Shakespeare Wallah

Shakespeare Wallah
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	James Ivory
Produced by	Ismail Merchant
Written by	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Starring	Shashi Kapoor Felicity Kendal Madhur Jaffrey Geoffrey Kendal Partap Sharma
Music by	Satyajit Ray
Cinematography	Subrata Mitra
Edited by	Amit Bose
Release dates	1965
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Shakespeare Wallah is a 1965 Merchant Ivory Productions film. The story and screenplay are by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala about a travelling family theatre troupe of English actors in India, who perform Shakespeare plays in towns across India, amidst a dwindling demand for their work and the rise of Bollywood. Madhur Jaffrey won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival for her performance. The music was composed by Satyajit Ray.^[1]

Plot

Loosely based on the real-life actor-manager Geoffrey Kendal family and his "Shakespeareana Company" of travelling theatre, which earned him the Indian sobriquet, "Shakespearewallah". The film follows the story of nomadic British actors as they perform Shakespeare plays in towns in post-colonial India.^[2] In this story, Tony Buckingham (Geoffrey Kendal) and his wife Carla (Laura Liddell) oversee the troupe. Their daughter, Lizzie Buckingham (Felicity Kendal), falls in love with Sanju (Shashi Kapoor), who is also romancing Manjula (Madhur Jaffrey), a Bollywood film star.

In real life, Shashi Kapoor fell in love with Felicity's elder sister Jennifer Kendal. Their marriage would provide an important contribution to the Indian film industry until Kendal's death in 1984.

Cast

Shashi Kapoor as Sanju
Felicity Kendal as Lizzie Buckingham
Geoffrey Kendal as Mr. Tony Buckingham
Laura Liddell as Mrs. Carla Buckingham
Madhur Jaffrey as Manjula
Utpal Dutt as Maharaja
Praveen Paul as Didi
Prayag Raj as Sharmaji (as Prayag Raaj)
Pinchoo Kapoor as Guptaji
Jim D. Tytler as Bobby (as Jim Tytler)
Hamid Sayani as Headmaster's Brother
Marcus Murch as Dandy in 'The Critic'
Partap Sharma as Aslam
Jennifer Kendal as Mrs. Bowen (uncredited)
Ismail Merchant as Theater Owner (uncredited)

Production

After the success of the first film, The Householder (1963), the team of Ivory and Merchant reunited with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and actor Shashi Kapoor for this film. Due to budget constraints the film was shot in black and white, and the Kendal family play their own fictionalized counterparts, "the Buckinghams".^[3]^[4]

References

↑ "Berlinale 1965: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 21 February 2010.
↑ Kuldip Singh (15 June 1998). "Obituary: Geoffrey Kendal". The Independent. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
↑ "Shakespeare Wallah: James Ivory". TIFF. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
↑ Keller, p. 42

James R. Keller; Aia, Leslie Stratyner (2004). "Shakespeare Transposed: British Theatre on Post-colonial screen". Almost Shakespeare: Reinventing His Works for Cinema and Television. McFarland. ISBN 078648103X.

External links

Films

1960s	The Householder (1963) Shakespeare Wallah (1965) The Guru (1969) The Night of Counting the Years (1969)

1970s	Bombay Talkie (1970) Savages (1972) The Wild Party (1975) Autobiography of a Princess (1975) Roseland (1977) Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures (1978) The Five Forty-Eight (1978) The Europeans (1979)

1980s	Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980) Quartet (1981) The Courtesans of Bombay (1983) Heat and Dust (1983) The Bostonians (1984) A Room with a View (1985) Maurice (1987) The Deceivers (1988) The Perfect Murder (1988) Slaves of New York (1989)

1990s	Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990) The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1991) Howards End (1992) The Remains of the Day (1993) In Custody (1994) Feast of July (1995) Jefferson in Paris (1995) The Proprietor (1996) Surviving Picasso (1996) Side Streets (1998) A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1999) Cotton Mary (1999)

2000s	The Golden Bowl (2001) The Mystic Masseur (2002) Le Divorce (2003) Heights (2004) The White Countess (2005) The City of Your Final Destination (2007) Before the Rains (2008)

Collaborators and artists

James Ivory Ismail Merchant Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Madhur Jaffrey Saeed Jaffrey Shashi Kapoor Jennifer Kendal Aparna Sen Leela Naidu Tony Pierce-Roberts Richard Robbins Greta Scacchi Helena Bonham Carter Emma Thompson Rupert Graves Hugh Grant James Wilby Simon Callow Anthony Hopkins Glenn Close Uma Thurman Vanessa Redgrave Natasha Richardson Ralph Fiennes

Film portal

Films directed by James Ivory

The Householder (1963)
The Delhi Way (1964)
Shakespeare Wallah (1965)
The Guru (1969)
Bombay Talkie (1970)
Adventures of a Brown Man in Search of Civilization (1972)
Savages (1972)
Autobiography of a Princess (1975)
The Wild Party (1975)
Roseland (1977)
Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures (1978)
The Five Forty-Eight (1978)
The Europeans (1979)
Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980)
Quartet (1981)
Heat and Dust (1983)
The Bostonians (1984)
A Room with a View (1985)
Maurice (1987)
Slaves of New York (1989)
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990)
Howards End (1992)
The Remains of the Day (1993)
Jefferson in Paris (1995)
Lumière and Company (1995)
Surviving Picasso (1996)
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1999)
The Golden Bowl (2001)
Le Divorce (2003)
The White Countess (2005)
The City of Your Final Destination (2007)

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