Manas Chakravarty: Shakespeare in India

WATCHWORD

(Mumbai is the setting of the latest version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which recently opened in London's West End. Director Stephen Beresford says that he chose India as the backdrop because Shakespeare would have felt far more at home in present-day Mumbai than in London. Most of the cast is Indian, and the play has a Baul singer, saris, tilaks and the billboard has a Hindi subtitle, "Barahwi Raat". For the director's guidance, we append below sketches of how the plots of some of Shakespeare's other masterpieces would look like in a contemporary Indian context.)

Julius, Caesar of Delhi

The play starts with Caesar's triumph over Pompey. A holiday has been declared, and the streets are empty, with people watching the celebrations on TV. Children are playing cricket on the roads.

The streets are empty also because the opposition has called the victory a fraud and has called a bandh. Opposition tribunes roam through Delhi, pulling down shutters.

Cassius tells Brutus how Caesar has been ignoring the backward castes, and urges him to defect. Brutus is in two minds, because he's worried about the anti-defection law. Other politicians are drawn into the conspiracy to defect. Bejan Daruwalla warns Caesar against the Ides of March.

On the appointed day, Cassius, Brutus, and the other conspirators deliver a list of defectors to Caesar on the steps of Parliament. Caesar is dumbstruck at the perfidy, only managing to blurt out a "Tum bhi, Brute?" before the government collapses. (The phrase "Tum Bhi, Brute?" becomes a hit, thanks to an instant Bollywood song being made bearing that title.) Caesar takes sanyas.

Brutus makes a long speech to the public on why he had to defect, pointing out that Caesar is an Italian. Mark Antony then makes his famous speech, "Friends, Indians, countrymen/ lend me some money," a passionate address about election funding.

Octavius' party allies with Antony's, thus sewing up the Dalit and minority votes. Antony goes on a padayatra. In the elections that follow, Brutus' and Cassius' party loses. Cassius is arrested on charges of inciting violence against minorities. Brutus shaves his head. Octavius takes on the mantle of the Caesar family.

The Merchant of Mumbai

Bassanio, a sub-broker, is in love with Portiaben, but the huge expense of feeding her dhoklas at five-star hotels and taking her out to dandia dances is a big problem in a depressed stock market. So he asks investment guru Antoniobhai for a loan.

Antonio is unable to comply with friend Bassanio's request, as all his money is locked up in penny stocks whose promoters have disappeared. So he takes Bassanio to Shylock seth. Shylock, who is an international banker, immediately makes a personal loan to Bassanio at an interest rate of 50 per cent per annum, with Antoniobhai as guarantor. He also hands Bassanio a credit card.

Meanwhile, Portiaben's father, in order to test her suitor's business acumen, has left a will stipulating that the person who correctly chooses the right one of three caskets will be her husband. The Prince of Morocco wrongly chooses the gold casket and is out.

Portia then launches the famous soliloquy, "All that glitters is not gold/ there's diamonds and platinum too..." Bassanio overhears the soliloquy and chooses the diamond casket, winning Portiaben's hand. Thanks to the credit card, they have a star-studded wedding reception at a seven-star hotel.

However, when the time for payment comes and neither Antoniobhai nor Bassanio has the money, Shylock seth sends goons to Antonio's flat to rough him up, as per the usual procedure. Things would have got worse but for Portiaben, BA, LLB, who drags Shylock seth to the consumer court for charging exorbitant interest rates.

Matters come to an amicable conclusion after the RBI steps in, declaring that the loan to Antonio is not a non-performing asset. What's more, FIIs step up purchases, the market booms, both Antonio and Bassanio become rich, and everybody is happy.

Macbeth Bhai

Macbeth comes across three witches while returning to his chawl from a victory over a rival gang. The witches predict that Macbeth will become first Macbeth Bhai and then Boss of Bombay. Shortly after, Duncan, Don of Dharavi, sends word that Macbeth is now to be called Macbeth Bhai.

Macbeth SMSs his girlfriend, a bar dancer called Macbethbai, about the prophecy. Macbethbai induces Macbethbhai to kill Duncan the Don, by feeding him poisoned vada pav. Duncan's son Malcolm Mirchi flees to Dubai. Macbeth becomes Boss of Bombay, starts a reign of terror, and finances a Bollywood movie.

The movie flops and Macbethbhai makes the famous comment, "It is a tale/told by an idiot/full of sound and fury/signifying nothing." Gang wars follow, in which Macbethbhai's enemy, Chhota Macduff, beheads him and Malcolm Mirchi becomes the new Boss of Mumbai.

manas@business-standard.com