Augusto Boal had rightly said, “We must all do theatre, to find out who we are, and to discover who we could become.” It is not just the craft that theatre teaches, but also some important life lessons. This was one of the key takeaways in our candid conversation with Kuldeep Singh, an actor and teacher at the National School of Drama.

Early Years

Born and raised on the road, Kuldeep Singh shares his life stories very candidly. Though he was born in Kanpur, with his father in the Indian Air Force, they were constantly moving all around the country. This gave him invaluable experience of living and meeting different people from all over India. Travelling has its upsides, but he felt that he lost friends along the road. Talking about his schooling, he recalls being in Kendriya Vidyalaya and having the best time of his life. He felt supported and comfortable in that environment. 

At a very early age, he was interested in music. He keenly recalls Pankaj Udas and his songs. When he started his academic career, Kuldeep Singh realized that he needed some creative relief. He realized that performing is his calling while playing the role of a soldier in a school play, “Murshidabad ka Nawab”. He got promoted to the front role due to his punctuality and his memorisation skills. Starting acting in the fifth grade, he understood his love for acting after winning a bhangra dance competition. After successfully putting up a play “Nasha” within 10 days, he continuously did plays in school and kept winning awards for them.

Passion for Theatre

When asked about his inspiration for pursuing acting as a career, Singh credits himself for pursuing his passion. He enjoyed and understood his passion in his school years and stuck to it. Having a grad degree in arts, he took a strong decision to do a master’s in theatre from Punjab University.

His key motivation is the reactions to his performances, from their smiles to the bliss in their eyes. It has also given him a different perspective in life and the ability to tackle all situations. Sharing an anecdote of this problem-solving behaviour, he remembers making an angry shopkeeper laugh after bargaining by promising to buy his stock no matter what.

He believes that every project begins with a struggle since he tries new experiences every time. He stresses that one should only make decisions that one can carry through life. What drives him forward is the experiencing of new thoughts. He realized that his passion lies in helping others move forward. Through his work at the National School of Drama, he could help others in finding their path.

He strongly believes in standing for what is correct no matter what. The purpose of his workshops is for the person to understand his potential in life. He quotes Albert Einstein, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales”.

Words of wisdom for the Aspiring Actors!

Singh’s message to aspiring actors is to not look for shortcuts in life. He pushes them to understand the basic foundations of acting, instead of just relying on their looks and spending their parents’ hard-earned money. The audience has changed their mindset and taste through the years. He believes this has increased all sorts of opportunities for aspiring artists.

When asked about his projects he feels that he has fallen in love with every project that he has done and enjoyed his time with his team. The plays that he has done like “Aazar Ka Khwab” and “Kitabon Me Hulchul” have been invited abroad and appreciated amongst the audiences alike. He is working on biographies these days on personalities like Alexander Graham Bell, Munshi Prem Chand, Shakespeare and others.

He believes that one can achieve anything one wants to. The only thing needed is that one stays a student for life. Based on this principle, he feels that he is still learning along the road. The words of his teacher that, you should not believe you know everything about everything, has helped him in keeping his spirit for learning. He stresses the fact that every person should have an artistic release. Hence, he strongly believes that theatre should be a must in schools for artistic release.

Along with helping him pursue his passion, the theatre has helped Singh in developing a different outlook on life and people. He believes that the world will be more beautiful if everyone becomes artistic. Let’s hope that his dream becomes a reality.

There is a lot to her body of work that is punctuated by her own approach to life. From choosing scripts, that have a lot more than meets the eye, to delivering wonderfully nuanced performances, Tanya Singh has, in every project she has worked on, left an indelible mark. An incredibly gifted actor, she has the ability to not only seamlessly flow into the mind of the character that she is playing, but also the exceptional gift for making the audience feel every whispered word that her character utters. Through our conversation, it becomes apparent that this, truly, is what she is meant to do.

Raised amid the warm summers of Kanpur, Singh has a very emotional bond with the city she spent her earliest years in. The manner in which she describes her childhood, surrounded by her closest friends and family, paints the picture of an individual who not only cherishes the thought of home but also holds a certain reverence for it. As a matter of fact, she recalls how, as a child, they would, often, take road trips to her maternal grandmother’s house. Incidentally, the 1973 film, ‘Garm Hava’, was shot in Singh’s grandmother’s residence.

As a child, Singh always felt drawn to theatrics, hilariously recalling how she would spend time lost in her own imagination, doing hair flips in front of a mirror. Coming from a family that placed an emphasis on education, Singh’s father, a doctor, always encouraged her to take her education seriously. And, while she did clear her entrance exams, there was always this other side of her that was drawn to the world of dramatics. What bolstered her fascination with this world was the fact that her maternal side of the family also had this same passion for the art of acting.

