Hours later we reported how Suhel Seth took a dig at British theatre director Tim Supple by claiming that most Indians speak English better than British and that Indians are adding more words to Oxford Dictionary, the theatre guy expressed his ‘shock’ against Seth’s witty remarks, and called him a ‘bad mediator’. He told Born Of Web that he was taken aback by the episode and he had least expected such commentary at a literature festival. “That was stupid (Seth’s comments). I was totally surprised by what he said. When anybody says where you are coming from, especially in this kind of environment when you only talk about literature, it surprises you. How can you talk about nations? I didn’t feel that it came from anything from within the discussion that we were having…it was just bad mediation because it came from his own head. More than that, it shocked me because he didn’t do homework about me. He didn’t know anything about me. I’m travelling to different parts to understand how actors in different languages make Shakespeare live. Even Basharat Peer got angry with him!” Supple said.
WHAT’S THE ISSUE?: On second day of JLF, theatre director Tim Supple, author Basharat Peer, filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj and English professor Jerry Broton participated in a session titled ‘Hamlet’s Dilemma’, moderated by Suhel Seth. During the conversation, Supple was making a point that theatre and texts are better ways to present Hamlet as he quoted differences between ‘cinema adaptations’ and ‘theatre translations’. He said that Shakespeare’s various works, which originated in England, have been translated in various languages over the world. Suhel, who’s known for his witty remarks, immediately interrupted Supple by saying that British now wants a copyright on literature as well. He added that Indians now know better English than British.
