What does it take to write stories that will live forever?
Themes with universal resonances help. Write about love, loss, grief, yearning, heartache, jealousy, joy, ambition. Tackle issues that have a wide impact, like political machinations, state laws, gender relations, trade and economy. People your tales with unforgettable characters, entities that spring off the two-dimensional page to dance in your mind’s eye.
Most important of all, though, is the ability to craft dialogues as if the pen you wrote with was kissed by a loving deity, who transferred some of his own power of creation into your mortal hands.
Damn it, slipped from general advice into a panegyric for William Shakespeare yet again! But while we are on the subject, and as the world celebrates the Bard’s 400th anniversary, here are the many ways in which his work remains wonderfully, magically relevant, across the chasm of time.
Bollywood Calling
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Who would have thought that an Englishman’s 16th century plays would result in some of the most riveting cinema to grace Indian screens in the last decade?
Director Vishal Bharadwaj saw the potential for extremely sharp commentary on contemporary bharatiya culture in the Bard’s tragedies. Thus, Othello (1603), the story of a marriage’s brutal unravelling because of murderous jealousy, caused by a geographically-specific variety of racism, is transplanted perfectly into the politically violent badlands of Uttar Pradesh, and racism is replaced by casteism, our home-grown form of bigotry.
Scottish political machinations in Macbeth (1599-1606), a dark tragedy of ambition, crime and guilt, inspires Maqbool (2003), set in the world of organised crime in Mumbai. The witches of Macbeth, its most iconic scene-stealers, are beautifully transformed into two local policemen who dabble in astrology, with the story maintaining the same sense of foretold doom that must have thrilled theatre-goers three and a half centuries ago.
Similarly, Hamlet (1599-1602), essentially the story of an individual’s descent into madness because of corrupt social & political structures, gives us Haider (2015), a sharp commentary on present-day Kashmir, with its history of state violence, where a young man will once again be made to feel like he is losing his mind when it is in fact his world, full of loss and cruelty, that makes no sense.
To Tweet Or Not To Tweet
A tweet is a legitimate art form.
To be able to arouse anger, contempt, amusement or pathos in 140 characters or less requires a deft touch and it is thus no surprise that an anonymous Bard-bhakt has undertaken the daunting task of tweeting as the man himself.
Ek ‘Poll’ ka Jeena
#PanamaLeaks
There Be Ghosts Here, And They Are Hilarious
When a Clever GoT Reference Doubles as a Sick Burn on a Fellow Poet
Shakespeare in the Park
The trouble with the kind of veneration Shakespeare receives is that he then becomes the property of a few self-appointed custodians, dragged away into ivory towers to collect dust. We must never forget that Shakespeare, in his time, exemplified the pinnacle of popular entertainment.
‘Shakespeare in the Park’ refers to outdoor theatre productions of his plays, performed all over the world, often in places like Delhi and Bengaluru in India. Performances take place on lush green commons, under democratic stars, where anyone is free to wander by and stay for however long they please. Whether it is fifteen minutes of idling or the beginning of a lifelong affair with the Bard, everyone is welcomed.
And that, is the essence of Shakespeare.
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