Actor Naseeruddin Shah with wife Ratna. File picture

Guwahati, May 11: A foolish Rosencrantz may have strolled into the English court with his own death sermon in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but Rosencrantz, aka Naseeruddin Shah of Peter Brook’s Hamlet, will walk onto the Guwahati proscenium this July only to infuse new life into the “decadent art”.

Easily the most prominent face of “new wave Hindi cinema”, Shah’s fascination for theatre has always drawn him to the stage.

In July, the veteran actor-director will take time out of his busy schedule to be part of 12th Natya Suryya — a weeklong drama festival — the biggest and most celebrated of its kind in Assam, along with his wife Ratna Pathak Shah.

Shah has even agreed to champion the cause of the Assamese theatre movement as its brand ambassador.

The Natya Suryya Memorial Celebration Committee — which organises the drama festival — had approached Shah some time ago to take Assamese theatre to a global platform.

Shah’s Mumbai-based theatre troupe, Motley, will stage two Hindi plays — Kathakola and Ismat Appa Ke Naam, at the drama fiesta, which is slated to begin at Rabindra Bhawan on July 31.

Besides directing the plays, Guwahatians will have the rare pleasure of watching Shah act in the title role of Ismat Appa.

Eight productions will be staged in all — two by Motley and six Assamese dramas.

The who’s-who of Assamese theatre, including Pranjal Saikia, Malaya Goswami, Upokul Bordoloi, Giyasuddin Ahmed and Swapnanil Baruah are expected to be part of the festival.

“His love (Shah’s) for theatre is legendary. And it is for sheer love of theatre itself that this critically-acclaimed actor-director has agreed to become the brand ambassador of Assamese theatre,” said theatre personality and general secretary of the committee, Giyasuddin Ahmed.

During its 12 years of existence, the committee has published 11 theatre-related books and honoured 55 artistes, including Nadira Babbar, Makrand Deshpande and Rudraprasad Sengupta.

The committee has also produced 28 highly-acclaimed plays, including Siraj and Lovita.

“Naseer bhai is truly a gem of a person. The world knows him more as an actor and director. But he is also a true art activist, who has always worked for causes close to his heart. When we requested him to lend his support for Assamese theatre, he immediately agreed. We are touched by his gesture. Hope our movement becomes a global one and takes Assamese theatre and its talent across the world,” added Ahmed.

During his stay here, the committee will arrange a get-together of theatre personalities of the state with Shah.

“Assamese theatre has no dearth of talent. But we have to develop a strategy to take it to the national and international level. Now, when Shah will be a part of the movement, we hope that Assamese theatre will turn truly global,” said actress and working chairman of the committee, Malaya Goswami.