ATUL KULKARNI and NATARANG Rule the Roost - Interview & Film Review

Better late than never, the Hindi Cinema Blog has finally managed to watch the unmissable and highly acclaimed 'Natarang', Ravi Jadhav's filmic anthem to a man's passion for art and to standing for what one believes in, based on a novel by Dr. Anand Yadav. A story that has the capability of stirring audiences throughout the world, this is unquestionably one of the best Indian films we have come across this 2010! (see the trailer and official 'Natarang' website)

'Natarang' is set in the 1970s and is the story of Guna, a village wrestler with a love for Maharashtrian popular theatre (tamasha) who decides to create his own village troupe when he and his friends are suddenly hit by unemployment. Strong and manly, Guna dreams of writing a play in which he will portray a king but things take a different turn as he becomes confronted with the choice of playing a 'nachya' (effeminate character), without which he would have to say goodbye to any possibility of making his artistic dreams come true.

The film about his ravaging passion for popular theatre begins as a lighthearted story and progressively evolves towards the dramatic destiny of its main character as the plot thickens. 'Natarang' touches such sensitive subjects as gender roles and expectations in 1970s Maharashtra, the fear ofsurpassing oneself, art politics, family ties and society's prejudices.

Ravi Jadhav has brought together an extremely talented cast in which everyone should be mentioned, from the villagers to the politicians or to the beautiful heroine embodied by stunning Sonali Kulkarni.   



Sonali Kulkarni could make a fortune giving charm and spunk lessons

Nevertheless, the film's piece de resistance is Atul Kulkarni's performance. Whether it be as a wrestler or a man who plays an effeminate character, he has surpassed in our eyes many other actors of his generation in Indian cinema, firstly, for accepting to give it all to such a rich role, and secondly, by fulfilling it brilliantly to its absolute and full extent with a solid stroke of acting genius.

Atul, who recently granted our blog an interview for the charming and lively film 'Valu', is back to talk with us about his commitment to his role as wrestler cum pansy who transcends it all to reach inner freedom in 'Natarang'.

HCB – ‘Natarang’ focuses on lavani and tamasha (popular genres of Marathi music and theatre respectively) to tell its story. Are these cultural traditions that you have been acquainted with yourself?

AK – I have not seen tamasha the way you see it in the film because plays are no longer like this anymore and the tradition has lost its original form. The reference point in the film was old Marathi films from the 1960s and 1970s which were based on the tamasha form. Some of the most well known films made on tamasha background are V. Shantaram's and 'Natarang' is based on this type of film. Of course, there are also photographs or books of old lavanis that were also used as reference since new lavanis are not currently being written, only sometimes for films, but not for performances on stage even if old lavanis are still sung at shows, just the music, without a traditional (theatre) play.

HCB – The soundtrack is absolutely lovely. Do you have a favorite song from the film?

AK - Yes, I have a song I like very much, it is a background song: ´Khel Mandal’.

HCB – ‘Natarang’ is Ravi Jadhav’s maiden film, tell us how both of you met and how your collaboration on this film came about.

AK - Actually the producers knew him and they called me up. I had not met Ravi before that. When we met he had already done a lot of preparation as he was already working on the music, was preparing the screenplay and had downloaded several photos of myself on the Internet and had worked on them to show me how my character would look. He narrated the story in a nutshell to me and I requested to wait for some time and eventually I read the screenplay. When I read it, I had some creative ideas for him and that is how we started working together.

HCB – During the film you go from wrestler to ‘nachya’ (an effeminate male dancer) sporting a mindblowing physical transformation! How did you manage to build up so much muscle and then lose so much weight for your role? And how many days did you shoot?

AK - As soon as I heard the story I knew the basic challenge was physical. I have never had a muscular body, so I went to my personal trainer, Shailesh Parulekar, who knows my body, how I can work out, etc. He read the script and calculated until he figured out how much time I would require to build my body as I was required to weigh 85 to 86 kilograms. He also calculated the time needed to lose that weight later.

I had to finish two films at the time but after that I took 7 to 8 months out for 'Natarang' without working on any other film. During the time I was finishing work on the other films I was already training just to increase the stamina of my heart so I would be prepared for weight training later. It was two months of basic preparation and then another three months of heavy weight training. We then shot the first half of the film and then waited a gap of 50 to 60 days. In 43 of those days I lost 17 kg. This had to be done under very able guidance and checkups. I kept a journal, both for food and drink, as well as hours slept. I would say this is not advisable to do without guidance. I don’t smoke and I don’t drink so my trainer found it easier to prepare me even if  age was not on my side, as I am 44 and that could make things difficult. So full credit goes to my personal trainer.

