Aabhas Sharma speaks to Nadira Babbar on her 30-year-long journey with Ekjute, the theatre group she and her husband founded
When Nadira Babbar founded theatre group Ekjute 31 years ago, she never imagined it would last so long. And neither did she anticipate all the changes that have transformed theatre in India over the last three decades. However, Babbar, who has been doing theatre for 42 long years, is delighted with the changes. “There are now better opportunities in theatre than when we started out,” she says.
The idea 30 years ago was to entertain and educate people, says Babbar, who founded Ekjute with her actor-husband Raj. The couple had graduated from National School of Drama and while Raj Babbar found his calling in films, Nadira stuck mainly to theatre. “Movies didn’t excite me much; theatre has been my only real passion,” says the actor who has acted in films occasionally, the most recent being Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice (2005).
Nadira has brought eight of Ekjute’s productions to Delhi — she wanted to bring 17, but was deterred by the logistics and high production costs — to celebrate 30 years of the theatre group.
How have theatre artists changed over the years? Today, Babbar says, the youth are more aware and know what they want. “When we started out we couldn’t pay much and had many people working with us for free.” Such a scenario cannot be envisaged today — “which is a good thing”. After all artists are entertaining people and should be remunerated accordingly.
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Ekjute has been a family affair for the Babbars. Nadira’s son Aarya and daughter Juhi are actively involved with productions and feel that it is a testament to their parents’ dedication that Ekjute has survived. “I see them still being so actively involved with minute details of each production and it is inspiring,” says Aarya who has acted in movies like Guru and Tees Maar Khan.
One thing that has changed over the years is the role of technology in theatre, feels Babbar. But while Ekjute productions use technology for effects and graphics, Babbar says she doesn’t want her plays to seem like sound-and-light shows. “People are impressed by such effects but what they’re looking for on stage is a good performance.” Ekjute’s productions have mainly been in Hindi and Urdu; Babbar says she has no intention of doing plays in English — she has no issues with groups that do— because she wants to keep alive the charm of Hindi and Urdu.
Ekjute has worked with several big names like Anupam and Kirron Kher, Tom Alter, Satish Kaushik, and Yashpal Sharma in the more than 100 productions it has staged over the years. Babbar is grateful to the eminent actors for their support. “A good play needs everyone to be on the same level and we have been lucky to have such people working with us,” she says.
Talent retention is one of the biggest challenges Ekjute faces, Babbar says, with most actors branching out into television, cinema and other areas of entertainment with better financial prospects. Babbar understands their lure and says that it is time corporate money was pumped up into theatre. Babbar says she has put up some extravagant productions herself and that, at times, it has been difficult to keep costs under control. But the sanctity of theatre should not be compromised for the sake of entertainment and big productions, she believes.
Even after 30 years in the business, Babbar says that every day is a learning process for her. “Performing arts presents a learning experience every day and that is something we have been doing for the last three decades,” she signs off.