Ten years ago, I was inexplicably afraid of many things. Of flying, living alone, being in the dark, death.... Today, I am intimidated by nothing.

She has consistently bucked expectations, to go beyond the ordinary, aided no doubt, by an undeniable courage and a sense of humour. Presently garnering national attention with the bravura Eve Ensler-written The Vagina Monologues, stage diva, Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal came up trumps with directing Hollywood actresses, Jane Fonda and Marisa Tomei, on an Indian platform. Looking MEHER MARFATIA squarely in the eye, she says, “I dive in where others fear to tread. Does that make me a fool?”

[Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal: attention-getting performer]

Comedy is undoubtedly her forte. An equally essential part of the personality of Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal is single-minded dedication and unmatched versatility that presented Mumbai’s drama circuit with some of its most thought-provoking plays in the last five years. If Art, Shirley Valentine and Once I Was Young… But Now I’m Wonderful won commercial and critical raves, she is now ‘exceptionally privileged’ to add activist-playwright Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues to her directorial repertoire. Her Poor-Box Productions hosted a special series of events, March 8 – International Women’s Day – onwards with Mahabanoo bringing to India both Ensler as well as Hollywood icon, Jane Fonda. The celebrity gala, A Celebration of Indian Women Warriors, spreads the message to end violence against women and raises funds for local shelters supporting battered and abused women.

Opinion on the actress generally soars in superlatives. Rahul da Cunha who directed her in Steel Magnolias, following it up with Going Solo, declares her ‘a phenomenal actress with unadulterated talent’. Watching her consummate artistry in an electric Going Solo sequence, Ratna Pathak Shah approached her with congratulations at Prithvi Theatre. Their meeting resulted in the rather engaging (W)Hole in the Head and A Romance for Ruby with Naseeruddin Shah.

If da Cunha “had a ball working with her”, actor-colleagues have spirited stories to tell too. Directing her in Blithe Spirit apart from giggling together on stage as gal pals in Steel Magnolias, Meher Jehangir points out Mahabanoo’s rare but important trait among actors: “She is generous and positive, very fair-minded and appreciative of others on the set. Far from upstaging anyone, she settles you through a jumpy patch – as she once gently prompted me back without making it at all obvious.”

Other roles cast her as Queen Victoria and Stella in (Two) Hot to Handle, Mrs. Mehra in BBC Radio’s adaptation of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy and Mrs. Bhoolabhoy in Paul Scott’s Staying On, which toured England alongside Prunella Scales and Richard Johnson. While the film front has included Waris Hussein’s Sixth Happiness and Merchant-Ivory’s Cotton Mary with Greta Scacchi and James Wilby, closer home she is in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji.

On a quiet weekend evening, she sweeps through like some benign whirlwind, in a house cheerily choc-a-bloc with Chinese chintz, aptly christened Lotus Court. The performer in her on display, she tucks a straying tendril firmly back into a piled chignon, then plumps a slightly sagging cushion. Safe to predict those quick-creasing smiles will turn to uproarious laughter any minute. She has just returned from wowing guests at a swishy Delhi diner with her unbridled enthusiasm delivering Straight Talk, a stand-up show. Enacted in several cities she’s invited to, across the country, the solo act is a take-off on contemporary issues – ‘government, media, sex, marriage, everything’. She frankly admits, “Stand-up is my bread and butter, put back into plays not making money.” A current craze for crosswords helped survive a four-hour delay on the Mumbai-bound flight typically delayed by the ubiquitous fog. Post-interview, she’s meant to be out partying. It’s hard to imagine what boundless energy keeps ticking there. For the moment, Mahabanoo sits unwinding. Concertedly downplaying bubbly exuberance. Settling to characteristic candour and quotable quips.

“To think I’d finally end up on stage…” Sweeping histrionics isn’t quite the normal route following double degrees in microbiology and geology. Her father wanted her to become a doctor. Thankfully, medicine’s loss turned into theatre’s whopping gain. Mahabanoo believes being an only child may have made her crave similar attention outside the family, which she knew theatre would spotlight – “One director actually accuses me of this! But attention embarrasses me in my private life. I can’t make that first move. People not knowing this consider me a snob.”

Dabbling in school plays, public speaking, singing with Remo for AIDS awareness, her professional 1994 break saw her essay the feisty Ouiser Boudreaux in da Cunha’s Steel Magnolias. “With an actress’ dream lines, I was dying for it. It established me,” she acknowledges.

