If you didn바카라t know the source material of Rajat Kapoor바카라s play, Karamjale Brothers, before walking into it, then chances are high you바카라d be confused for some time while watching it, too. Because, an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky바카라s The Brothers Karamazov, it is less Russian vodka and more desi daru. It retains the original바카라s story and spirit바카라revolving around a patriarch and his four sons; the identity of his murderer; the questions of free will, rationality, theism (Dostoevsky바카라s eternal preoccupation)바카라but, set in Delhi, it unfolds in a hilarious, quasi-farcical tone.
Karamjale Brothers itches for a chance to crack a (silly) joke바카라its tomfoolery makes the play hilarious, compelling, and endearing. Here, Dostoevsky isn바카라t treated as a high-priest of modern realism바카라sombre, sincere, severe바카라but like a dost, a friend, with whom you can have a swig (or three). In a crucial scene, when the cops bust a party, a character says, 바카라Yeh Noida waalon ko bulana hi nahin chahiye tha (We shouldn바카라t have called these Noida-types).바카라 The third Karamazov brother, Alyosha, becomes Alok (or 바카라Aloo바카라), who hears the compliment, 바카라Tu toh sweet hai바카라you바카라re like a sweet potato.바카라 A forlorn lover says, 바카라Ishq ne humein nikamma kar diya, warna humaari bhi Kamla Nagar mein kapde ki dukaan thi.바카라
The performances, across actors, are brilliant, and their chemistry is so organic and free-flowing that, in the play바카라s first half, you바카라re swept by them. Vinay Pathak as Fauzdar, or patriarch Fyodor, towers above the rest who, despite his batshit humour, never looks contrived. Adapting a 1,000-page Dostoevsky novel into a 100-minute play, though, is a gargantuan challenge, and it starts to strain the latter half of Karamjale Brothers. The theism motif, for example, isn바카라t threaded well across the play. The second brother바카라s disdain for the Almighty바카라and his descent into madness바카라feels abrupt. Ditto the burgeoning fondness between the other two siblings, Meet (Chandrachoor Rai) and Aloo (Waris Ahmed Zaidi). As the play races to tie the loose ends, it becomes more abrupt, choppy, and unconvincing바카라struggling to balance its tonal variations바카라coming across as a piece that both soars and sinks.
We met Kapoor at Pathak바카라s house the evening after the play, wanting to untangle the motivations and mechanics of Karamjale Brothers. After its week-long shows at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai, the theatre maker and the actor looked relaxed and relieved, as if emerging from a long spell of semester exams. Edited excerpts from the chat follow:
The first바카라and most바카라fascinating bit about the play is its comedic tone, something we don바카라t usually expect from the adaptation of a Dostoevsky novel. What did you want to achieve from it바카라was it intentional?
These things are not intentional. Because when we started reading, we didn바카라t even know what we wanted from the play, except that we wanted to get to the root of the novel. So, you start with the text, and you respond to it while rehearsing. And it takes you to places because of the actors. So, Ivan has to be Ivan, but the actor playing him also brings his own experiences and personality into it and urges you to go a certain way. But the growth of this play, and this process, is organic바카라of not knowing. And this idea of not knowing is very exciting to me.
You said in a recent interview that when you read The Brothers Karamazov last year바카라the only Dostoevsky novel you hadn바카라t read바카라it hit you like a 바카라tonne of bricks바카라. What about it elicited such a strong reaction?
I started reading it when we were flying to Moscow for our show Macbeth. On the flight itself, I read 100 pages. And I knew바카라boom바카라this is it. The characters, the plot, and the writing itself are driven by바카라Dostoevsky uses this phrase some 200 times in the novel바카라바카라as if we were suffering from brain fever바카라. Half of his characters are suffering from that or hysteria or delirium. When Zosima [the spiritual advisor who is called Maharaj-ji in the play] is in the monastery meeting people, there바카라s a woman who has got both her hands on the cheek and she바카라s rocking from side to side, and when he comes to her, she says, 바카라I바카라ve lost my three-year-old son. Bring him back. Bring him back.바카라 I cried on the flight. I remember I had told some of the actors in the Macbeth team, 바카라My God.바카라 Now we open the play with that scene, and we close the play with that scene.
I바카라m sure you know that바카라s a reference to Dostoevsky바카라s own three-year-old son dying.
I didn바카라t know that.
Dostoevsky바카라s work in general and, especially, The Brothers Karamazov, have strong contemplations on faith. Since then, of course, so much has happened in its name. Take our country, for example, in the last few years바카라or Delhi, Karamjale Brothers바카라 setting, which witnessed the 2020 riots. Were these thoughts subconsciously charging your mind at some level?
They바카라re always there. You바카라re also responding to the world around you, though one tries not to be directly political. Because that바카라s not me and, I think, that바카라s also an easy way out. But you can바카라t deny it, and it shows up in every conversation, even while rehearsing.
