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Mahesh Manjrekar is a filmmaker, actor and writer, and since 1984 has appeared in many plays and movies, including Slumdog Millionaire. But the rugged, 56-year-old Bollywood veteran says his latest stage role is his most challenging yet. 
Manjrekar plays one of only two roles in Double Deal, an adaptation of Killing Time by British playwright Richard Stockwell. The actor describes the play as a psychological thriller about a man and a woman trying to outsmart each other.
Directed by playwright/performer Mahesh Dattani and featuring popular actress Achint Kaur, the drama promises to be an intense experience for both the cast and audience 
'It's a very tiring play for actors because there isn't a single exit. It's just me and Achint on the stage for 90 minutes. It takes a heavy toll,' says  Manjrekar. 'I wouldn't have said yes if Double Deal wasn't such a challenging proposition for any actor worth his salt. 
'It's the most difficult play I  have acted in so far, but also the  most rewarding.'  
Making her stage debut, Kaur says the hardest part of theatre is that  there are no second takes.
'Stage is do or die,' she says. 'When you face the audience, you know you have to hold their attention. That is what makes it so different from television. In television there are zooms and pans, while on stage it's just you. And you inevitably wonder whether the audience is liking your performance or contemplating leaving.
'The minute we feel we are losing the audience, Manjrekar and I double or treble our efforts. In a film, there is nothing you can do. A film comes and goes. In theatre, you can try and set things right.'
Double Deal - to be staged at the Jockey Club Auditorium on Thursday - unfolds rapidly after an unexpected encounter between Jeet (Manjrekar) and Rhea (Kaur) in a shopping mall. She has lost her purse. He helps her pay her bill and a friendship develops. Their  encounter blossoms into a  passionate affair before  turning  into a roller-coaster ride of deceit  and betrayal.  
Since it was first staged in 2007, Double Deal has been performed more than 100 times in India, London, New York, Dubai, Muscat, Bahrain, Singapore and Bangkok. There is also a critically acclaimed Hindi version of the play.
Double Deal marks Manjrekar's return to his first love: theatre. He came to films via Marathi [Mumbai's local language] plays, making his mark with his  first play, Aflatoon, in 1975. Long before he faced the camera or stood behind it as director,  Manjrekar earned a  reputation as a fine stage actor.  
Straddling two worlds, he has directed critically lauded films such as Astitva (2002), Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi and Viruddh (both in 2005). 
However, his filmmaking career has not always gone smoothly. Struggler (2005), which he was apparently keen to screen at Cannes, has yet to be released. By all accounts he has done better as an actor - whether in movies   such as this year's Pankh, Kaante (2002) and Musafir (2004) or in plays  such as Double Deal - than as a film director.
'Theatre is more exciting because one can approach a scene in different ways. If you  [play] a scene in a particular way in the first show, you can do it differently in the second show. You are learning  and evolving with each show,'  says Manjrekar.
Dattani is a name to reckon with in India's English-language theatre. The 51-year-old  became hooked on  the magic of theatre  as a child. 
'I was only 12 when my father took me to watch a Gujarati play in Bangalore. I was mesmerised  by the garish make-up and  bright costumes.'
He acted in his first play, Five Finger Exercise, in 1985 and a year later he directed his first play, God. He has  directed detective plays for the BBC  since the 1990s, including  Seven Circles Round The Fire (1998)  and 30 Days in September (2001).  
Dattani, says he was attracted to Stockwell's Killing Time, which was first published in 1999, because it's a fast-paced thriller. He adapted the play for Indian audiences. 
'Killing Time didn't go down well in New York as the script had too many holes. I have tried to plug the holes in my adaptation,' says Dattani.  
'When I read Stockwell's original, I was struck by the fact that it was written for star actors. Now where do I get charismatic star actors like Lana Turner and John Garfield? Enter Mahesh Manjrekar and Achint. Their onstage chemistry is what makes it work to a very  large extent.'
Like Manjrekar and Kaur, Dattani is a man of many parts. 
'I love yoga and dancing. I have joined salsa classes [in Mumbai] and thoroughly enjoy them, although I am not very good at it. Every morning, the crossword puzzle and sudoku mentally energise me for the whole day,' he says. 'When I feel tired, I take a walk in a nearby park to recharge my batteries.'  
Sept 24, 8pm. The Jockey Club Auditorium, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Tickets: HK$200, HK$350 and HK$500. Inquiries: 6019 0621



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