“I would have been a cricket umpire if not directing plays,” says Quasar Thakore Padamsee
The co-founder of Q Theatre Productions, talks about Lisa Ray, Sheila Ki Jawani, and his illustrious parents among other things
If you had to pick an alternative career, what would it be?
I think I’d be cricket umpire.
The last thing you googled...?
Delhi weather!
What’s the last show you binge watched?
The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel.
One song’s lyrics you always misheard...?
Everytime You Go Away You Take A Piece Of MEAT With You. (From Everytime You Go Away by Paul Young)
As an actor and a director, what’s the most useful thing you’ve learnt from your mother (Dolly Thakore, newscaster and theatre actress) and what’s the one thing you got from your dad (late Alyque Padamsee, adman and theatre personality)?
From my mother, generosity and hunger. Watch everything, see everything, be greedy to absorb. From my father, details, details, details.
You favourite line from a poem is...?
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Who would you say is your first celebrity crush?
Lisa Ray.
The most over-the-top thing you have done off stage...?
Dancing to Sheila Ki Jawani.
If you could time travel, what era you would like to live in and what is that one thing you would definitely do:
Watching the Bodyline Series and seeing Harold Larwood versus Don Bradman.
Most challenging thing about being a theatre professional:
Finding funders.
What is that one thing you got scolded for the most while growing up:
Eating very very slowly.
The sexiest thing in a partner according to you?
Sense of humour.
Five most exciting plays of last year according to you:
Sing India Sing, Bali and Shikhandi.
Could you recall the funniest memory from the first play you directed?
I had a nightmare before the opening night that one of the light fixtures came loose and killed my lead actor!
Name three film actors you find to be extremely talented.
Ratna Pathak Shah, Vicky Kaushal and Vikrant Massey.
What’s your funniest childhood memory of watching a play?
Watching my mother on stage weeping at the end of Death of a Salesman, and calling out, “Don’t cry Mama. Don’t cry.”
Plays you find too challenging to attempt...?
Hamlet and Les Miserables.
And which one have you found to be the most challenging to direct?
Mother Courage and her Children.
One thing you and your mom never agree on...?
The furniture in my house!
What’s the most bizarre trend you have sported?
I tried to pull off a goatee once.
What advice would you give your 15-year-old self?
Enjoy experiences more. Nothing is set in stone.
Favourite memory with your dad...?
Standing between his legs, watching the sun set into the sea on Awas Beach. I was three years old then.
One habit you want to get rid of...?
Biting my nails.
The title of your biography would be...?
Fa Q.
Read: When theatre runs in the family: The Padamsees
Follow @ananya1281 on Twitter
From HT Brunch, March 3, 2019
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