Initially stepping into the industry through modelling, Singh touches on how she actually got into acting. In point of fact, she recalls her first audition. Back in 2016, a friend of hers, former creative director at TVF, contacted her about a role on the eve of an audition. The part, in question, was for a mini web-series. Landing the role, Singh was, at the outset, a little hesitant about her own inexperience with acting. As she, herself, states, ‘Up until then, I had just been acting in bathrooms’. Her hesitation was unfounded, however, as she received the guidance she needed from the creative team for the web-series. Looking back, she counts that whole experience as the single bravest step she has taken in her journey. Fraught with her own uncertainty and a general sense of apprehensiveness about whether she was up to the task, Singh, in fact, persevered and sailed through it, and, quite wonderfully so.

If you look at some of the work she has done, you see an artist who has a distinct sense of what movies and shows should be able to touch upon. Commenting on her short film, ‘Chhodh Pakad’, Singh explores how films that depict tiny slices of life have a very special place. Scripts that allow for someone to relate to what is actually on screen evoke a certain sense of emotional attachment from the audience. And, as she says, roles such as these are something that she gravitates towards. 

Speaking of roles and performances, when asked about what her perfect role would be like, Singh remarks on wanting to play a strong female character, someone who has an untethered sense of identity and is, possibly, engaged in her own political power play. This doesn’t come as a surprise. Singh, having grown up around strong, independent women, has always had an idea of what it truly means to be someone you look up to. You only need to hear the way she lovingly describes her mother and grandmother to understand this.

Exploring the changing nature of the industry and the way content is being consumed, Singh dives into how there will always be a balance between the bigger budget feature films and the smaller independent films. Even back in the day, there was the space for more independent films to succeed. The successes of movies such as ‘Bheja Fry’ and ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ provided such a strong foundational base for how the subject matter of films is being chosen today. Today, content, really, is king. Now, as she goes on to explain, the idea of being able to relate and the untethered manner in which content is being distributed through multiple platforms provides such a massive scope for all genres of films and shows to flourish and reach their intended audiences.

Singh has had a remarkable beginning to her career. Indeed, as she talks about her first short film, ‘Unarranged’, she recalls the massively positive reaction that it garnered. ‘Unarranged’ came at a time when the idea of social networking and the impact of online circulation for content was beginning to gain traction. In just a week of it’s release, ‘Unarranged’ had racked up over eight lakh views. That whole experience made her realise that this was something that she had a legitimate shot at. If she went on to prove herself a little more, things would fall in place. And, that is exactly what happened.

Even so, Singh asserts that she had never envisioned that she would be taking up acting as a profession. She imagined her life would be completely different, with her taking up a more conventional job and pursuing a career that she studied for. What is actually pretty wild is the fact that she was actually meant to take up a position at a company she had been hired by, just days before her first audition. She chose to carve out her own path and that has made all the difference.

Commenting on how accessible everything is these days, Singh states that it has become a lot easier for someone to chase something they are passionate about. With the availability of so many platforms, it is crucial to start exploring and putting your work out there so that others can see it.  The one caveat that she stresses on, however, is the need to finish your education. That, she says, takes a backseat for some when they set out to pursue something that they are passionate about. That may prove detrimental in the long run. Coming from a background that has stressed the importance of education in her life, Singh is grateful and counts herself fortunate that she chose to finish her education before she set out on her journey to pursue acting. And, from the looks of it, Tanya Singh’s journey ahead is shaping up to be a beautiful one.

With a mellow lilt in his voice and a certain ease, that can only come with being self-assured, Dinesh Mohan speaks candidly about himself. There is a sort of simplicity in the way he describes his experiences and opinions. Perhaps, it is a simplicity born out of the approach he takes in his life or maybe it is just a desire to be straightforward. Whatever the case may be, it is refreshing to hear him walk you through the circumstances and the experiences he has had so far.

Spending his childhood in the unrelenting summers of Rohtak, Mohan grew up in a conventional Indian family, whiling away the time painting, reading and taking trips with his parents. It is interesting to see how he took his first step in the modelling industry. At a certain point, he decided to engage with his life in a manner that was more wholesome and beneficial to his own well-being. What followed was a major transformation, one that was, decidedly, for himself and his own happiness. What he did not realize was that everyone around him had noticed the change in him. A neighbour, impressed with his renewed appearance, posted a photograph of him online. It was then that the offers from modelling agencies flew in.

His first assignment was from a modelling agency in Delhi for a still photograph campaign. Initially nervous about it, Mohan was pleasantly surprised at the ease with which he grew into it. Faced with flashing lights and all eyes being on him, he found, in himself, a quiet confidence and reassurance. It was then that he realized that this just might be something he could pursue seriously. Later, after a successful taste of what the modelling industry had to offer, he, upon the suggestion of an acquaintance, decided to branch out to acting, beginning, yet, another chapter in his life.

