An actor’s lament
One rainy evening I was sitting at the residence that famous actor of yesteryears – Sadashivrao Damle, along with another luminary of yesteryear stage – Vamanrao Dhawle. They both used to set the stage alight in those days, both in villainous roles.
We sat, talking of this and that – mostly of the theatre scenes of yesterday. I honestly don’t know much about it, but I enjoyed myself seeing their enthusiasm and nostalgia.
While looking around during a pause in the conversation, I saw a kolhapuri chappal hanging on the wall, as if it was a prestigious trophy. I did a double take and looked again to reassure myself; and indeed it WAS a dirty, used, tattered chappal hung up in the line of trophies! I was beside myself with curiosity.
Sadashivrao saw what I was looking at, and laughed heartily.
“Joshi saaheb, I see that you are wondering what that chappal is doing there, isn’t it?”
“Yes sir, I must say that I am extremely curious.”
“Joshi saaheb, that chappal is the most prestigious award and accolade I have ever received. It ranks over anything else I have achieved in my poor career.”
I looked at him wonderingly. How could this chappal be better than the ‘Maharashtra Gaurav’, the ‘Natya Vibhushan’ and all the other stuff?
“How so?”
“I will tell you. Once I was doing a theatre in Kolhapur, and I was playing a villainous character. One person in the audience got so caught up in the play, that when my character did something despicable, he couldn’t control himself – he got up, cursed me and threw his chappal at me, forgetting that it was a play – not real life!.
After the show, he came to meet me backstage and touched my feet in remorse. He actually lay down on the dusty floor and did sashtang namaskar to me, begging for forgiveness. But I picked him up and said - Don’t be sad. I will always treasure this moment in my memory; and will forever keep this chappal as my dearest trophy. As a mark of my best acting performance ever!”
“Wow. That’s quite a story.” I said, impressed.
“Well, I suppose it was a bit hard on that person…” Vamanrao said musingly “…having to walk home with only one chappal. But I suppose he didn’t mind.”
We all laughed heartily and took our leave. As I walked back, I could see that Vamanrao was very morose. After a few minutes, he couldn’t keep it inside any longer, and the words burst out of him.
“That Sadashivrao is a bloody lucky fellow!”
“Why?!” I asked in surprise.
“Arre, he was lucky enough to get a chappal thrown at him, so he can hang it up on the hall and swank about it.”
“So?”
“I also acted brilliantly once in a villainous role, at Wardha; and one fellow in the audience similarly got so caught up in my acting that he threw something at me!”
“Er…so?”
“But that fool threw a tomato at me! Damn and blast! I can’t hang a tomato on my wall, can I? It was smashed, and anyway, it would have rotted!”
‘Bloody rascal…couldn’t he have thrown something permanent…a shoe…a stone…a stick…’
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