‘Zohra! A Biography in Four Acts’ Is a Compelling Read, Immersive Like Theatre

Ritu Menon’s Zohra! A Biography in 4 Acts is the fourth in a sequence of biographies on Zohra Segal. The primary was Levels: The Artwork and Adventures of Zohra Segal by Joan Erdman and Zohra Segal (1997), adopted by Shut Up: Memoirs of a Life on Stage and Display by Segal herself (2010), after which by Zohra Segal ‘Fatty’ by her daughter Kiran Segal, revealed on her Zohra’s one hundredth birthday (2012). Whereas the e-book with Erdman was revealed earlier than Zohra turned the much-loved ‘feisty granny’ of Bollywood, between the three memoirs the important details of Zohra’s life are lined. Why then a fourth biography?

‘Zohra! A Biography in 4 Acts’ by Ritu Menon.

Zohra! is structured in 4 acts, two scenes per act with two intermissions – an ode to Zohra’s deep love for theatre. Act 1 is her life with dance and with Uday Shankar. Act 2 centres on her introduction to theatre, and her 14 years with Prithviraj Kapoor and his touring firm Prithvi Theatres. After a brief intermission in Delhi, Act 3 takes place in England, the place she remakes herself as an actress and a single working mom; this Act is damaged with one other intermission in Delhi between Scene 1 (‘Rehearsing’) and Scene 2 (‘Breakthrough’) in England. Act 4 traces Zohra’s ascent to stardom, each in India and in England, to the purpose the place roles in theatre, movie and tv have been being written particularly together with her in thoughts. The e-book ends with the Curtain Name – a abstract and reflection on Zohra’s life – attempting to grasp her in her occasions, teasing out the important thing features of the way in which she lived and who she was.

This e-book, not like the others which can be private memoirs, situates Zohra squarely in her occasions, and travels together with her by the (usually quickly) altering occasions that mark the context of her life. The primary two acts are improbable evocations of a pre-independence to post-independence India, with an vital nod to the World Warfare that has taken place in Europe. The endeavours, experiments and impression of Uday Shankar and Prithviraj Kapoor are a deal with to learn – as we perceive their impression on Zohra, we get to see too what their observe meant throughout the cusp of Indian independence.

The author’s evocation of those two nice artists is so immersive that generally we lose monitor of Zohra, however Menon expertly pulls her again into the body simply in time. Because the e-book strikes by time, it additionally attracts for us an image of a modified Europe pre- and post-World Warfare II. We additionally see a churning England, confronted with the problem of embracing its former colonial topics as bonafide British residents. Zohra’s life decisions place her throughout these altering environments, with a short foray in Communist Russia as properly. What Menon manages to do is paint a life that’s each made by circumstances but in addition continually making itself in these circumstances.

Zohra’s background of privilege repeatedly locations her inside quick access of individuals holding energy and chance. Menon takes pains to level out nevertheless that Zohra’s life can’t be seen as merely circumstantial. “Look intently,” she writes, “and also you realise that at each stage she carved out her personal path, profiting from the small, blended alternatives that got here her approach.”

In an interview with Githa Hariharan, Menon describes her e-book as an try at a ‘feminist biography’. In every ‘Scene’ of Zohra’s life, Menon expands on the context and concurrently foregrounds Zohra’s company, braveness and grit. She underlines how Zohra takes selections that really feel proper to her with out regard for conference, the monetary duty that rests on her shoulders for a lot of her life as a married and later single mom, her consciousness of what she needs or wants and her dogged pursuit of it. She brings out too Zohra’s driving love of labor, and her profound dedication to her career, which performs out not solely within the main selections she makes but in addition in the way in which she lives the daily-ness of her life.

This interaction of social context and private company defines the e-book all through, and makes it a compelling learn. What the reader won’t get, nevertheless, is an perception into Zohra’s emotional life. That is maybe due to who Zohra was and the way she dealt with her life – Menon signifies this, and it’s lacking within the first two biographies on Zohra as properly. Very private circumstances within the e-book are acknowledged, alluded to, however not delved into – the author veers away, virtually as if respecting the topic’s needs.

The one lacuna within the e-book – a lacuna widespread to many books on artists, and maybe unavoidable right here because the e-book was revealed posthumously – is that we don’t get a way of the connection of the artist to her artwork, past an acknowledgment of her love for it. In Zohra’s case, we get to know of her professionalism and the rigour she follows in the direction of her observe. However although Menon says within the very first web page ‘can one separate the dancer from the dance?’, for the reader who has not seen Zohra carry out both as dancer or actress on the dwell stage, this e-book won’t assist to think about what she delivered to the stage. The archival reminiscence of her efficiency will sadly stay enshrined within the movies she has finished, which although they made her a star, don’t mirror the scope of her performative brilliance – as Menon herself acknowledges within the e-book.

All in all, Zohra! is a superb learn. Menon’s language is straightforward and flowing, she evokes occasions and locations and experiences superbly. Every ‘Scene’ and ‘Act’ immerses you differently, and you modify location and expertise with them, fairly just like the theatre. There’s one thing particular in it for the arts-curious, the theatre lover, for ladies trying to outline their very own lives, for many who take pleasure in historical past, for Zohra lovers definitely, and for many who simply take pleasure in an excellent learn.

There are two nice household timber (father’s facet and mom’s facet) that kick off the e-book and with a small however numerous number of beautiful pictures peppered all through the e-book. And there are voices, voices, voices of so many individuals that Zohra lived, labored and interacted with, and welcomed into her residence whereas cooking up a storm – this facet of the analysis for the e-book maybe provides the best sense of the expansiveness of Zohra’s spirit, and the fantastic universe of people who she traversed her life with.

Sameera Iyengar is a theatre individual and artistic producer.