Even so, his journey, so far, has not been one without doubts. At the beginning, excited after his first assignment, when Mohan wanted to share the news with those around him, concerns were raised about his age and the fickle nature of the industry he was diving into. However, for him, this whole journey has not been about proving anything to anybody else. This was, completely, for him and about taking the opportunities that presented themselves to him. This same thought, of seizing opportunities, is one that he practices in his habits and his life. From approaching fitness, in a manner that is holistic and emphasizes a focus on mental well-being, to diving headfirst into the challenges that presented themselves in his line of work, Mohan realizes the importance of taking chances and embracing them completely. Fun fact, at times he dances and jumps around wildly to get himself warmed up before training. 

There is little Mohan won’t try but he will try them in his own way. In his words, you sense a personal drive. Modelling and acting are a part of his life, not the entirety of it. There is a professional drive, of course, a desire to work and perfect himself in his own craft. However, there is the undeniable feeling that his professional aspirations are intrinsically tied to his personal drive to just live his life better each day, embracing and enjoying it wholly. Indeed, he considers his weight loss a turning point in his life, a big leap of faith that has led to other positive changes in his life.

Consequently, he puts a lot of emphasis on constantly working and polishing latent skills and abilities. That is a general truth, he says, about human life. From a personal example, he relates that idea to his acting career. Recognizing one’s own shortcomings and constantly evolving in one’s endeavours is critical to becoming better progressively. With this thought, he urges anybody pursuing their dreams to seize opportunities, regardless of how outlandish things may seem initially. Mulling things over, second guessing presented opportunities constantly would not be conducive in the larger scheme of things. After all, it is upon one’s own hands that the opportunity lies. And, Dinesh Mohan has firmly grasped the ones in his.

Acting is one of those crafts which seems effortless and accessible enough but is deviously tricky to master. And understandably so! It’s hard to figure out oneself let alone a completely different person whose skin you need to get into. Many people use acting as a form of escapism; they take refuge in the storytelling and enjoy being someone else for a while. And some do it to explore things they wouldn’t do themselves but can do as a character. 

One of Shakespeare’s most famous lines is, “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players”. Maybe we do use acting without even realising it, who knows? Archak Chhabra is a young actor who is not limited. He has starred in short films ‘Khujli’ and ‘Shunyata’. And also in the music videos of ‘Kesariya Balam by Avanti Patel’ and ‘Tore Bin by Avanti Patel’.  

In more active roles he has starred in ‘Asur’- A Voot Select original in which he played the role of Aditya Jalan. But that’s not it. He’s also appeared in a feature film directed by popular director Ram Gopal Verma called ‘12 o’clock’. His trajectory has only gone upwards and we can expect him to go even higher!

Born and brought up in NTPC Dadri (about 40kms from Ghaziabad, U.P) in a township, Archak attended Amity University to pursue BSC in IT. But for him, pursuing acting isn’t mutually exclusive to other learning opportunities. Apart from acting, he also loves coding and music. His life changed when he attended a workshop by the ‘adishakti’ theatre group in Pondicherry.

He gets his motivation from self-awareness and his family and believes that it takes time for people to realise what their unique talent is.

We wish him all the best for his career and can’t wait to see him become the ‘next big thing’!

Oscar Wilde once said, “I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” That is the dynamism of the theatre. It introduces us to the truest essence of the human through its stage and curtains. Today, we bring you the journey of one such actor who portrays the finer nuances of life on stage. In a recent exchange with The Talented Indian, Gaurav Dubey recalled his journey towards his dream, i.e. theatre.

Born in Satna, Madhya Pradesh, Gaurav graduated from the University of Delhi. Ever since he was a child he was interested in the theatre but his middle-class background did not prove instrumental in nurturing his passion. Although his love for acting was clear since childhood as he watched movies and used to wonder the magic behind the song, dance and music, over the years, like any other kid, his interests kept changing from becoming a pilot to a lawyer. However, his love for acting stayed intact and it was something that he wanted to pursue all along.

As a theatre actor, he participated in numerous ‘nukkad nataks’ portraying the real issues of society and raising awareness among people. His street plays include AAJEVIKA regarding equal rights for women, DASTAK that talks about the harassment faced by the women in the society and PEHCHAAN that puts the limelight on LGBTQ community, among others.

He believes the street plays that he performs not just raises awareness for others but for themselves too since before the act lands on paper, it has a long process of research that includes sharing of real-life stories and meeting different people from varied lifestyles, approaches and perceptions. Such amalgamation of various encounters molds the senses of the artist and craves unparalleled talent.

It was during his third year that he discovered the magical world of theatre and decided to pursue it. The best part of this journey was the unconditional support of his father. Inspired by the actor Raj Kapoor, he admires the innocence in his eyes and appreciates the social message his films conveyed. This ability of theatre and cinema to bring about a social change turned out to be his motivation for his art.

It has been three years since he has been learning his craft and all this while he understood that failure for him is when he is unable to characterize himself as the one assigned to him by the director. He also highlighted the importance of being educated in the craft of acting, by stating that “in an industry where the definition of hero or success needs to evolve, such education comes in handy while sailing towards ones ambition.” Finally, while concluding he stated that he aspires to work with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and we at The Talented Indian wish him good luck for his dream. May we see you on big screen soon!