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 A Strong Bond With Theatre

By: Vijay Krishna

Ravi Taneja has directed 25 plays and performed in 1,200 in 37 years 

From local Ramlilas to being hailed as a sensitive actor by critics, Ravi Taneja has done and seen it all. Over the years, he has created a place for himself on the Delhi stage. Taneja wears many hats. He is an actor, editor, author and playwright.
But he enjoys his role as a director the most. He also manages a theatre group, the Collegiate Drama Society.

Back in 1974, Taneja played Laxman in his colony, Indira Nagar's Ramlila. His first stage outing won him a lot of applause and a rather unusual reward.

“I was so nervous that I quietly came back home and tried to sleep. Next day, people from the neighbouring sent about 100 litres of milk. The reward encouraged me to pursue theatre,“ says Taneja, now a resident of Sector 7, Rohini.

However, it was nautanki that he watched throughout the summer vacations, got him interested in theatre. “It was an annual fare then. Watching nautanki, I realised that on stage, even a common man gets transformed into someone interesting.
It impressed me so much that I was sure that I had found my calling. I was only12 then. I participated in a play for my school's Independence Day celebrations.
I continued to participate in the neighbourhood and school's dramatics activities. In college, the interest turned into a passion and has continued this far,“ says Taneja.

Passion alone can explain how even after 37 years, Tanjea is still going strong. Intriguingly, his theatre journey spanning about three decades, has only kindled his desire to delve even deeper. He has just finished a children's theatre festival that included five workshops, involving 200 children from Delhi schools. Before that he had taken his troupe to Jalandhar and Ujjain to perform two of his trademark productions, Kal College Band Rahega and Baba Bantoo. He just has just finished writing the script of his forthcoming play, Sikander.

“At present, we are doing research for Sikander. Besides that, I am translating a Russian play, Retro into Punjabi. It has already been staged in English.
The entire team is working hard for our next month's show, Kal College Band Rahega, in Gurgaon. It is hectic but it is my life,“ says Taneja.

The last thing one expects from a veteran of 1,200 performances as an actor and a director of 25 plays is nervousness before the show. “Even now I lose sleep before the show.
Anything can happen at the last minute but as they say, the show must go on,“ says Taneja.

He has also edited two books, Shabdcharitra, a compilation of the writings of different authors, and Pen Potrait, written by Dr Sidhu. A play on Jesus Christ is under production. He has written and directed four children's plays but the he enjoys direction the most as it gives him the opportunity to participate in all the activities of theatre production.

 The Hindustan Times