The thirst for good work and the urge to perform takes an actor far and wide. The same holds true for theatre and film actor-director Ramanjit Kaur, who says, “I base myself wherever work lies. Be it Kolkata, Delhi or anywhere else.”
A reputed artist, she began her acting career at the age of 15 under her guru, theatre director Padmashree Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry.
The actor-director was recently in the national capital to assist Chowdhry on a play titled Naked Voices that took place at National School of Drama (NSD) between September 8 and 11. “It was a students’ production and I was there as an assistant director. It was based on short stories by Saadat Hasan Manto,” she says.
The journey of creating a theatre production is an intense one, and she enjoys every bit of it. “A play comes into existence by observing, questioning and creating…and then the magic of the floor takes over,” she says.
She is the recipient of three national awards, including one from Sangeet Natak Akademi, and two international awards from France and UK. She has acted in Deepa Mehta’s Fire and Heaven on Earth.
And now, she is part of Mehta’s film — Anatomy of Violence, which was premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 11. The film is a docu-drama based on the December 16 gang rape where they have recreated the lives of the six boys, the girl and their families.
“We tried to gauge and show the psychology of the boys…where did they come from, why they did what they did. This film is a product of a workshop Deepa and my guru, Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry have conducted,” says Kaur. Since it was a workshop that was filmed, one actor has played multiple characters. Kaur herself has played a pregnant woman, the girl’s colleague and the girl’s mother in this film.
She has an all-women’s theatre group in Kolkata, which she runs with homemakers. “We brought our play, Baawre Mann ke Sapne, to Bharat Rang Mahostsav in NSD last year and hope to bring it back again next year. It is one of the most prestigious theatre festivals in India in which artists from all over the world take part,” she says.
Talking about the response she gets in the city, Kaur says, “Delhi audience gave us an overwhelming response last year and we got a standing ovation, which is very encouraging for an artist. The best thing about audiences here is that they appreciate good work wholeheartedly.”
