He started out by playing a part in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in school. His years at Stephen’s with plays alongside Shashi Tharoor and director Mira Nair convinced him the stage was his calling. “I was in college when I realised I could not do anything but theatre,” says Husain.“I started theatre playing the part of a wall in A Midsummer’s Night Dream when I was in school. After more than 40 years, I still love theatre.” Asking him whether it would be accurate to call him a theatre personality, Raza responds saying, “I do theatre.” He has since that wall played many a role from Mr Paravicini from Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap, Alfred Doolittle in Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw to a character in The Tea House of the August Moon that he forgets but remembers winning the best actor award and the role of Pompey in Anthony and Cleopatra, where he shared stage with Shashi Tharoor and Mira Nair who played the protagonists roles. “An unlikely pair come to think of it,” he adds mischievously. With Stagedoor followed larger and more ambitious productions like The Legend of Ram, Sare Jahan se Acha, Chaudvin ka Chand, Satyamev Jayate, The Fifty Day war, 1947 Live among many others.The man behind entertainment company Stagedoor, which he runs with wife Virat, Husain has managed to crash through barriers of time and space with the logistical jugglery that’s his USP. The Legend of Ram saw a theatre built to seat 700 people on a rail track that travelled 1 kilometer through sprawling sets.“I believe in just two types of theatre - good and bad. When it comes to good theatre, there’s commercial theatre. A good commercial play will let you do what you want with your play in whichever fashion you see fit.” And that is precisely how Stagedoor works. However, does commercial theatre objectify artistic creativity? “My point is to entertain my audience. I have absolute freedom to come up with something that will.” Thus quite bluntly he meant no.Coming to the scenario of theatre as such, being able to fund a play has always a been a problem. So how does Raza manage to do a play on a budget that would probably be enough to pull off a small to mid-size budget film production? “Money is available. Definitely more easily than when I started. But it’s only available when you are good,” explains Raza. Essentially he feels, it’s just mediocre, sour-grapes talk that there is no money available. The 54-year-old garrulous man who is full of anecdotes, has a story to tell for every moment of his life. Talking about one of his plays in Bombay, he reminisced, “There are things that can happen only in Bombay. Scripts to our play were being sold within the premises of the venue for about `250. Once, when I was leaving late, one chap tried to sell me a copy for `500 claiming it was the last copy and completely ignorant of the fact that I was the director.” Raza has interesting time in his profession, given the fact that his wife co-directs. “It’s easy in a way since we’re both on the same wavelength. Of course we have our differences, but we’re headed in the same direction,” he explains. “But that is natural because after all I coached her,” he adds grinningly.Aamir Raza was awarded the Padma Shri in 2001. Ask him about it and he shrugs and says, “The biggest award for an artist is the applause. The award was just a slightly louder applause.” Aamir Raza did indeed bow down to quite some cheer at the close of his play The Urge. All through he had his audience laughing at the theatricals of his cast as they laced through the confusion of mistaken identities. But no one could’ve mistaken the quaint Aamir Raza despite his curly haired wig and black face paint.
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