TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 of 2025 (No. 2023) by Leroy Douresseaux
Shakespeare Wallah (1965) – Black & White
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA/India
Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)
Not rated
DIRECTOR: James Ivory
WRITERS: R. Prawer Jhabvala and James Ivory
PRODUCER: Ismail Merchant
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Subrata Mitra (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Amit Bose
COMPOSER: Satyajit Ray
DRAMA/ROMANCE
Starring: Shashi Kapoor, Felicity Kendal, Geoffrey Kendal, Laura Liddell, Madhur Jaffrey, Utpal Dutt, Praveen Paul, Prayag Raaj, Pinchoo Kapoor, and Jim D. Tytler
Shakespeare Wallah is a 1965 romantic drama film from director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. It was the second film produced by Merchant Ivory Productions. The film is co-written by Ivory and novelist and screenwriter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who wrote in some capacity 23 of Merchant Ivory's films. Shakespeare Wallah focuses on a traveling family theatre troupe that performs Shakespearean plays in towns across India even as demand for its work dwindles in the country.
Shakespeare Wallah introduces “the Buckingham Players,” a traveling family theatre troupe led by a British couple, husband Anthony “Tony” Buckingham (Geoffrey Kendal) and wife Carla Buckingham (Laura Liddell). Their young daughter, Lizzie (Felicity Kendal), is also an actor in this nomadic troupe. The Buckingham Players travel from town to town in post-colonial India, performing the plays of William Shakespeare before local audiences. However, demand for their work is dwindling as audiences begin to prefer the movies of “Hindi cinema,” also known as “Bollywood.”
One day, Lizzie meets Sanju Raj (Shashi Kapoor), a playboy. The two fall in love, but what Lizzie does not know is that Sanju is also romancing the actress, Manjula (Madhur Jaffrey), a very popular Bollywood star who is also very jealous.
2025 is the sixtieth anniversary of the original theatrical release (1965) of Merchant Ivory's second film, Shakespeare Wallah. As one of the production company's early films, it set the tone for future Merchant Ivory films that focused on cross-cultural romance and relationships.
Shakespeare Wallah is loosely based on the real life of actor-manager Geoffrey Kendal and his family. Kendal, his wife, Laura Liddell, and their daughter, Felicity Kendal, were part of a real-life traveling Shakespearean company that performed in India. That is how Geoffrey apparently earned the nickname, “Shakespearewallah” (with “wallah” being an informal term meaning a person involved in a particular thing or business).
Shakespeare Wallah being the second Merchant Ivory film showcases what many of the company's films would depict – seismic shifts in society and changes in culture. Tony and Carla have been performing Shakespeare across a specific region of India for decades, but the couple, essentially British expatriates, begin to wonder if time has passed them by and if they should return to England.
Meanwhile, their daughter, Lizzie, is experiencing a clash not so much of culture, but of gender roles. Her playboy paramour, Sanju, is wooing two actresses, but in truth, he does not think of acting as a proper role for a woman, especially more so in the case of Lizzie than in the case of Manjula.
The best thing that I can say about Shakespeare Wallah, and I can say a lot of good things about it, is that the film's emotions and feelings seem authentic. Manjula's jealousy is alive, dangerous, and electric. Lizzie and Sanju's romantic feelings are natural, but are also fragile and vulnerable because they are not only different people, but also are from different cultures and outlooks on life. The overall naturalism and relaxed pace of the narrative are also genuine.
The beautiful film score by Satyajit Ray embellishes the melancholy nature of the film when it comes to love. Whether one's love is another person, the nomadic life of a traveling troupe, or the profession of performing Shakespeare on the stage, it is bittersweet. Shakespeare Wallah, however, is the sweet art of cinema.
8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars
Thursday, April 17, 2025
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