Rajat Kapoor and Vinay Pathak have been friends for over 30 years and have worked together in various projects, including films such as Bheja Fry, Khoya Khoya Chand and Mixed Doubles. More recently, they came together for the Hindi play Karamjale Brothers, an adaptation of the 19th century Russian classic The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The play, written and directed by Rajat, has Vinay in the lead and it was recently staged in Mumbai.

In a chat with us, the two spoke about returning to Hindi theatre after many years and their camaraderie. Excerpts...

Vinay, who returned to the stage after a long time, says, “Mind you, hamare Rajat sahab aasaan kaam nahi kartein hain kabhi bhi. He decided to adapt a Russian novel to Hindi. Both of us haven’t dabbled in Hindi stage production for a while now. My last play was around eight years ago.”

Rajat adds, “I am doing a Hindi play after 25 years! This one is closer to the real world, unlike my previous plays Macbeth: What’s Done is Done and Hamlet The Clown Prince, which belonged to a very different space. This play has a specificity of a place, a moment in time and characters you can identify with.”

Going down memory lane, Vinay shares, “Rajat and I became friends first, and four years later, we worked together for the first time in the play C For Clown. Everything that we do together, despite its challenges, is always fun and I have only good memories. While 30 years sounds a lot, it doesn’t seem long enough for me.”

Rajat quips, “It has been twenty nine-and-a-half to be precise. That is longer than a lot of relationships! I am lucky to have somebody like Vinay as a friend and a collaborator. I think when you work together, the bond tends to get stronger. And the best thing about doing theatre is the process of creation itself, which is made possible because of the immense trust between the director and the actor. Be it a film or a play, we have a blast when we work together.”

They may have branched into other mediums, but theatre will always remain special. Talking about the changes in recent years, Rajat says, “There is definitely a bigger audience now than earlier. People have more money and are more willing to spend it on things like a theatrical experience. That is really heartening. However, we still don’t make many good plays. I mean 10-12 good plays a year may not be an optimum output. Hopefully, that will change soon.”

Vinay adds, “The fraternity is growing, especially in the big cities. However, this needs to spread to smaller towns too. People, especially the younger generation, need to watch and get into theatre more.”

The two have been through their shares of ups and downs, but their passion for the craft has kept them going.

Vinay says, “In this job, there are always challenges, both physical and mental. But without that things can get boring. I think makers should get more freedom to create original content. It gets difficult when the industry we work in becomes too commerce-driven and less tolerant of experimental stuff. I’ve seen Rajat struggle every time he had to make a film. After winning three National Awards and making such good films, if a filmmaker has to struggle, then something like this needs to be debated.”

Talking about the difficulties a maker has to go through, Rajat says, “The struggle to make a film, release it, find an audience and the disappointment every time we get a bad release, all this is part of the game. But what keeps us going is the creative challenge. Every script, film, play is a new puzzle. It never gets easy. One has to go through the grind to come up with something valuable. And that is the real challenge.”