CLICK HERE if you are having trouble viewing these photos on a mobile deviceAll great figures of history become legend. Some even go on to become musicals.
Now, the largest Indian theater company in the U.S. is giving Gandhi his own eponymous theatrical tribute. “Gandhi” — the musical — is the work of Silicon Valley’s Naatak, an all-volunteer ensemble composed of transplanted Indian tech workers who call the Bay Area home. They’re techies by day and thespians by night. And the show’s Sept. 14-Oct. 6 run in Palo Alto coincides with what would have been Mohandas Gandhi’s 150th birthday.
Artistic director and “Gandhi” playwright Sujit Saraf was a grad student at Cal when he launched Naatak in 1995, and a close friend was studying at Stanford at the time. “We had done plays in India (and) we found ourselves in neighboring universities,” Saraf said. “So we thought, let us do theater — Indian theater — in this country.”
Since then, Naatak has produced 70 full length plays, several movies and more than a thousand alumni. And “Gandhi,” the company’s 71st production, is massive, with at least 50 actors and dancers on stage and another 25-plus working behind the scenes.
“Doing a Gandhi play is a very natural thing for an Indian theater company,” Saraf said Saraf, “and the moment is opportune.”
The word “naatak” means “drama” in Hindi. But the company, like India itself, is polyglot. So is the production. And Gandhi, who was born on Oct. 2, 1869, was a multilingual, pan-Indian, globe-trotter. So as the production follows Gandhi’s life through India, Britain and South Africa, the language changes to portray shifts in geography and intimacy (with English supertitles projected throughout, even during portions delivered in English).
“Depending on where in the world he is and whom he is interacting with, the language changes,” Saraf said.
Expect to hear dialogue in Gujarati during family scenes, Hindi when Gandhi is addressing North Indians, Tamil when addressing South Indians, and English with Europeans.
“We even have a line in Swahili while he’s passing through Zanzibar,” Saraf said.
It’s natural for any actor tasked to portray Gandhi — or any larger-than-life historical figure — to have concerns about their ability to bring not only accuracy but adequacy to the role.
“I tried to listen and understand what the man was like,” said actor Natraj Kumar who holds the titular part. “But for the most part, I think it is just about being in the play and reacting how, humanly, one would react to the situation in front of them.”
Kumar describes himself as a 10-year admirer and 4-year member of Naatak. A native Tamil speaker and a fluent speaker of several other Indian languages, Kumar brings the necessary multilingualism to his portrayal. But even with the mustache, bald head and glasses for his portrayal, Kumar can name one notable struggle for the role: weight loss.
“That has been the biggest challenge,” Kumar said with a laugh.
Though the play progresses much as any drama does, Saraf describes the presentation as distinctly Indian. “The musical parts of it, accompanied by dance, are a very Indian way of presenting the story,” he said. “They move the story and plot forward.”
The stage setting for “Gandhi” shows the man acting both within history and upon it. The background is a collage of news clippings. And at several points, characters announce world events and deliver pivotal speeches while standing on stacks of newsprint, as though literally standing upon history. (And the caveat of staged biography means the production can’t end any differently than the real history: The production has a few depictions of violence, including murder.)
“His life was frenetic and full of news making or news reading,” Saraf said. “He went everywhere. He just went.”
Gandhi — the man — experienced the kind of celebrity few could match in the pre-internet age. He met thousands of people on multiple continents and corresponded with some of the 20th century’s most notable figures (Tolstoy, Einstein) and most notorious (Hitler).
“In India, almost anyone will tell you ‘my grandfather touched Gandhi’s feet.’ One of my uncles told me that he saw Gandhi sitting on a train. Some of it may not be entirely true,” Saraf said with a theatrical finger wag. “It is nice to say ‘I saw Gandhiji.’ But some of it may indeed be true. He was a man seen and touched by many people. There lay his power.”
If You Go
“Gandhi” runs Sept. 14 to Oct. 6, with a jubilee performance to celebrate Gandhi’s birthday on Oct. 2, at the Cubberly Theater, 4120 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Tickets are $20 to $45; www.naatak.com.