HCB – Did you read Dr. Anand Yadav’s novel or meet the author in order to approach your character?

AK - Yes, of course. I had not read the novel before I was contacted for the film, but I immediately read it after I was told the story and it helped me a lot. Not only this, but also the films (from that time) that I saw, the biographies of tamasha artists… I still have a feeling that this helped for the background but ’Natarang’ is also about human beings, about what a person goes through to get what he wants, about the set definitions of how a man should be or how a woman should be, especially in the Indian context, where these definitions are very stark.  The film talks about gender politics, my character grows long hair for the kind of job that he does on stage and the film shows how society reacts to this.

So beyond research, you have to empathize with the character while reading the script. Additionally, for some characters one may prepare by doing a journey from the internal to the external, but in ‘Natarang’ I prepared by doing a journey from the external to the internal: in the way I was changing my body I could better understand the character.

HCB – Many women surely wish they could be as charming and convincing as Guna since your mannerisms as Guna the dancer are impeccable. Give us your recipe. Did you work with someone in particular on your walk and gestures?

AK - Yes. This work was done with choreographer Phulwa Khamkar. She worked quite hard and vigorously on me. When I started shooting, after all the heavy weight training, the heaviness of my body was an issue as I could not do the exercises required by the choreographer but after the first schedule, every afternoon she taught me all these movements. All the credit goes to her.

HCB – ‘Natarang’ not only talks about gender politics but also touches the subject of how artists may be judged by society or their families, as art is considered an occupation that does not earn enough or can even hurt a family’s honour. Did you ever have to overcome that type of difficulty or judgement in your own life when you decided to become an actor?

AK - The only thing I faced was the worry of my parents because they wondered what would happen to me. No one from the family was in the profession so they hardly knew it and they were basically concerned with the uncertainty of this profession, which is natural. However, these days all these ideas about artists (and family honour) as shown in ‘Natarang’ are not relevant anymore.

HCB – You were fairly new to cinema when you acted in ‘Hey Ram’ and surely learnt a lot from Kamal Hassan. You are now the key to understanding cinema maybe for other actors who are starting to enter cinema, we are thinking for example of Sonali Kulkarni. Do you enjoy introducing your fellow actors to your experience of cinema?

AK - I don't know if I know that much (laughs)! I love talking about cinema! I tell them what I know and I can just share my experience with other actors… this is of course very subjective. I make it a point to talk about my experience because I have had the chance to work with eminent people in cinema, this of course depending on whether some people want to listen to me (laughs).

HCB – Even briefly, ‘Natarang’ also focuses on the hardships of living in rural India at the time (unemployment, rumours that reach all corners of a village). We could not help but think of another film that has been released recently in Hindi and is doing very well, called ‘Peepli Live’. Would you say that Hindi cinema may now increasingly go back to exploring stories based on rural India?

AK - We have always dealt with the topic. All the movements of art films of the 1970s... many of them dealt with rural India. Commercial cinema, meaning Hindi commercial cinema of the late 90s and early 2000s, is sometimes necessarily urban or even takes place in Western countries. In the case of ‘Peepli Live’, there is a kind of fresh thinking about the problems of rural India. It is interesting to see the way the film has connected these rural problems to the city. It is a social political scenario in India that reflects the divide between India and Bharat.

Marathi cinema has almost always dealt with the subject of rural India because it has had a wide rural audience. In fact with the modern wave of cinema urban problems have also become more present. It is still a point of debate whether rural Maharashtra is the real Maharashtra. In 'Natarang' the rural Marathi dialect was used. This type of Marathi was incidentally common in films that were made in the 1960s and 1970s in Kolhapur, an area in southwestern Maharashtra where the per capita income is quite huge. The novel 'Natarang' had the Kolhapur dialect and tamasha was predominantly present in that area too.

HCB - The recent screening of ‘Natarang’ at the Munich Film Festival was very successful. Tell us a bit more about how it all went.

AK - The screening went extremely well!

