Meenal Patel Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi, a Gujarati and a Hindi play has been IN news quite a bit, of late. And the newsiest bit was Seema Biswas playing Kasturba in the Hindi version. But surprisingly Meenal Patel, who plays the same role in the Gujarati episode, has walked away with all the accolades for her portrayal of Kasturba. But critical acclaim is apparently not new to this artist who started her stage career way back in 1959 as a college student. Meenal's interest in theatre was almost predetermined with a family steeped into the arts. And she says that this background served as a launching pad for her career. Her grandfather was a singer, a contemporary of K N Saigal; her father and brother too, are into performing arts. She admits honestly that she stuck on to drama because, "Stage artists got jobs in banks pretty easily". And she did get one in State Bank of India and later switched on to Bank of Baroda; but her practical side took a back seat soon she quit her job 15 years ago to do theatre full time. Meenal claims that as an artist she is particularly sensitive to her profession. "Acting is a therapy," she says, "It has helped me deal with my suffering, just as suffering has made me a better actress." And it is this sensitivity that helped her reach out to the role of Kasturba. Meenal is solely a stage actress. And it's not that the Gujarati plays alone are her forte, she also does Hindi and Bengali theatre too. She was part of plays like Biviyon Ka Madarsa, Kanyadan and most importantly Mahesh Elkunchwar's Atmakatha.
