Shakespeare Wallah
Shakespeare Wallah is a 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.
Cast
Shashi Kapoor as Sanju
Felicity Kendal as Lizzie Buckingham
Geoffrey Kendal as Tony Buckingham
Laura Liddell as Carla Buckingham
Madhur Jaffrey as Manjula
Utpal Dutt as Maharaja
Praveen Paul as Didi
Prayag Raj as Sharmaji (as Prayag Raaj)
Pinchoo Kapoor as Guptaji
Jim D. Tytler as Bobby (as Jim Tytler)
Hamid Sayani as Headmaster’s Brother
Marcus Murch as Dandy in ‘The Critic’
Partap Sharma as Aslam
Jennifer Kendal as Mrs Bowen (uncredited)
Ismail Merchant as Theater Owner (uncredited)
For more information, visit IMDb, Merchant Ivory, and Wikipedia.
The film is available on Kanopy.
Shashi Kapoor and Felicity Kendal in a Merchant Ivory film, Shakespeare Wallah