What made you set the play in Delhi and not somewhere else?
Simple: I wanted something that바카라d translate the Russian winter. I think it바카라s worked well. This feeling of the sweaters, the coats, the gloves, the fur caps, somewhere for me it바카라s related to the Russian winter. There was a scene in the book that impacted me very much. After meeting someone, Alyosha is disturbed about what바카라s happening to his brothers, and there바카라s a moment where he just lies down on the snow with his hands outstretched, as if he바카라s hugging the ground. I thought, 바카라How, wow?바카라 I바카라d have really바카라 but here, it바카라d feel as if he바카라s hugging the stage, kyun kar raha hai bhai [laughs]?
So, in essence, you were both responding to the moments in the text and its overall spirit.
And the plot. Because 98 per cent of the people who would watch the play wouldn바카라t have read the book. So, it바카라s important that the plot makes sense, that the story catches people, and that they바카라re taken along with that. More importantly, why is one doing this as a play anyway: why not something else, why not Gabriel García Márquez? Because there was something that attracted you, affected you, and you want to explore that. No, I don바카라t know what I want to do. I don바카라t even know what I want to address. But I do know I want to do this because it바카라s evoked something in me바카라and I want to discover that. So, it바카라s that journey: the journey into that book and the journey into me.
바카라I wanted to get away from realism. Realism and theatre are completely opposed to each other. And I hate that kind of realism in theatre바카라
Adapting a 1,000-page novel into a 100-minute play must be immensely challenging. How did you choose what to include and how to structure the whole thing?
It happened [smiles]. Because, really, I didn바카라t have any idea how we바카라d do it. I wanted to do the play, and we started rehearsing, reading scenes, trying them out. And it troubled me a lot for about a month because normally바카라whether it바카라s a film or when I바카라m writing a script바카라I know how it ends. I knew Babu-ji would jump at the end in Ankhon Dekhi. I don바카라t know what happens in between. Here, I had no idea, till I found that scene with Maharaj-ji.
We couldn바카라t include everything from the novel. There바카라s a whole chapter, around 200 pages, about a boy dying. Ivan바카라s Grand Inquisitor scene, a celebrated part of the book, was reduced to a minute-and-a-half. So, there바카라s a lot that바카라s not there, but I hope we got the story바카라s essence. And now when I바카라m watching it with the audience, I바카라m like, 바카라My God, this not only has the madness, the despair, and things about faith, but it바카라s also a fucking love story.바카라 It바카라s almost like chick lit.
Love stories in fact. Love storiyan!
Yeah. Does Katerina love Ivan, does she love Mitya? It바카라s almost like Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice.
Coming back to the previous question: How do you know what to include from a novel as voluminous as The Brothers Karamazov?
As I said, while reading, I didn바카라t know. When we started rehearsing, then it started to become clear. We tried other scenes, but we left them out because they were interrupting the flow of the play or slowing it down. So, there바카라s a lot of editing; it바카라s almost like film editing. You try something, then you put a scene there, as you바카라d do in a film edit, and then you watch it with that. And you바카라re like, 바카라No, it바카라s working better, this should go there바카라, and so on. It바카라s fun, but it바카라s hard because you바카라re doing it with live actors, and they start saying, 바카라What the hell, make up your mind.바카라
It almost feels like you바카라re 바카라co-writing바카라 the play with your actors.
Nothing was written before our rehearsals. We also had 25 days of auditions where I met a lot of actors바카라about 60 or 70 of them바카라and everyone did the scenes in their own way. Out of that, we chose 15, and out of those, 10 are on stage. What I really enjoyed바카라besides the editing and the adaptation바카라is the idea of removing spaces on stage with light. Alyosha is talking to his brother; the brother leaves, Alyosha stands, the lights change, and now he바카라s in Katerina바카라s house. Then Katerina leaves, and he바카라s again somewhere else. For me, that was the play.
Why did you not have a set?
I wanted to get away from realism of any kind. Realism and theatre are completely opposed to each other. And I hate that kind of realism in theatre. So, initially, we had actors sitting on chairs; we did that for some time. And then I was like, 바카라No, no, nobody sits.바카라 Or [a dialogue like], 바카라Would you have tea? Should I get you something else?바카라 I wanted to take out all those superficial things and get right into the scene. For me, that바카라s more theatrical, without pretending that we바카라re in the real world. Because we바카라re not. We바카라re watching a play.
Given that faith is so central to The Brothers Karamazov (and Dostoevsky), I wonder: What바카라s your relationship with the Almighty?
I바카라m an atheist. I바카라m more of an atheist than Ivan. He struggles with it; I don바카라t. I don바카라t believe in any organised religion or a presence of God, but I believe. I believe in something else. I believe, in some kind of an order, which is random and chaotic and meaningless, and yet it바카라s something that makes things work.
