Manekshaw’s drama dream

From July1, 2013 theater person Jehan Sam Manekshaw’s dream venture, The Drama School Mumbai (DSM) will function out of the Charni Road premises of Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh. The 81-year-old literature society, whose chief secretary is Dr Bal Bhalerao, has been credited with reviving Marathi theater, reports Mumbai Mirror (MM) in its edition of April 7, 2013.
When Parsiana spoke to the 38-year-old grandson of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, son of Maja and Dhun Daruwala about his surname, he shared that it was "the gift of my father to my grandfather.” The Field Marshal had requested Jehan to change his name when he was 16 years old, a request that he continued to make until the boy was 20 or 21. When Jehan finally broached the matter with his father, the latter readily agreed because his grandfather "was so keen about it.”

According to the DSM’s website, when Jehan is not helming his drama group and designing drama schools, he directs plays, working with teams across languages and cultures. He directed Shakespeare’s Othello in Kannada at the Ninasam Theatre Institute in Karnataka and Eklavya in Japanese at the Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre in Japan. His most recent production was Jean Anouilh’s Antigone at the Bombay International School, which he co-directed with Sananda Mukhopadhyaya.
Jehan feels that "we have been practicing a theater of ‘compromise’ for too long.” Having done his BA in theater direction from Weslayan University in the USA, Jehan went to the University of London where he obtained his Master of Fine Arts degree in 2004, mentions the DSM’s website. He hopes to create a new generation of theater persons who are not only conversant with the craft, but who will impact the environment of their medium, reports MM. What makes DSM different from other drama schools is that it is a private organization that will offer a six-month long, six-days-a-week training that focuses on acting as well as theater craft. In the final six weeks full-fledged productions directed by well-known directors will be put on the boards, informs MM. Padma Damodaran and Gitanjali Kulkarni, stage actors, have put together the course.
On his return in 2008, Jehan found that theater’s was a story of "struggle and survival” in India. He set up Theatre Professionals with drama instructor and production manager Tasneem Fatehi and the company offered an intensive program in which actors were helped to strengthen body, breath and imagination, explains MM. However, four years down the line, they realized this was not enough. With DSM they hope to teach "theater-making. We want to create actors, creators and entrepreneurs.” Damodaran claims the new venture aims to create story-tellers. Costing a hefty two lakh rupees (but "comparable to other technical courses,” Jehan assured MM), DSM’s faculty will include director Sankar Venkateswaran and actors like Yuki Ellias and Deepal Doshi. Training will be provided in Indian, Western and Eastern theater practices. One class will condition the body, voice and breathing through martial arts. A physiotherapist will talk about the body. Music training will be offered. Using what Jehan terms the "Eklavya approach,” students will be asked to create a piece based on guidelines given by the instructors at the end of the course, notes MM.
The DSM is located at the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh, Dr Bhalerao Marg, Charni Road Kele Wadi, Bombay 400002. Program coordinator Priti Bakalkar may be contacted on the telephone at +919619336336; email: info@thedramaschoolmumbai.in