Ishfaq-ul-Hassan
SRINAGAR: Sometimes he was called `Shuban Nayid’ and sometimes he became `Refugee’.
For theater lovers, Basharat Hussain has been an actor with a natural flair who could carry play single-handedly on his shoulders.
For a 43-year-old, acting is just one of his many traits. In fact, he is a paper mache artisan, actor, painter, teacher, and set designer, all rolled into one.
Coming from a family of paper mache artisans of Alamgari Bazar, Basharat started as an amateur actor but ended up doing theater with top-notch directors of the country.
In fact, Basharat’s family wanted him to become a doctor and that is why they pushed him to do some extra in his life. But his interests lay somewhere else.
Pained to see his father toil hard, he started helping him from a very young age. Like all Kashmir families, his family wanted him pursue MBBS after Class 12. A rebel all through, he joined the Institute of Fine Arts and completed BA in Applied Arts.
“Life has been a roller coaster ride for me. My father was very angry when I got admission to the Institute of Fine Arts. In fact, it became a source of friction between my father and grandfather. But I wanted to do something different,” Basharat said.
Come 1998, he was spotted by a theater group that offered him a role in the play. “I was pursuing my graduation when a theater artist spotted me. He found some acting skills in me. And my first play `Shuhul Naar’ was staged in Budgam. And as they say, there has been no looking back since then,” he said.
Three years on, he made his acting debut on television. His first serial was telecast in 2000. “I have acted in 150 serials so far. This is in addition to my theater journey. I can say theater is my first love,” he said.
After gaining experience in acting, he tried his hands at the direction. And it brought him laurels. He was named best director for the Kashmiri play `Artchekaal’ which was written by Yaqoob Dilkash. He has many firsts to his credit. He played a character in only English play `Refugee’ staged in Kashmir.
“`Fading Memoirs’ was the only English play that has been staged in Kashmir. I played the character of a Refugee in it. My role as Subhan Nayid in the play Artchekaal was very much appreciated. I also directed the play,” he said.
Since he studied applied arts, he was the first to introduce innovative and professional designs in paper mache. Later he also forayed into set designing which made him popular in Bollywood too.
”Most of the set designs were amateurish. Given my education, I introduced professional art direction in film craft. I designed sets for some songs and films as well,” he said.
After achieving name and fame, Basharat wanted to pass on his expertise to the next generation. Therefore he took to teaching. “Currently I am head of the fine arts department at Burn Hall School. I teach my students about nuances of the art,” he said.
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