The My-Way series is exploring how different people are crafting or attempting to craft, meaningful lives through mindful choices, and more importantly, what that really involves. I am super-happy to have in the first conversation Atul Satya Koushik, who is passionate about theater and currently taking the Hindi theater scene by storm!
I met Atul a decade ago (!) while studying at Delhi University. While many of us were ‘busy’ bunking classes, having loads of junk food, simply ‘hanging’, Atul was absorbed in practicing and promoting theater.
His self-assigned job was to carefully pick a dozen or so fellow students every year (from a college better known for book-worms) and make actors out of them. Or at least performers. As our writer/ director, he saw grand visions of plays we would perform- a strong enough vision to mobilize the laziest of us to practice scenes for hours, every single day under the punishing Delhi summer sun. We didn’t just perform. We won. Atul likes to win.
So it came as no surprise to me when having completed his CA as an All-India rank holder (and then an LLB degree because he felt like it), Atul was putting up plays all over the country. I saw one of the first performances of his famous play ‘Arjun ka Beta’ (now called ‘Chakravyuh’) at the Kala Ghoda Festival in Mumbai in 2012, and then over the last years (thanks to Facebook) started to see his productions and his theatre company Film & Theater Society (FTS) soaring. Atul was directing the likes of Mr.Puneet Issar, Mr.Rakesh Bedi, Ms.Himani Shivpuri, Mr.Avtar Gill… and engaging patrons like Mr.LK Advani through his plays. “Oh wow, he’s moving in the fast lane!” I thought, perhaps not unlike others who caught these glimpses on social media.
Then one fine day this couplet on his page caught my attention:
मेरे हासिल को किस्मतों का नाम देने वालों
मेरे घर पे जाके पूछो मैं कब का गया हूँ
(Those who ascribe my successes to luck/ Do visit my home to know how long I have been gone)
So I dropped by to find out more about his journey 🙂
His journey
Atul has been writing, telling and directing stories since his school days. He saw great success in the country-wide university theatre circuit, but when he wanted to enroll for the country’s most prestigious drama and film schools, he was turned down because they did not believe that he could meet the physical demands of the job (Atul uses a cane to walk). “I decided that no institution will decide whether or not I become a director,” he tells me, “Even if they will not teach me, I can learn. Their product is in the public domain.”
Over the next few years, as he completed his degrees and articleship, Atul watched hundreds of professional plays all over the country. He would negotiate with the guards when he didn’t have money to watch all shows. He would find his way to empty sets to study them. “I would touch the fabric of the props to figure out how I would design my props some day.”
He formed FTS in 2009 along with a few college buddies. “When we saw the great response to the first few shows, we knew we had to honour the momentum.”
They cut down their work-related engagements, and put more resources into their theater. Now it had to succeed. So they broke the rules and brought television personalities on their stage, starting with Mr.Nitish Bhardwaj reprising his famous role of Krishna from Mahabharata (the TV series) in their play ‘Arjun ka Beta’. And so the tide turned.
Learn the rules. Then know which ones to break
Speaking with Atul, I see how he walks the tight-rope of having a deep understanding of reality, as well as an irreverence for it the moment it becomes a barrier. He’s not the idealistic artist shunning reality, but the creative mind who turns unchangeable realities to his advantage.
As an example, he emphasizes the value of his traditional qualifications- how being an SRCC alumnus, CA and LLB have helped opened doors for him even in the theatre space, especially when it comes to interactions with corporate customers and sponsors. He is a motivational speaker who doesn’t advocate blindly giving up a traditional education for creative pursuits. FTS conducts theatre workshops for people urging them to balance between things ‘they have to do’ and ‘want to do’.
When he found that their plays’ content was being appreciated, but wasn’t economically viable enough to sustain itself, he increased the star power in his plays. This initially opposed the sensibilities of the traditional theater circuit but is fast catching on as a trend.
The most interesting example for me was when we spoke about money. It is the ultimate said/ unsaid factor behind many decisions we make as adults. “My wife makes more than me. I see no issues with that,” he says. And I am thinking what a waste of talent it would have been, had he in fact chosen to make this a primary decision factor as many do!
“When I am experimenting with new ideas (currently I am making small films for practice), I cannot spend the Society’s money on it of course. So I borrow from my close friends,” he says, “Is there any business that is not running on borrowed money?”
Indeed. I have been dwelling on this for some time now.. why is it that we are very comfortable being dependent on strangers i.e. corporates to pay us and banks to lend us money, but not comfortable ‘depending’ on our closest relationships- our spouses, or parents, or children?
“Nobody can do it all, by themselves,” I say.
“Not for a moment,” he concurs.
I turn to another common argument that prevents people from exploring non-traditional options, “Only one in hundreds of thousands succeed. That keeps many people from trying.”
“And what is the ratio of aspirants vs entrants to IIMs?” he replies.
Be, before you become
If one focuses on being, the becoming follows. In art, as elsewhere. However art is not immune from the increasing consumption culture and demand for fast-paced stimulation. Many don’t have the patience to put in the time and rigour to first ‘be’ the artist/ writer/actor/leader that they want to be recognized as.
I ask Atul, “You’re always meeting young talents and aspiring artists & actors through your workshops. Are you able to tell who will succeed?”
“Energy is great,” he says, “but I notice the person who is calm. Who is confident, and who is in no hurry to become a star overnight.”
Of course, the fast-paced consumption culture also creates pressure on the demand side.
“It takes time and a lot of patience, to get a single scene to even 60-70% of what we may imagine in our mind,” he says. He tells me how Mr.Puneet Issar put in 9 months to learn, practice and perfect his dialogues for the play ‘Raavan ki Ramayan’, because all dialogues were in poetry form written specially for this play.
Time. Patience. Things we are all short of in 2018. “Sometimes people ask me after the first show of a play when a new play will come out,” he laughs. His competition is not just other theater companies, or even movie theaters. His competition is Netflix, Facebook, Instagram.. and everything which makes people go, “More. Now!”
It is worth exactly as much as you think it is
Just listening about their enormous efforts, the lazy in me starts thinking, “Is it worth all the pain eventually?” I try and word it differently, “So what motivates you to do all this?”
In our entire conversation, this is the only time he momentarily draws a blank. His face tells me this question is alien to him. He eventually talks of wanting to tell stories around the world, but I am still struck by the envy that his momentary pause has evoked in me. Even on the toughest of days, he’s never felt the need to question his direction, or justify it to himself!
Many of us examine and critique everything, yet believe in nothing. We doubt ourselves too much, we doubt our paths too much. When confronted with obstacles, we wonder if the effort is worth it. Perhaps we think too much for our own good. I am reminded of another of his couplets:
फना ज़ुर्रत हुई, हालात में ढलना पड़ा मुझको,
समझदारों की सौबत बैठना महँगा पड़ा मुझको…
(I lost my courage and succumbed to circumstances/ Being among the worldly-wise has been my undoing)
Well, nothing is ultimately worth anything if we manage to pose enough ‘why’s’. The meaning and the value are only what we ascribe to any pursuit. I am yet to meet someone greatly accomplished who did not possess an unreasonable conviction in the value of their chosen vocation.
What is it in your life, that you do not need to question or justify even in the toughest of times? That- person/thing/pursuit- is likely the gift to you from providence.
All Images Used with Permission
