Watch this documentary on Shakespeare's reinterpreted characters from Macbeth

Jim Sarbh

A Rajat Kapoor play would be one of the best introductions to theatre for a first-timer. When filmmaker, cinematographer and director Siddhartha More was taken for Kapoor's Nothing Like Lear at Prithvi Theatre, his first play, he did not expect to be entertained as much as he was. This movie buff pursued the theatre streak that the play ignited. Curious and excited, More knew he wanted to invest his creative abilities in this art form. Marrying his work in short films with theatre, he approached Kapoor in 2015 with the idea of documenting the filmmaker and actor's artistic process. At the time, Kapoor was deep into rehearsals for Macbeth and invited More to capture whatever his cameras aimed to. The result was the documentary Clowning with Shakespeare, which will be screened at Harkat Studios this weekend.

Rajat Kapoor

Kapoor's fantastical theatre-making process where he uses clowning as an expression for his reputed adaptations of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and As You Like It, is captured in the documentary. More reveals, "He doesn't start with a script or a brief to the actors but takes it scene by scene. He tells the actors what their character is and to perform it in their way." He continues that improvising multiple iterations and picking up aspects that work are factors that shape a character for Kapoor's play. "The actors too come with their own knowledge and wit to make a character," More notes. In their rendition of Macbeth where they spew gibberish, deviate from the original script and bring the play into modern times, the star-studded cast including Kalki Koechlin, Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak and Jim Sarbh interpret the play through unlimited exploration and abandon. And behind his camera, More captures the process through four months of rehearsal, archival recordings, interviews with the actors and travelling with the cast to Kolkata for their first show.

Kalki Koechlin in stills from the documentary

Drawing parallels to this unconditional artistic process, More shares, "I did not have a script while filming, my creative process started at the edit table. That is when you look at the footage and allow them to fall into place." Following the clowns of Macbeth comes with its merits. "The clowns here are more serious than Kapoor's other plays," he tells us, pointing to the fact that we are privy to the literal behind-the-scenes journey as the actors take usually colourful characters to their breaking points while still being clowns.

Siddhartha More

Self-funded and carefully prepared, the documentary took four and a half years to meet its completion. Released almost a year back, it has collected many wins including Best Documentary at the DC South Asian Film Festival, Best Focus on Art at the Orlando Film Festival and Honorable Mention at Mumbai International Film Festival. More is currently working towards having the documentary get picked up by an OTT platform so it's available for all to watch. Just as theatre found an audience in More, he harbours his hopes for others to have a similar experience, "I want the audience to understand how entertaining theatre is and how much goes into it. And choose it as their mode of entertainment."

On: February 11; 7.30 pm
At: Harkat Studios, Versova.
Log on to: insider.in
Cost: Rs 250