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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 …

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 …