One of the screenings we were quite nervous because Germany was going to play against England at the same time. The screening coincided with that match and we were really quite nervous about it. Surprisingly the auditiorium was full. We had had the first screening just the day before and the word-of-mouth publicity was brilliant so the next day the audience was almost full.

The parameter of how people have liked a film is generally how people react to the Q and A session after the film has ended. How many people have walked out during or after the film? How many people are really interested in knowing more about the film, in talking to the director? I was really happy that almost 96% of the audience stayed back, they asked questions, they wanted to know more. Actually, the organizers had to stop and take it outside because the people for the next screening were waiting outside! So it was quite an overwhelming response I must say. It was not that only Indians from Munich had come… no, that was not the case. Very few Indians and Maharastrians had come for the screening. Most of the audience was basically local. Really heartening.

HCB – Have you ever given thought to producing/directing films yourself? What about writing scripts, alike Guna (Atul’s character in ‘Natarang’)?

AK - (Laughs) Right now I would not deny either possibility but I cannot say when and how.

The Hindi Cinema Blog wishes to thank Atul Kulkarni for gracefully accepting this interview as he prepares for his next release: Ramesh  Rao's ‘Yaksha’, a Kannada film in which he will be appearing alongside Nana Patekar, Yogesh and Ruby Parihar. 'Yaksha' releases on October 1st. The Hindi Cinema Blog recommends booking the date in your calendar!

NATARANG
Director: Ravi Jadhav
Writing credits: Ravi Jadhav (screenplay), Dr. Anand Yadav (story)
Lyrics & Dialogues: Guru Thakur
Music: Ajay-Atul
Producers: Meghana Jadhav (Athaansh), Nikhil Sane, Amit Phalke ( Zee Talkies)
Cast: Priya Arun, Vibhawari Deshpande, Kishore Kadam, Atul Kulkarni, Sonali Kulkarni

Purchase the Natarang DVD and novel online
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Read another exclusive interview with Atul Kulkarni: Valu Strikes a Universal Chord

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ATUL KULKARNI Exclusive Interview - 'VALU' Touches a Universal Chord

India has featured as the special guest of the 2010 La Rochelle International Film Festival in France. Its programme particularly focused this year on the work of Maharastrian director Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni, who screened his films to a full theatre. His film 'Valu' ('The Wild Bull') delights the viewer with memorable landscapes, touching moments and incessant wit and humour.

The 'Valu' is a misunderstood bull that roams the vicinity of the remote village of Kusavde, much to the villagers' fear and disarray. Politics, relationships and the general atmosphere in the village take a turn when a forest officer (Atul Kulkarni) is sent to capture the roaming bull. He is  accompanied by a budding film maker who wishes to film a documentary about the misfortunes linked to the animal's supposed mischief.

'Valu' was filmed in Marathi and is representative of how Maharashtra is now not only the cradle of commercial Hindi films but also increasingly a breeding ground for exceptional Marathi screenwriting and acting talent. A key actor in contributing to the excellent reputation of Marathi theatre and new Marathi cinema in recent years is Atul Kulkarni, who stars as the main character (Swanand Gaddamwar) in 'Valu'.

The actor who is known and admired across India for his roles in 'Rang de Basanti', 'Khakee', 'Hey Ram', 'Chandni Bar', 'Page 3' and numerous other outstanding performances in theater and cinema alike, speaks to the Hindi Cinema Blog about his career, regional cinema and of course Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni's 'Valu', where he portrays his most comic character up to date.

HCB - You are known to be an actor that is very versatile but your role in ‘Valu’ gives us a glimpse of a lighter Atul Kulkarni than what we are normally accustomed to. Your character is often trapped in truly comic situations. Is the comedy what basically attracted you to the role?

AK - Whenever I select to do a film what I look for is the basic story. The main criteria for me is if the story appeals to me as an audience and then of course there is the character. The genre of the film, as in if it is serious or comedy, is definitely secondary. So as far as ‘Valu’ is concerned, I basically loved the premise of the story and the way in which Umesh was trying to tell the story through the script. Of course it was an added attraction to me because, as you rightly said, people have not seen me in comedy in films, so I would definitely say that was an added attraction.

HCB - How did you prepare for your role as Swanand Gaddamwar?

AK - Actually, Umesh and Girish based this story on a real life incident and a real life character. He is not exactly a forest officer but a veterinary doctor whom they roamed with in small villages when he went there for his job. The doctor was in a way the anchor point for the role. I spoke to him and discussed his experience whenever he went to small villages and towns on such jobs.

