Pop star Shweta Shetty, who plays the first female Shylock in AGP’s adaptation of Merchant Of Venice, set in Rajasthan, talks about her comeback, the 90s and her first love — music
A scene from the play that features a duet with Operatic and Rajasthani Folk singing
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It’s been 19 years since we last heard from you; how does it feel?
It is a long time. I was in Germany all these years and had started Shwetasana, my yoga school. I was going to eventually come back to India, though.
The cast of Reth Songs of the Sand
How did Reth, Songs Of The Sand happen?
When I came back to Mumbai, there were two things I wanted to do. Set up Shwetasana here and return to my first love, music. I have known Ashvin (Gidwani) for years. He used to work backstage when I did theatre in my college days along with Raell Padamsee, Pearl Padamsee and Shiamak Davar. It’s great to see how Ashvin’s grown. I had an idea in mind that revolved around looking at music from the 60s till date. He was working on a theatrical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Merchant Of Venice, set in Rajasthan, directed by Dr Satyabrata Raut. The scale of the production was huge and I couldn’t have asked for a better comeback. I will be doing theatre after 24 years. I was an amateur earlier, but this is a big show.
Shweta Shetty at rehearsal. Pics/Datta Kumbhar
What was it like to play the first female Shylock?
When they first told me about my role, I said, ‘But Shylock is a man’. Ashvin said that they wanted a woman to play this character. It was a character with shades of grey and this time they wanted a particularly mean Shylock in the first half. In my head I thought, this isn’t me. So I thought about it and told them that I would do it if I could sing an Opera. Ashvin agreed instantly. So, while the rest of the play is set in Rajasthan, my character who is born of the three witches, has a Western influence. The music I perform and my costumes are Western. The character is called Bhavri. I had to learn to deliver dialogues with a thick Rajasthani accent. We have been rehearsing since June. It was new for me and I spent the first week getting a hang of how Dr Raut worked. He held workshops to guide the actors. Apart from me, everyone else was a theatre professional. But I’m a fast learner and I’ve never done anything in half measure.
What music does the play have? Are there collaborations?
The music is Rajasthani Folk and has been composed by Amod Bhatt. There are two operatic songs that I have composed and I’m grateful that I got a free hand. One of them is a duet between the character Antonio and myself. He sings in Rajasthani while I sing in Hindi. The song, Reth Ki Rani from the play had three lakh hits on social media within two hours and was trending on Twitter too. I was overwhelmed that this genre of music got a response in India. There will be live musicians on stage who will play over the tracks.
Dr Satyabrata Rout is one of the forerunners of visual theatre. What can the audience expect?
Theatre has always been considered a small medium; almost like Bollywood’s poor cousin. Usually, it is believed that there’s no money in it. Ashvin and Dr Rout wanted this production to be grand. The cast has over 25 members and live musicians. The sets are grand and the costumes are elaborate. My costume has a cape that covers the entire NCPA stage and the three witches emerge from it. It’s great that these kind of big-budget musicals are returning. Mughal-e-Azam is going to open soon, while Gandhi opened earlier. It is important to have independent music emerge instead of us just shadowing Bollywood.
A lot has changed since you rocked the scene in the 1990s, particularly Indi Pop. Your thoughts.
It is sad that there are no big Pop stars anymore. Daler (Mehendi), Alisha (Chinoy), Baba (Sehgal) were such big stars in the 90s. Ken Ghosh was brilliant. Today, everyone wants to sound like Shaan and Sonu Nigam. Companies like Magnasound that helped create individual identities for artistes don’t exist.
What do you feel when you see a range of genres and talent floating around?
Either there’s a dearth of talent or music companies are not tapping into the right kind of talent. We survived because there were no reality shows then. All contestants want to be playback singers. Do you remember these winners or their albums? Music companies help them release one album and then move on to the next winner. They should have faith in a talent and sign him up for a five-year contract, at least. We trained in jingles and theatre for years before our first albums and hence, even when albums flopped, which happens even to the best, we knew how to get back. Today, the rise and fall is instant; people can’t cope with it because suddenly, their fans disappear. Entertainment is a tough line.
On: November 5 and 6, 7.30 pm
At: Tata Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point
Call: 9819830575
Cost: Rs 500 to Rs 2,000
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