The irresistible rise of Vijay Crishna

Vijay Crishna was one of lifersquos unusual men He came from Calcutta in the 70s to work with my father mdash to get into advertising and marketing to pursue the theatre to absorb BombayI first met Vijay Crishna when I was maybe ten He had twinkling mischievous eyes He had the ability to reach out to people with his wicked sense of humour I was to know this man through various stages of my life as one of my dadrsquos closest friends as an actor par excellence whom I had the good fortune to directVijay Crishna loved to act he lived to act And I had my first one on one engagement with him in 1984When I began my directorial journey the late great Burjor Patel asked Shernaz his daughter and me if he could produce ldquoNutsrdquo a play I was contemplating with her in the lead He took it a step further ldquoShould I ask Vijay Crishna if hersquod like to act for yourdquo Burjor asked me And Vijay agreed no ego happy to be led by a debutant directorThis was to be the first of three plays Vijay and I did togetherHis passion for the stage was magnetic his love to don characters was addictive He was a tough actor to direct it certainly felt that way at 23 hersquod ask innumerable questions which pissed me off as a young Turk But later as we got to me directing him in 1997 in Pinterrsquos ldquoOne For The Roadrdquo I understood that for actors innumerable questions often hid an insecurity to excel He also possessed an insatiable thirst to inhabit a role The pursuit to be the best to absorb a part so completely to shine to embody to become a 3D 360 degree character not a 2D cardboard cutout the process was arduous and challenging Vijay was the best and expected you to be at your bestHe wanted to play the leading man on stage his vast collection of plays adorning an entire wall at home comprised the works of Shakespeare Pinter and Brecht My feeling is he bought scripts for plays hersquod wanted to be in mdash and he sought directors whom he felt could cast him in the ldquogreat rolesrdquo Alyque and Pearl were his first port of call This was a preIndian English theatre era and he was their first choice whether the Hitler character in Betrolt Brechtrsquos lsquoThe Irresistable Rise of Arturo Uirdquo or the doctor in Tom Tempinskirsquos Duet for One or Iago in ldquoOthellordquo or Stanley in Harold Pinterrsquos ldquoThe Birthday PartyrdquoGrowing up in the theatre Vijay Crishna and Homi Daruwala ruled the Bombay stage mdash perhaps the two finest of their generation in my book theatre becomes truly exciting when great actors themselves direct great actors Vijay directing a lifeless bedridden Homi in a play called ldquoWhose Life is it Anywayrdquo was unforgettable Homi once told me backstage ldquoNo way I could have pulled off this part if I didnrsquot have an actor like Vijay directing merdquoIn later years Vijay would call often ldquoDear boy I think yoursquore ready for Tom Stoppardrdquo or ldquoMy friend have you read King Lear I feel Irsquom the right age to play him what do you thinkrdquoVijay was always this straightbacked man a maverick who maximised every second of life mdash a man of many trades with an ability to shift gears like he shifted roles on stageVijay was a fitness maniac he walked and walked and trekked He explored he was a Columbuslike explorer a discoverer he was an environmentalist he was concerned about global warming long before it became a thing mdash his expeditions to the Antarctica his walks across Northen Spain Japan and Egypt were legendaryVijay was vital mdash vital to the stage vital to the environment vital to the mountains just vital to the people around himGood night lover of TibetGood night sweet princeGood night Iago Arturo Ui Dr Louis Feldman Biff and MacbethGood night Vijay Mohan Crishna Sleep well Good nightRahul daCunha is an adman theatre directorplaywright filmmaker and traveller Reach him at rahuldacunhamiddaycom