I spent a lot of time with him. I learnt how to blow the dart from him and he showed me a lot of (video) clippings of himself which were shot when he was on the job. I picked up a lot of the mannerisms while handling the blow pipe from those clippings.

In any profession the thing, instrument or whatever it is you may be handling, should look as part of your own body, you know. You should be very easy with the instrument you are handling. So when he showed me his clippings, I saw that the blower is basically divided into two parts and they join it and then blow into it. In a clipping, I couldn’t see the animal that he was shooting the dart at, but I could see him. He blew the dart and he knew that it had hit at the right spot and it had done its job. It was all in his body language... He just dismantled the blow pipe at that very moment and started packing. He didn’t even look at the animal! That is what I picked up from him, for example, and I used that in the film. The moment I hit the bull, I dismantled the blow pipe... since it is sure that the job is done. So those clippings and the discussions with him definitely helped me a lot.

The script was the second anchor point I would say, because it was very self explanatory. When Girish and Umesh read the script for the first time to me they explained the character and what they really expected out of it. So all these factors helped me and were points to start preparation.

HCB - Can you share a funny, important or surprising anecdote during the making of ‘Valu’ with us?

AK - The Valu himself was the surprise basically (laughs). He had decided to behave exactly opposite as he was expected to in a particular shot. When he was on the set and we were going to shoot the next day, he was absolutely wild and all furious, opposite to what we wanted him to be on camera. But most of the time, when the camera started, he was absolutely like a gentleman. He refused to misbehave which we wanted him to. So his trainers had to really push him to do that. A few of the scenes he really scared us. I remember one scene in the climax, when we actually follow him and we are chasing him… That time he almost went into the camera and almost hurt the camera man and damaged the camera. That was quite a scary moment for all of us.

HCB - Moving beyond ‘Valu’, we would love to talk about your career. Your mother tongue is Marathi and you are completely fluent in Hindi. Do you feel it is a challenge to deliver performances in languages you are less familiar with (Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam)?

AK - As far as all these languages and the industries in these particular languages are concerned, they come with their own culture. I believe it is true with every industry in the world. The people who are involved are basically from that culture and a lot of social, political, educational (elements) are responsible for that particular culture that an industry works around. I have found that every industry is different. Though all of them are in India, they are quite different from each other and it basically depends on the cultural nuances of all these people who handle and are in that industry.

As far as I am concerned and as far as the language is concerned, yes, it is certainly very easy to work in the language that you know the best or that you usually speak in your day to day life. So Marathi, Hindi and English are quite easy. Marathi is my mother tongue so that is easier. A mother tongue is always a mother tongue. Hindi is definitely my second language but has almost become a mother tongue to me. When I was in the National School of Drama in New Delhi we did all the plays in Hindi, I have done lot of work in Hindi and I have done Hindi films.

I am born in Belgaum, which is in Karnataka, where the language Kannada is spoken. I can understand Kannada quite well and I can speak it, not very fluently, but I can manage. So all in all, I have a little flavor of the South Indian languages because of the Kannada that I know, though I do not understand Telugu, Tamil or Malayalam or I cannot speak it. Naturally Kannada is easier, but even in Kannada and other languages I write the dialogues in Devnagari, the lipi (script) in which Marathi or Hindi is written, because I cannot read the lipi in which Kannada or the South Indian languages are written. So I write my dialogues in Devnagari and I mark my pauses. When I speak, I know the meaning of each and every word. Of course you have to work fifty times more than what you work in Marathi or in Hindi.

HCB - That sounds very complicated!

AK - It is complicated because it is as if you are putting words which absolutely mean nothing to you in front of each other and trying to bring a meaning out of it, so I usually have an assistant appointed by the production who helps me in this.

HCB - In speaking of films, you have said “more the regional, more the universal”… You have been travelling recently for the screening of ‘Natarang’ in Europe. How do you feel about the appreciation your Marathi work is getting outside of India?

AK - It is certainly a pleasure because… you see, cinema is a medium which can really cross boundaries and go as it is to the people. It is not like theater, where it is not that easy to take the art to people around the world. Cinema is much easier.

