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 Hindi film industry. 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.

Plot
Loosely based on the real-life actor-manager Geoffrey Kendal's family and his travelling "Shakespeareana Company", which earned him the Indian sobriquet "Shakespearewallah", the film follows the story of nomadic British actors as they perform Shakespeare plays in towns in post-colonial India. In this story, Tony Buckingham (Geoffrey Kendal) and his wife Carla (Laura Liddell) oversee the troupe. Their daughter, Lizzie Buckingham (Felicity Kendal), falls in love with Sanju (Shashi Kapoor), who is also romancing Manjula (Madhur Jaffrey), a Bollywood film star.

In real life, Shashi Kapoor fell in love with Felicity's elder sister Jennifer Kendal. Geoffrey Kendal, the actor-manager whose family inspired the film, delivered Shakespeare performances throughout India in the 1940s and 1950s with his repertory theatre company "Shakespeareana". His daughter Jennifer Kendal was married to Shashi Kapoor, and their marriage was an important contribution to the Indian film industry until Kendal's death in 1984.

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)

Production
After the success of the first film, The Householder (1963), the team of Ivory and Merchant reunited with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and actor Shashi Kapoor for this film. Due to budget constraints, the film was shot in black and white, and the Kendal family play their own fictionalized counterparts, the Buckinghams.

Reception
The film holds a score of 89%, based on 9 critics, on Rotten Tomatoes.

Home media
The film was released on DVD from Odyssey, as well as in a boxset as part of the Merchant Ivory Collection of the Merchant Ivory Productions.