Future of cinema, theatre lies with the young: Pankaj Kapur

Bengaluru has a very intellectual audience. Each time I’ve come to Bengaluru to perform, I have had an amazing experience,” said actor and thespian Pankaj Kapur, who is set to take the stage in the city to perform Dopehri, a dramatic reading of his novella. During a chat, he reveals that after years in the industry, he still feels he has a lot to learn – and especially from the newcomers. “They know better how to handle things in this given time. I should be learning from them,” he said.
‘If your story is well-crafted, it deserves the attention’Reflecting on his journey as an actor, writer and director, he shares, “The power of storytelling is undeniable. If your story is well-crafted and suspenseful, it deserves the attention and emotional response it gets. As an actor, my journey has been very enriching. I have brought different characters to life for my audiences, which has been the most interesting part of my journey.”

‘As an actor, you choose roles that align with your personal values’Pankaj mentions, “An actor is a human being first. As a human being, you have certain responsibilities towards society. You should be sensitive to societal issues. As an actor, you choose roles that align with your personal values. I would not like to indulge in something which is not aesthetically or morally agreeable with me.”
‘Theatre taught me the art of performance’As far as theatre is concerned, he shares, “I think it takes decades of working on oneself and learning from others, that shapes you as an actor. But, it was theatre that gave me an opportunity to learn to stand on stage, to stand as an actor. Theatre made me take those few steps in the beginning, made me learn the basic craft.”
‘Every time I perform Dopehri, it feels like a new experience’“I love performing Dopehri. And each time I perform it, there’s a journey I go through as the story unfolds. While I don’t think there’s a catharsis involved in that, there is a certain satisfaction. It’s a story I wrote many years back, and when I see that it’s still contemporary and still connects with the audiences, there’s a part of me that feels very satiated. I wrote this story about 20 years back or 25 years back and each time I perform it I feel a certain newness about it. Each time there’s a new auditorium, a new audience, and a new setup, there’s a whole new performance and a whole new learning,” says Pankaj.