Shakespeare Wallah (1965)

Shakespeare Wallah (1965)

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“What do these people know about our theater — Shakespeare and all that?”

Synopsis:
A young British actress (Felicity Kendal) traveling across India in a Shakespearean troupe with her father (Geoffrey Kendal) and mother (Laura Liddell) falls for a playboyish man (Shashi Kapoor) with a possessive Bollywood mistress (Madhur Jaffrey).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Actors and Actresses
  • Cross-Cultural Romance
  • Indian Films
  • Love Triangle
  • Merchant and Ivory Films
  • Shakespeare

Review:
James Ivory and Ismail Merchant’s second feature-length film together after The Householder (1963) [non-GFTFF] was this adaptation of journals (later published as a memoir) by Geoffrey Kendal, who starred alongside his wife, daughters, and son-in-law (Kapoor) as a real-life version of himself. The storyline takes place during an intriguing time in Indian history, when Geoffrey’s troupe was at the tale end of (according to Wikipedia) “perform[ing] Shakespeare before royalty one day, and in rural villages the next,” with “many of their audiences… schoolchildren.”

In the film, we see Geoffrey struggling to secure work for his company:

… given that Indian culture is shifting towards more interest in sports and Bollywood features:

… which in some ways feels entirely appropriate given the necessary trajectory of post-colonialist initiatives.

The emotional crux of the narrative lies in the tentative romance between Felicity and Kapoor — which is hard to take at first given his duplicity.

However, Jaffrey is arrogant and entitled enough herself that we can see Kapoor would be much better off with Felicity — but is romance with Kapoor what’s best for her? The cinematography by Subrata Mitra (Satyajit Ray’s DP) is effectively atmospheric throughout, and Ray’s score — composed in just 10 days — is perfectly suited for the story. While it’s not must-see viewing, this film is well worth a look, and will be of special interest to Merchant-and-Ivory fans.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Felicity Kendal as Lizzie
  • Madhur Jaffrey as Manjula
  • Geoffrey Kendal and Laura Liddell as Tony and Carla Buckingham
  • Subrata Mitra’s cinematography
  • Satyajit Ray’s score

Must See?
No, but it’s recommended for one-time viewing.

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One thought on “Shakespeare Wallah (1965)”

  1. First viewing (5/13/22). A once-must, for its satisfying cross-cultural value.

    Depiction of an interesting trio of actors performing Shakespeare to, over the years, increasingly dwindling audiences. (The scenes from Shakespeare plays that we’re shown are nicely done.)

    Jaffrey received a lot of notice (as well as Best Actress at the Berlin Int’l Fest) for playing a very vain, jealous performer who purposely interrupts a Shakespeare performance just by showing up. It takes guts to play that kind of horrible person and she does it (too) well.

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