Hyderabad, TELANGANA / Berlin, GERMANY :
When 85-year old mime artist Irshad Panjatam was about 18-years-old, he had joined the Begumpet airport as a ground apprentice engineer. Getting such a job back then was perhaps not easy, which is why many at his workplace advised him against quitting, when he took the decision a year after joining.
“I left the job because tightening nuts and bolts, was not what I wanted to do,” recalled Mr. Panjatam, who is in Hyderabad currently. Though he eventually become an artiste, it was not until 1958 that he discovered his true calling in pantomime, which then changed his life and has made him the internationally renowned mime artiste that he is.
Remembering that crucial moment, Mr. Panjatam takes a ride through memory lane during an interview to YUNUS Y. LASANIA .
Excerpts:
How did you get introduced to and develop your skills? Was the art form present in India back then?
I never knew the word pantomime. When I was working with the Hindustani Theatre in New Delhi, I was part of famous Sanskrit play. During rehearsals in the third act, the main actor was not there, so I took stage in his place. Dr. Charles Fabri, a very famous art critic, was present in the rehearsal room.
I started performing, but the musicians were not ready to support me, hence my movements were absolutely silent; without music and without song. Dr. Fabri said it was a very good pantomime act, and then he gave me a book on it. I read the introductory lines and learnt what mime was. It was 1958, and the art form was not present here. I learnt everything on my own.
What was your first performance like? How was the reception to your performances?
I started with short stories like Aesop’s Fables. I showed it to some of my good friends who were also my critics. In 1962, the Indian Arts and Crafts Society, a prestigious organisation of Delhi at that time, put me on stage for my first mime performance. The house was full, and it was well received. After that my friends told me that I was alone here (as an artiste), and that I had to go abroad and perform to know where I stood.
Your first international performance took place in the neighbouring Pakistan. How did that happen?
When I was performing in Delhi, a delegation from the Women’s College in Lahore was present. One of the girls asked me when I was coming to perform in Pakistan, and gave me her college’s address. So my journey began with Pakistan in 1963. I left with Rs.5 in my pocket on the Amritsar Express train, and performed at her college, for which I earned Rs.350 (Pakistani currency).
From there on, I travelled to Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Yugoslavia (currently Bosnia and Herzegova, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia), Germany, France, and Britain, where I had performed. It was always about luck, as I was received well and nobody had has criticised my work.
You settled in Berlin, Germany, and have also acted in German movies. Did you come to India often after you shifted from Hyderabad?
I met my wife Ingrid in Bombay. She had come to India as an Indian art student, and was doing archive work in Uttar Pradesh between 1971/72. We settled in Berlin where I started a school called the ‘Pantomime Workshop of Irshad Panjatan’. I used to visit India once in three or four years.
I closed my school in 1995 after the doctor’s advice to not perform. Later, I started my career in German films, and the one that made me famous is ‘Der Schuh des Manitu (Manitu’s Shoe), which broke all records, as it was viewed about 40 million times. I was doing about one or two movies in a year after that.
How would you describe pantomime is your words?
It is an art of telling a story, experiencing a mood or emotions without resorting to words and only with body movements. I never play with any music or dialogues – I am a pure mime. Silence has power.
My German film ‘Der Schuh des Manitu (Manitu’s Shoe) was viewed about 40 million times
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by Yunus Y. Lasania / January 05th, 2016