Stage Whisper

Vimal Bhagat’s revealing account of his life opens as the struggle for India’s freedom is being given shape by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Abdul Ghaffar Khan at his grandfather’s house in Abbottabad, now in Pakistan, where he spent much of his charmed boyhood. Interspersed with hilarious anecdotes, Vimal describes the conflicting influences between his nationalistic forbears and the public school ethos of his British teachers, and later, in the world of commerce, of his Boxwallah employers with their Raj mindset. Intensely passionate about life-but more than anything else, about acting-he then goes on to bring alive the history of English theatre in India, describing dramas enacted within dramas and the many stages of stage productions, revealing his methods and inspirations. Finally, with glimpses into the diary he kept during his battle against Motor Neurone Disease, we discover his indomitable spirit. From his creative and exuberant life, to sickness and loss, we witness a gradual coming to terms with harsh truths and, ultimately, a graceful acceptance as he learns to say goodbye. All the world’s a stage and this is the story of one of its remarkable players.