“My children have been punching bags, sounding boards – the most encouraging influence on their late-blooming mother!” She realised her metier a bit after in life, on emerging from a hysterectomy surgery. Actor-writer-designer son, Kaizaad (doctorate in filmmaking, theatre technology and animation, topped by an Emmy Award for art direction) visited the hospital with Dwight Wilson’s Eden Creek script, insisting his mother study it. She went on to play Claire in these monologues on the Great Depression. “There’s been no looking back. You create your own opportunities, then live by the choices you make.”

As close to daughter Nairika, she confesses to consulting Kaizaad every step of the way in her career. “Though I tend to rely heavily on his advice, both kids have been wonderfully supportive of me and my work.”

“I go with instinct.” What works for me is not mental preparation, but tackling roles from a ‘feeling’ point of view. Slipping myself in the shoes of the character comes easier.” A profession-related trait spilling into personal areas is impulsiveness. “Still, it has worked for me,” she reveals.

“The high I felt when the music struck up and the curtains rose on my directorial debut, Art, is indescribable, like my third baby! I hope never to stop being a director’s actress. People are convinced I’ll direct plays, not act under a director anymore. Give me an interesting role, watch me do it.”

“I’m going to try everything, without any of the fears I used to have.” A week after she makes this remark in our interview, she mouths the same line at Mumbai’s intimate Experimental Theatre, as Shirley Valentine. The housewife, whose name gives the play its title, is no bland archetype but a complex character brimming with vitality, replacing old insecurities with fresh resolution. As I toy with the ‘Shades of Mahabanoo herself’ theory, she offers: “Ten years ago, I was inexplicably afraid of many things. Of flying, living alone, being in the dark, death... Today I’m intimidated by nothing.”

Pausing to stir her coffee in a mug boldly blazoned with her Libra zodiac sign, she swirls an elegantly manicured hand around herself, continuing, “I can’t handle meaningless relationships. At my age, I may not be able to shed weight, but I do believe in shrugging off friendships which burden and cause unhappiness. This unnecessary load is bad for us. On the flip score, I’m a little difficult, can be crazy. I would be terribly sensitive till I was honest with myself. Sensitivity to others is the only kind to retain, being sensitive about oneself is plain selfish.”

“There are as many stories about women as there are women in the world – brilliant, insightful stories that haven’t been told for years, which should be heard with respect.” And she’s determined to share them. To start with, Mahabanoo has bought the rights to Aruna’s Story, Pinkie Virani’s searing true account of a rape victim.

“Women have come a long way, in urban India at least. The idea that a girl has to hang onto a man’s arm to enter a room or validate her existence is passé. But there’s an unhealthy growing obsession with clothes, cosmetics, jewellery. The Page 3 glitterati-chatterati are shocking.”

“From my characters I have learnt the important traits a woman must have – definitely courage and a sense of humour. Courage we can’t function without, comedy isn’t something reserved for the arc lights; one needs to infuse the laughs in life.” Another “teacher” she values is her audience, who can never be underestimated. “I remember Naseer boosting me, each time I worried good stuff might be rejected. ‘At the most we’ll fail. Do something else’, he’d say. Living by that is tough. It’s tremendous while you’re in a packed hall. The morning after, insecurity gnaws again… Will the next show be as good?

I’m hyper when a play is being mounted. With the accolades, it’s heaven once more. It’s thoroughly enjoyable swapping notes: one gentleman said, at Shirley Valentine’s first show, ‘I’m glad to have paid for this ticket, I loved the play.’ I replied, ‘I loved playing it – and am being paid for it!’”

“Vagina is not a dirty word, it’s the biological name for a part of the body of half the population of this world. And the entire population has spent the first few months of their lives in close proximity to it. Is this so difficult to comprehend? We are such hypocrites. Sorry to dwell on Page 3 stereotypes but they’re blindly cloned. Its women dress in overpriced and undersized clothes that almost exhibit the vagina – and we can’t say the word! How stupid is that?”

The Vagina Monologues celebrates women’s strengths and sexuality. Introducing its explicit, no-holds-barred, often poetically beautiful passages, was ‘crazy, challenging’, Mahabanoo recalls. “Thankfully, the response isn’t restricted to your fancy foo-foo crowd. It was gratifying to have a simple, 80-year-old man hobble over to declare he’s happy to be living in an India that has begun accepting the ‘V’ word.”

Directors like da Cunha swear Mahabanoo has huge reserves of untapped potential. So, what exciting possibilities does the fine actress herself want to tap?

“I’d like to swim uncharted waters, maybe attempt a role that’s completely Indian-rooted and not funny.”

Till then, it’s cheers to her yet-to-come best…