An Actor's Diary!

1.The Journey

You walk into the room, where there is nothing else to see, nothing more than the four walls, the four corners. When in little time; the fear, the angst turns into expectations and deep hopes. Yes, I am talking about the summer workshop that I recently attended that's organized by the "Asmita Theatre Group".

My silent steps paved towards "Lok Kala Manch", in Delhi's lush green area of Lodi Road, adjacent to the "Sai Temple". I met Shilpi Marwaha, a senior member of the group who conducted our workshop. From blank faces in the beginning, from the discomfort in the eyes; we moved very close to knowing our colleagues and later, co-actors.

Yes, the exercises we comprehended made us sweat and our bodies shivered, but to no avail; for we were living a theatre person's life and it is not a joke. In our mentor Arvind Gaur Sir's words, "Acting comes from our everyday life and the way we perform there is how we end up performing on the stage".

Our perceptions are often limited by how little we know. Coming to Asmita, we got to know what amount of commitment goes into making it happen. Now, be it behind the stage or on-stage. The effort is unceasing and incessant all throughout. It's because, the actors want to do it and have made it a crucial and invincible part of their lives. It's the will, that binds Asmita, together and strong.

2.The Lessons

To make the audience laugh all the time is not the only job of an actor. For then, the person might as well be designated as a "Comedian". To act, one needs to live different lives, different emotions all together. It's a worship, that is eternal joy to an actor. Having knowledge of all kinds of jobs unlike an accountant or a scientist who keep their understandings to the extent of their job profile. For an actor, to live merrily, to fall into despair; all these emotions come handy. Moreover, there is no textbook that carves out the best actor. There is no thing that does that, other than an honest effort. Shilpi ma'am, held our hands strongly in order to tell us that, there was no need to worry. She told us before our stage play, that she was looking not for the best actor but for an honest effort from each one of us.

Having the nuances of a fine actress, Shilpi Marwaha is a lady of strength and determination. If we were to veer away from the path of honesty, she had all the rights to scold us. She cared for us, more than she cared for herself. Ma'am's dignity and virtue taught us how to be good human beings before becoming accomplished actors.

During the one month long workshop, we were given a lot of freedom to interact with the faculty members of Asmita. They encouraged us to follow our passion and guided us to hold responsibility in our actions. Needless to empahsize, all the members were as cordial and hospitable as anyone could be.

I thank "Asmita Theatre Group" for all the love and care. The understanding and opinion that I developed here is the one, I couldn't gather had I not been a part of it. I wish to be connected with Asmita in the coming future and look forward to join the regular batch.

Gagandeep Singh Vaid

The Creative Head: Mr.Arvind Gaur

He has been a director for decades now. One would expect to see a brooding aura around him, but surprisingly he remains grounded after an extremely successful stint with the medium he loves most; theatre.
He mentors more than 100 students in his theatre group and has only one philosophy; that everybody deserves a chance to prove their mettle. He often talks about facing rejection early in his career and believes that every student who comes to him for guidance deserves an opportunity.
This definitely does not mean that he goes easy on his actors. He constantly pushes them to go beyond their limit and their seeming potential. His actors rehearse for several hours a day and seven days a week. If one gets an opportunity to sit through his rehearsals, one would notice the kind of details he works on. Details that his audiences often take for granted. 
He makes one realise that pursuing each and every profession takes an immense amount of hard work and dedication. People might be born actors, but they still need to work their way up the ladder of success. 

His students not only learn acting but also become thorough intellectuals and virtuous individuals in the process. He urges actors to read about the play they are performing and learn about its socio-political significance. When one meets some of the actors, one notices the determination on their faces and the humility in their demeanour. That is when one realises that these actors have gone through rigourous training to be sporting their kala kurta with pride. Even within the group he has inculcated an environment of mutual respect, coordination and discipline. Thus one can clearly see how much his students admire him.

As has been stated many times, he has directed numerous plays including Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq, Dharamvir Bharti’s Andha Yug, Albert Camus’ Caligula, Swadesh Deepak’s Court Martial, Mahesh Dattani’s Final Solutions, Dario Fo’s Operation Three Star, Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan (Ramkali- Good Woman of Delhi), Premchand’s Moteram ka Satyagraha, Rajesh Kumar’s Ambedkar Aur Gandhi and many more. He also directs street plays to give more opportunities to budding actors and spread awareness about social issues. He is also the recipient of various awards like Artists for Change Karamveer Puraskar Noble Laureates, 2008, Radha Krishna Award for contribution to Delhi’s art and culture, 2007, Udbhav Shikhar Samman, 2008 and several others.

He currently lives in Delhi with his wife and has two daughters named Kakoli and Saveree Gaur who are also upcoming actresses.