https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Shakespeare_WallahShakespeare Wallah - Revision history2026-09-07T13:24:18ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shakespeare_Wallah&diff=141005&oldid=previmported>Lin Zexu: /* Plot */ Added link2021-03-18T21:49:41Z<p><span class="autocomment">Plot: </span> Added link</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}<br />
{{Infobox film<br />
| name = Shakespeare Wallah<br />
| image = shakesp_wallah.jpg<br />
| caption = Theatrical release poster<br />
| director = [[James Ivory]]<br />
| producer = [[Ismail Merchant]]<br />
| writer = [[Ruth Prawer Jhabvala]]<br />
| starring = [[Shashi Kapoor]] <br />[[Felicity Kendal]] <br /> [[Madhur Jaffrey]] <br />[[Geoffrey Kendal]] <br />[[Partap Sharma]]<br />
| music = [[Satyajit Ray]]<br />
| cinematography = [[Subrata Mitra]] <br />
| editing = [[Amit Bose]]<br />
| released = 1965<br />
| runtime = 120 minutes<br />
| country = United States<br />
| language = English<br />
}}<br />
'''''Shakespeare Wallah''''' is a [[Bollywood films of 1965|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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.berlinale.de/en/archive/jahresarchive/1965/03_preistraeger_1965/03_preistraeger_1965.html |title=Berlinale 1965: Prize Winners |accessdate=14 October 2020|work=berlinale.de}}</ref><br />
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==Plot==<br />
Loosely based on the real-life actor-manager [[Geoffrey Kendal]]'s family and his travelling "Shakespeareana Company", which earned him the Indian [[sobriquet]] "Shakespearewallah", the film follows the story of nomadic [[United Kingdom|British]] actors as they perform [[Shakespeare]] plays in towns in [[History of Independent India|post-colonial]] [[India]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituary: Geoffrey Kendal|author=Singh, Kuldip|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-geoffrey-kendal-1165113.html|work=The Independent|date=15 June 1998|accessdate=14 October 2020}}</ref> 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.<br />
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In real life, [[Shashi Kapoor]] fell in love with Felicity's elder sister [[Jennifer Kendal]]. Their marriage provided an important contribution to the Indian film industry until Kendal's death in 1984.<br />
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==Cast==<br />
* [[Shashi Kapoor]] as Sanju<br />
* [[Felicity Kendal]] as Lizzie Buckingham<br />
* [[Geoffrey Kendal]] as Tony Buckingham<br />
* [[Laura Liddell]] as Carla Buckingham<br />
* [[Madhur Jaffrey]] as Manjula<br />
* [[Utpal Dutt]] as Maharaja<br />
* [[Praveen Paul]] as Didi<br />
* [[Prayag Raj]] as Sharmaji (as Prayag Raaj)<br />
* [[Pinchoo Kapoor]] as Guptaji<br />
* [[Jim D. Tytler]] as Bobby (as Jim Tytler)<br />
* [[Hamid Sayani]] as Headmaster's Brother<br />
* [[Marcus Murch]] as Dandy in 'The Critic'<br />
* [[Partap Sharma]] as Aslam<br />
* [[Jennifer Kendal]] as Mrs Bowen (uncredited)<br />
* [[Ismail Merchant]] as Theater Owner (uncredited)<br />
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==Production==<br />
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".<ref>{{cite web|title=Shakespeare Wallah: James Ivory|url=http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiffbelllightbox/2012/2330000057|publisher=TIFF|access-date=21 February 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120827031315/http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiffbelllightbox/2012/2330000057|archivedate=27 August 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>[[#Ke|Keller, p. 42]]</ref><br />
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==Reception==<br />
{{Expand section|date=January 2021}}<br />
The film holds a score of 89%, based on 9 critics, on [[Rotten Tomatoes]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shakespeare_wallah|title=Shakespeare Wallah|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media]]|access-date=1 October 2020}}</ref> <br />
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==Home media==<br />
It was released on [[DVD]] from Odyssey, as well as in a boxset as part of the Merchant Ivory Collection of the [[Merchant Ivory Productions]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thedigitalfix.com/film/dvd-video-review/shakespeare-wallah/ |last=Megahey |first=Neal|title=Shakespeare Wallah Review|website=The Digital Fix|accessdate=14 October 2020}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Almost Shakespeare: Reinventing His Works for Cinema and Television|chapter=Shakespeare Transposed: British Theatre on Post-colonial screen|author=James R. Keller|author2=Aia, Leslie Stratyner|publisher=McFarland|year=2004|isbn=078648103X}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* [http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b59e9cc ''Shakespeare Wallah''] at the [[British Film Institute]]<br />
* {{IMDb title|0059709}}<br />
* [http://www.merchantivory.com/shakespeare.html Merchant Ivory overview]<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
* {{cite book|title=Shakespeare Wallah: Autobiography|author=Kendal, Geoffrey|authorlink=Geoffrey Kendal|author2=Colvin, Clare|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1987|isbn=0140096841|page=186}}<br />
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{{Merchant Ivory Productions}}<br />
{{James Ivory}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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[[Category:1965 films]]<br />
[[Category:1965 drama films]]<br />
[[Category:American films]]<br />
[[Category:Indian films]]<br />
[[Category:Indian-American films]]<br />
[[Category:English-language films]]<br />
[[Category:English-language Indian films]]<br />
[[Category:Films about theatre]]<br />
[[Category:Merchant Ivory Productions films]]<br />
[[Category:Films directed by James Ivory]]<br />
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala]]<br />
[[Category:Films based on actual events]]<br />
[[Category:Films set in India]]<br />
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]<br />
[[Category:Films set in the 1950s]]<br />
[[Category:Films set in Lucknow]]<br />
[[Category:American drama films]]<br />
[[Category:Films with screenplays by James Ivory]]<br />
[[Category:Films shot in Lucknow]]</div>imported>Lin Zexu