logo

Standing in the queue at the ticket counter, I saw some people coming out of the earlier show. I kept staring at some of them, trying to figure out their reactions about the film (obviously having heard so-much and so less about the film and its maker). I saw these two peculiar gentlemen from Bihar mumbling about No Smoking – “Arre yeh film bahut aage ki soch ke saath banaya hai saala” (In their typical accent). I smiled and wondered if the film would work for me.

Yes. It did work.

I saw the late night show of Anurag Kashyap’s “No Smoking” in the theatre near my house. There were some cigarettes in my pocket, and I just wanted to smoke and enjoy it with the hangover of the film. But somehow I couldn’t light the cigarette. I didn’t even dare to. It was just a frightening thought and a …

It is the first step of getting a chance to make their dreams come true. And for fulfilling it, they prepare themselves as “the typical Indian cinema hero”.

Now how exactly does our “actor” prepare himself? He wears good filmy (ZATAK; JHATAK or whatever you call it) shirt, or ‘Eastman’ colored t-shirts; Six pocket denim with Nike, Adidas & Reebok look-alikes (‘Nikkei’, ‘addidass’ or ‘readbook’); Big branded watches (Look-alike is the keyword)

And how does he come to know about the audition? The answer is - the coordinator, (“Agent” as they refer themselves), calls or SMSes the ‘actors’ for the location of the studio & time of the audition. Most of the time he/she does this to save himself/herself from the wrath of the director for insufficient ‘actors’ for the audition.

Excited that he’s got THE CALL, our man leaves his residence (usually a rented one) a few hours in advance in …

How did theatre happen?
I always had a desire to join theatre. Learn the performing art. After my graduation in 1998, I enrolled for a workshop conducted by Amol Palekar and Bhakti Barve following which Bhakti barve informed me about Pandit Satyadev Dubey’s free workshops. I joined the workshop and did various plays, but no one took notice. I then did backstage for Makarand Deshpande’s play Vasanth Ka Teesra Yoven. It was then, that I actually learnt theatre. At the same time another friend who was also a struggler in the industry told me that Rajkumar Santoshi was looking for an actor who resembled the freedom fighter Rajguru. I appeared for the look tests and finally bagged the role of Rajguru in The Legend of Bhagat Singh. Currently I am doing three plays - Saa Hi Besura, Ek Kadam Aage, Seetaram Ki Khoj Mein Hawaldar, and many.

Theatre to me is riyaaz …