PLAYWRIGHT 2 LAST

Hasan, who has roped in famous names like Suman, Naval, Hasan, who has roped in famous names like Suman, Naval,Sonali Kulkarni and Arif Zakaria for his stage productions,says in near future Bollywood stars would be turning to stage. "It is a very interesting phase and I predict that in next10-15 years a lot more of the bigger actors from cinema will bemoving to the stage. My biggest aim was to direct (Amitabh)Bachchan saab but I don’t think it would happen," he says. Asked if the Broadway trend is making its way in Indiawith known faces like Naseeruddin Shah, Puneet Issar, AnupamKher, Saurabh Shukla, Shabana Azmi already doing plays, hesays, "Very soon… bigger stars and actors are going to comeon stage soon." "A lot of them are doing theatre for the first time. Ithas again started getting press. Commercial theatre, if notequal to TV, still pays a decent figure and a lot of people whohave been out of work are now getting work. It’s a fair andlegitimate thing. It is not like they are opening up a shop." "On the flip side of it, in Bombay the entertainment pagehas doubled up. Everybody is doing theatre and there are allkinds of theatre – good, bad and ugly. The good thing is a lotof people are now doing theatre," he says. Hasan says there should be more auditoriums as theatrepeople are eating into each other’s business. PTI KIS BKBK