Shakespeare Wallah
Shakespeare Wallah is a 1965 Merchant Ivory Productions film. The story and screenplay are by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, about a travelling family theatre troupe of English actors in India, who perform Shakespeare plays in towns across India, amidst a dwindling demand for their work and the rise of Bollywood. Madhur Jaffrey won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival for her performance. The music was composed by Satyajit Ray.[1]
| Shakespeare Wallah | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | James Ivory |
| Written by | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |
| Produced by | Ismail Merchant |
| Starring | Shashi Kapoor Felicity Kendal Madhur Jaffrey Geoffrey Kendal Partap Sharma |
| Cinematography | Subrata Mitra |
| Edited by | Amit Bose |
| Music by | Satyajit Ray |
Release date | 1965 |
Running time | 120 minutes |
| Countries | United States India |
| Language | English |
Plot
Loosely based on the real-life actor-manager Geoffrey Kendal's family and his travelling "Shakespeareana Company", which earned him the Indian sobriquet "Shakespearewallah", the film follows the story of nomadic British actors as they perform Shakespeare plays in towns in post-colonial India.[2] In this story, Tony Buckingham (Geoffrey Kendal) and his wife Carla (Laura Liddell) oversee the troupe. Their daughter, Lizzie Buckingham (Felicity Kendal), falls in love with Sanju (Shashi Kapoor), who is also romancing Manjula (Madhur Jaffrey), a Bollywood film star.
In real life, Shashi Kapoor fell in love with Felicity's elder sister Jennifer Kendal. Their marriage provided an important contribution to the Indian film industry until Kendal's death in 1984.
Cast
- Shashi Kapoor as Sanju
- Felicity Kendal as Lizzie Buckingham
- Geoffrey Kendal as Tony Buckingham
- Laura Liddell as Carla Buckingham
- Madhur Jaffrey as Manjula
- Utpal Dutt as Maharaja
- Praveen Paul as Didi
- Prayag Raj as Sharmaji (as Prayag Raaj)
- Pinchoo Kapoor as Guptaji
- Jim D. Tytler as Bobby (as Jim Tytler)
- Hamid Sayani as Headmaster's Brother
- Marcus Murch as Dandy in 'The Critic'
- Partap Sharma as Aslam
- Jennifer Kendal as Mrs Bowen (uncredited)
- Ismail Merchant as Theater Owner (uncredited)
Production
After the success of the first film, The Householder (1963), the team of Ivory and Merchant reunited with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and actor Shashi Kapoor for this film. Due to budget constraints, the film was shot in black and white, and the Kendal family play their own fictionalized counterparts, the Buckinghams.[3][4]
Reception
The film holds a score of 89%, based on 9 critics, on Rotten Tomatoes.[5]
Home media
It was released on DVD from Odyssey, as well as in a boxset as part of the Merchant Ivory Collection of the Merchant Ivory Productions.[6]
References
- "Berlinale 1965: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
- Singh, Kuldip (15 June 1998). "Obituary: Geoffrey Kendal". The Independent. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
- "Shakespeare Wallah: James Ivory". TIFF. Archived from the original on 27 August 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
- Keller, p. 42
- "Shakespeare Wallah". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- Megahey, Neal. "Shakespeare Wallah Review". The Digital Fix. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
- James R. Keller; Aia, Leslie Stratyner (2004). "Shakespeare Transposed: British Theatre on Post-colonial screen". Almost Shakespeare: Reinventing His Works for Cinema and Television. McFarland. ISBN 078648103X.
External links
Further reading
- Kendal, Geoffrey; Colvin, Clare (1987). Shakespeare Wallah: Autobiography. Penguin Books. p. 186. ISBN 0140096841.