Kissa Kotwal Ka

"Oh maara mai, mané janam deedho kai (Oh my mother, why did you give me birth)?” sighed the plump and pretty Parsi lady, as she sank into the seat on the coach. We had been walking all morning, taking in the sights of the historic city of Moscow. Thirty-three of us were on a tour of Russia. This was our second day in the erstwhile USSR and we were just getting to know each other, still struggling to match names to faces.

With every passing day of the tour, our group got closer. In our midst were some amazing people. Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal with her theatrical turn of phrase, hair piled on her head in a top knot and a Russian peasant shawl with bright pink roses and long silk tassels draped over her shoulders, cut a dramatic figure.

A standup comedienne, theater personality and cinema actor, her clientele (for comedy) are corporates like Hutch (now Vodafone), HSBC and Stanchart. Her fare is a tongue-in-cheek blend of social and political satire which she titles ‘Straight Talk.’ "It takes me a week of preparation to put together a 30-minute show,” she mentioned.

Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal: comedy is her forte

Kotwal is passionate about acting which, she says, she got into quite by chance. "My son Kaizad, with a doctorate (from USA) in filmmaking and theater technology, was directing a play in Bombay. Needing a cast of five, he just could not find the right person to play the fifth character. In desperation he asked me. I agreed and have been hooked ever since.” Respecting her son’s expertise she said, "I take his opinion and value it. His company made a film Below the Belt which was viewed at several film festivals and won an award as the Best Experimental Film at the Oregon Festival.” Kotwal finds acting therapeutic. It helped her through a rough patch in her own life.

The popular actor is known for her roles in the Vagina Monologues in English and the same in Hindi titled Kissa Yoni Ka. Vagina Monologues has just completed 170 shows, all houseful. Kissa Yoni Ka has opened to rave reviews from audiences and the Press alike. Shirley Valentine, India’s first one-actor play, is still running. At the time of writing this article, Kotwal was traveling, first to Delhi, touch-down in Bombay, then on to Calcutta with the hit Hindi comedy Lift Kara De! (W)hole in The Head with Naseeruddin Shah, and A Romance With Ruby are among the other plays she has worked in.

She has also had small parts in films — the highly acclaimed Amitabh Bachchan-Rani Mukherjee starrer Black, Buddha Mar Gaya, Dil-Wil-Pyar-Vyar, Little Zizou (directed by Sooni Tarapore­wala) and Kalpavriksh (directed by Manika Sharma). The last two are yet to be released. Asked if she had any favorite or memorable play or movie Kotwal said "Every performance is memorable for that moment. And then one moves on to the next.”

Kotwal rates Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Paresh Rawal as great actors. She admires Boman Irani for his versatility and the aplomb with which he carries off every role. Her comment on the Big B: "Amitabh is not just an actor. He is a star.”

In 1998 she started her theater company called Poor Box Productions. "The name reflects the shoe-string budget I work on,” she said wryly. "After acting and directing, the next step was to start producing my own plays. But production is an exercise in masochism,” she exclaimed. "Theater dates prove to be the biggest problem. Sponsors are equally hard to come by. Big-name sponsors prefer to sponsor one fashion show for lakhs of rupees, with anorexic women strutting around in under-sized and over-priced clothes! It is much harder for them to part with the same money to sponsor 25 shows of a great play, supporting actors who are committed, talented and hard to come by,” declared Kotwal who minces no words in saying what she has to.

When asked about her views on regional theater in India, Kotwal was enthusiastic about Marathi theater which she said was vibrant. "Gujarati theater unfortunately has stooped to the level of bedroom farces.” About Parsi-Gujarati theater she had no comment because there are a minuscule number of productions. "I used to enjoy Konkani theater in the 60s and 70s but have not seen anything for a long time,” she added.

Kotwal’s roots are in Bombay, though she has lived abroad for some time and traveled extensively. She was educated at the J. B. Petit High School for Girls. "I was a reasonably good student, with a passion for theater, speech, dance and drama,” she said. As a young girl, Mody (her maiden name) was trained in these arts by Hima Devi who was a gold medalist from the Royal Academy of Dance and Drama (London). "Hima Devi’s contemporaries were the likes of John Geilgud and Sir Lawrence Olivier,” Kotwal informed us. "You asking me who Hima Devi was makes me realize how fleeting and fickle fame can be,” she sighed.

Pursuing science at St Xavier’s College, she earned a BSc in microbiology-chemistry and another in geology-chemistry from the Bombay University. While in college, she was secretary of the Literary Union and an active participant and prize winner in elocution and debate. She put her education to use by working for some time as a research assistant in the USA, for the man who formulated Crest toothpaste.

Besides acting, other pursuits that Kotwal enjoys are horse-racing (as a spectator and punter), traveling and playing cards. "A 27-card rummy,” she specified.

Is her Parsi identity a help or a hindrance in the world of entertainment? "I am totally against setting any limits or parameters around myself as I truly feel that these constrict, limit and bind us from evolving as human beings. Especially for an artist to be true to his/her art these distinctions of caste and religion should mean nothing,” she said with passion. "However, I am a great believer in the force (call it God if you like). But organized religion has no place in my life... I do not believe that God could ever have meant for one human being to be more special than the others as we Parsis have deluded ourselves into believing.”

Talking about the community, Kotwal said frankly, "Much as I love them, I can take Parsis in small doses only.” Her daughter Nairika Kotwal Cornett, married outside the religion, has two sons, Kamyaab and Shayaan. "Of course we will have my grandsons’ navjotes. Dare someone try stopping me!” She says even her son-in-law wants to become a Zoroastrian. "Even you would draw the line at that,” I exclaimed! "I do not draw the line at my son-in-law becoming a Zoroastrian,” she said. "I don’t draw lines for anything in my life...specially where others are concerned. To each his own.”

Kotwal is a woman who speaks her mind and her heart. Play-acting is not part of her real life persona. That is strictly for the stage.