Theatre is like my comfort food dal-chawal: Kumud Mishra 

Kumud Mishra on his passion for theatre and how it has kept alive the actor in him

“Theatre is like my comfort food, dal chawal, something I want to return to as often as I can.” Kumud Mishra is conscious of the similes he uses to describe his first love. “Theatre offers me challenges that I get only once in five years in films.” 

The latest is Saanp Seedhi, a thriller in the guise of a love triangle where Kumud plays a showman, vastly different from his understated turns on screen. Staged as part of Aadyam Theatre’s bouquet of plays this year in Mumbai and Delhi, Saanp Seedhi is a desi adaptation of Anthony Shaffer’s popular two-character play Sleuth. 

Written in 1970, Akarsh Khurana has adapted Sleuth, and director Shubhrajyoti Barat generates thrills and along the way tells us that Saanp Seedi is more than a board game — it teaches us the cost of sins and the value of virtuous deeds.

Kumud plays Anil Wadhwa, an ageing actor-director-producer of crime thrillers who cooks up a plot in his personal space by inviting the young lover of his wife (played by Sumit Vyas) home. What starts as a unique, friendly chat leads to a twisted clash of egos that turns sinister. 

“There is a lot of scope for performance in Sleuth. Over the years, some of the top actors have played the part. I didn’t watch any of the performances or cinematic adaptations available on the Internet.Now, I might catch up. Every actor thinks that after playing a big part, he will become big. It doesn’t happen that way, though,” Kumud remains pragmatic like some of his popular on-screen characters. 

While many of his contemporaries at the National School of Drama have no time for the stage, Kumud says that if you have the desire and intent, time cannot become a handicap. “My training in theatre helped me perform better in mainstream films. And, my experience in cinema helped me internalise the characters better. With technology making its way into  theatre, you don’t have to take the effort to be heard till the last row.” 

Quoting Naseeruddin Shah, Kumud says the thespian told him that the character’s contours are there in a good script. “We just have to find them.” He credits directors such as Anubhav Sinha, Nitin Kakkar and Vijay Krishna Acharya with tapping his potential. For example, in My Great Indian Family, Kumud plays a priest who is secular, and he says Vijay helped him explore the character’s internal conflict.