Theatre will always be my first love!

Theatre has been a part of me since early childhood. I was born in Pune. Aur jab se mujhe yaad hai, mai theatre kar hi rahi hoon. As a kid, I was a chatterbox like a parrot. So, my parents encouraged me to perform on stage since I was 3-4 years old. And in Pune, especially in Brahmin families, we participate in cultural activities, be it music, dance or acting. So, those initial years helped me to be clear about pursuing acting as a career.

When I told my parents about my acting aspirations, they were not okay with it. As long as it was a hobby, it was great. But they couldn’t look beyond it. Moreover, I was good at my studies. In fact, I was a topper. So, unko kaafi umeedien thi mujhse. Thus, it was tough to convince them. At last, I told them to let me crack NSD, and then I wouldn’t need any financial support from them. Everybody was like, ‘Nahi clear hoga first attempt me! But I cracked it in the first attempt and joined NSD at twenty. You might think, ‘Why NSD, not FTII?’ Kyonki tab acting courses chalu nahi the FTII me. And thank god, it wasn’t live. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have joined NSD and met Zeeshan there.

After joining NSD, I was startled. Usually log 5-7 saal theatre karne ke baad NSD join katre hai. Mera toh graduation ka result aane se phle admission ho gya tha. So, I was naive without any education. The first six months were tough. During the class, I couldn’t figure out whether the teacher was talking about a play’s title or the writer. My seniors helped a lot. I used to read two plays every day. Slowly, things got better.

And now I’m passionate about doing theatre. Of course, I’ve worked in films, but my heart will always lie with theatre. Honestly, agar theatre mein sahi paisa hota to mai filmo mein kabhi nahi jate. I still have a dream about having my theatre group and bus, jisme hum travel karein different cities theatre karne ke liye. Roj performances ho! The reason behind moving to Mumbai was Zeeshan got a job as a theatre teacher there. With my acting experience, I thought I’d figure out something around the theatre there. Hero ya heroine ban ne ke liye hum me se koi Bombay nahi aaya tha. It just happened!

Recently, I’ve directed a feature film. It felt like a newfound love! But theatre will always be my first love!

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