My stories were always based on real-life characters. For me, the character is more important than the story, if you have interesting characters you can weave great story around them.
1. Tell us about your background and journey.
I am an actor and a Performance Designer from the mystical land of India with an acting experience of 25+ years. I have spent a better part of my life practising various acting systems from the world over.
Still feeling the void left to fill, I turned towards ancient Indian literature and meditative practices to guide my gift to newer horizons.
I have incorporated modern performing arts, with ancient Indian techniques from the Natyashastra (5000 years old acting manual), the Vedas and different meditative methods to bring out a holistic method to help actors evolve and improve their performances.
I have now created an acting system (Actorism®), hence now I am keen on sharing Actorism® as a gift to the World.
Actorism has helped actors evolve and improve their performances substantially. Modern methods of acting are scientific and psychological in nature, I wanted to add the missing spiritual side to this.
Actorism encourages you to drop your mind and let the heart take over. We need to take ourselves to an unknown, to be able to challenge ourselves. When we follow our heart, that is the only device that connects us with the Divine essence; we feel the river of serenity & sensibility flowing inside, taking us to the sea of our purpose.
It’s not difficult to achieve this status. We do make it possible through meditative techniques. The shifting of our mind oriented ideology to heart-led actions.
2. Did you ever think or dream of being an actor?
The origin of acting is from a child's play. I believe every child is an actor. I was an introvert and shy. I was average in everything. I could not play expansive sports because my father could not afford it. I had no bicycle throughout my childhood.
I always wanted a red bicycle but I could not get it. I bought my bicycle when I became a professional actor but I bought black one. But I was a dreamer, my dreams were my best friends because through them I could escape the present day reality.
I had dreams and I was a story-teller. I was the first person narrator. I was always the one who could do impossible in my stories. Still my childhood friends didn't know that those stories were not real. My stories were always based on real-life characters.
For me, the character is more important than the story, if you have interesting characters you can weave great story around them. Still I was fascinated about interesting characters. I had many dreams but was confused. Now I can decode those confusions.
Basically I did not want to become someone or something in life I just wanted to search myself. I wanted to find meaning in life. In those days teachers who beat students were considered good teachers. Most of my teachers were good.
I was beaten up in school almost everyday. One day I was waiting for my number to get beaten up in class and another teacher came and asked, who wants to take part in the play(Andher Nagri Chaupat Raja).
I was 6 or 7-year-old, I thought this is the best chance to escape punishment. When I started rehearsal for that play, everyone liked my performance. I was happy that there is something I am good at. I was average in studies but good in storytelling. I was always the first person narrator.
My friends knew that I have something special and they loved me for that special gift. Their love for me was an assurance. I had no money so that I could go and watch films regularly and we didn't have tv at my home. I used to go with my father to his friend's house because there was a tv.
I was not the one who just watched films, I was always inside the film experiencing intense emotions. I had strong sense of empathy. I am not the one who will be sympathetic to you, I will cry with you. An actor evolves with empathy not with sympathy.
What I like about acting is that there is no separation between an actor and acting. Acting allows me to be more understanding and empathetic to the people I come across in my everyday life.
What I learned throughout this journey is that dreams are not that important. Converting your dreams into goals is important. Dreams are hypothetical reality but goals are achievable reality.
You are inactive when you are dreaming, you are super active when you are pursuing your goals. Dreams can inspire you maximum to pursue your goals but pursuing your goals needs a lot of hard work, planning, educating yourself, aiming and achieving excellence in your field and continuously aspiring to become better and better in your game.
Talent, continuously educating yourself, taking right choices are the things which leads towards time bound excellence.
I was searching for myself, I could not find myself in other things except acting. I did not think or dream, I was an actor. You need teachers and friends who appreciate you when you do good and criticize you when you commit mistakes.
I was fortunate enough to find good friends and great teachers. I wanted to express things from my perspective. I wanted to investigate, search and explore the hidden mysteries of human behaviour. My parents were very supportive of my choice in life, they had faith in me. They supported my choice of being an actor with open heart .
3. For a complete outsider with inroads, what advice would you give?
In this industry you don't feel like you are an outsider. 90% people who work in film industry are outsiders. In all the technical and creative aspects of film making, 90 % people are outsiders.
Only in acting insiders get the chance first but then they have to prove their worth otherwise they cannot survive and outsiders have to prove their worth first then they get the chance. Then the outsider becomes the insider, its fair enough.
4. How can one approach their career and have the confidence and belief to become an actor?
It's a very competitive field, you have to survive in this cut throat competition. You have to be smart enough to choose right kind of script, right kind of people to work with. It’s an amalgamation of so many things that not everything is in your control.
First and foremost is your talent and continuously updating and upgrading your talent. Otherwise many good actors of yesteryears, are sitting at home because they could not update and upgrade.
You are a human. You should not consider yourself as a star otherwise you will get trapped in your image and you will become cliché and irritating. You should continuously grow as a human being and as an artist, only then you will remain relevant, otherwise your charm will soon become your trap.
5. Who is your role model and why?
I like many actors. I like different qualities in different actors. I love excellence in human aspects of artistic life more than just acting. If I have to name one living actor then it’s Daniel de Lewis.
Apart from being a very humble and genuine human being he is a great son, a great husband and a wonderful father. He is a great actor too.
6. What is your mantra of success?
As an actor you know where you stand. Your talent creates your belief and continuously improving and upgrading your talent will bring confidence in yourself.
You have to be aware about everything in life because tomorrow you might get an opportunity to use that awareness in your performance.
7. Which is your favourite book and why?
I love Mahabharata because it has all genres of stories beautifully weaved into one story and it's characterisations, hundreds of characters with it’s unique perspective and behaviour.
- Interviewed By Anamika Ajith
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