I was in Munich for the screening of ‘Natarang’. Basically, the part of communication through cinema is tested in such festivals or when a film is screened outside your region, why only outside the country? Say for example... if a Marathi film is screened in Tamil Nadu or in Karnataka, it is as if it was being screened in Paris or in Munich. All of a sudden, though there are subtitles in English and you have explained to the people the cultural nuances of a regional film, this information is not enough. I guess a part of cinema lies in what is communicated (beyond the language) to hold an audience. 

I totally accept that 100% of a film will not reach the audience because some nuances are very hard to explain in another culture and language. But still the basic things are communicated. This is why “more the regional, more the universal”. Basically, more the personal, it is more the universal. I guess regional films talk about the very basic things which are common all over the universe. For example in ‘Valu’, the inter-relationships of people are the same: a person comes from outside and there is conflict. Around that, the basic emotion and the basic politics between the characters are the same all over. It is just the outward cover that changes.

Another example is ‘Natarang’ which is about gender politics. It is about the basic definitions that we have carved in our minds about what a woman is and what a man is… or what a woman should be and what a man should be. When those definitions are countered, how does society react? The film is all about that and it is universal.

I guess all these things definitely are tested and you really come to know if you have communicated well through the medium that you have when your film is being screened for a totally foreign audience in the respect of the language and culture.

HCB - So apart from ‘Valu’ and ‘Natarang’, for example, which are already being screened to full theatres in Europe this summer, which other regional films would you recommend to foreign audiences?

AK - As far as my films are concerned, there was a Marathi film which I did about three or four years back which was named ‘Devrai’*. It is about a schizophrenic character. I really love that film of mine and we really had taken a lot of effort. I really wish that more efforts were taken to take this particular film to other nations and countries.

Apart from that, I would definitely recommend Malayalam films which I am sure internationally are quite acclaimed. 'Vanaprastham'** for example is a film by Mohanlal, a wonderful film. Quite a few Bengali films are nice… These are the two regional languages in which I would definitely say that a lot of good cinema happens.

HCB - What do you do when you are not acting in cinema, theatre, rehearsing, promoting Marathi poetry, etc?

AK - I have always thought that my profession is not my life. It is very important but a small part of my life. So I am interested in a lot of other things. I write in newspapers about various issues. I am interested in child education, so we have an NGO called QUEST (Quality Education Support Trust)***. I am chairman of that NGO, so there are a lot decisions to be taken and things to be done for that. I have a piece of land in a very remote area which we bought when it was a barren land. In the last five or six years we have planted about 800 trees in that land even though it is quite a difficult terrain. So that also demands time. In fact, ‘Valu’ has a shot of that area: the “windmill shot”. I own the land just next to the windmill...  I travel a lot when I get a chance in India and outside India. Of course then there is reading, watching films and theatre and spending time with friends and things like that. Normal things.

HCB - Is there anything you can share with us about your ongoing and future projects?

AK - I’ll start shooting for a film in August. It is a wonderful and a very lighthearted script. I am really looking forward to it. It is in Hindi and I will be working with Mr. Naseeruddin Shah and Mr. Kay Kay Menon.

* 'Devrai' (Sacred Grove 2005) is a definite must-see that has been highly appreciated as one of Marathi cinema's brightest pearls, winning 15 regional, national and international awards. It is directed by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar and features an outstanding Atul Kulkarni starring opposite Sonali Kulkarni. The film has sought to demystify schizophrenia and has donated all of the release's proceeds to the Schizophrenia Awareness Association. Highly recommended.

* 'Vanaprastham' (The Last Dance 1999) Internationally acclaimed and award-winning Malayalam film directed by Shaji N. Karun. The film tackles the caste system through the life of a tremendously gifted dancer, portrayed by Mohanlal opposite Suhasini Mani Ratnam.  

** QUEST (Quality Education Support Trust) is an NGO comprising educationsts and people from numerous professional backgrounds who are dedicated to research and action in view of enhancing the quality of education for every individual. QUEST develops educational programmes in Maharashtra and Karnataka. For more information, visit http://quest.org.in/

FILM - VALU
Directed by: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni.
Produced by: Mukta Arts/Malpix Films

Starring: Atul Kulkarni, Mohan Agashe, Girish Kulkarni, Veena Jamkar, Nandu Madhav, Mangesh Satpute and Amruta Subhash
Screenwriting: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni, Girish Pandurang Kulkarni
Executive Producer: Nitin Vaidya
Language: Marathi
Year of Release: 2008
Music: Mangesh Dhakde

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