And yet looking at the footage over and over again, something told us that this had to be done.” When there is a kernel of an idea that feels true, a whole lot of heart and perseverance is enough to see it through, she stated, speaking for her brother and herself. It was just Jall and her working in a very organic way without any formal process or structure that "has lent itself well to the informal way in which the film was shot, and the intimate feeling of the film itself,” she added.
The Show… premiered at Film South Asia in Kathmandu in 2022 and was awarded "Best Documentary” at the Eighth Logicinema Theatre on Films in Buenos Aires the same year. "Other than the film festival route which has been going rather well, we are also trying to set up screenings of our own across many cities in India and even abroad… We are also in talks with an OTT (over the top streaming platform), so fingers crossed the film will be able to reach a much larger audience soon,” she said.
As noted Marfatia after the show, "It is beautiful that our thespians have got their due in every kind of medium… That is very special… I had little dreamt that this would happen.”