The “on stage” me….

Back home…ever since I was a kid…I have been involved in performing arts. As a kid…it was arts….plural….as it included elocution competitions, debates, singing….dancing (if you could call flapping hands and feet….kind of like what a drowning person does to stay afloat….outside the water of course…dancing)…and acting. People say that its better to stand out…than be a part of the crowd…however, I stuck out….like …umm…can’t think of a perfect idiom.Lets just say that I stuck out…and thus…was pretty much thrust into each and every “art” related stuff.

My grade school made sure we did participate in a lot of extra curricular art competitions and more often than not, I used to feature on the teams. Not that I didn’t love some of them….but there was always some folk dance competition around the corner…which I just hated. I sometimes was even willing to “sing” …this was another thing that our school made us do, use of sound tapes/discs wasn’t allowed at all…you had to sing and play your own songs….dance to that “cacophony of instruments”, one being a vocal tract….called music .

Come to think of it, the school had an understanding about male students. Soon after we hit puberty, we were miraculously excused from the singing choir duties….just like that. No more nightmares. Yet…like I said….since I stuck out….like a …like a….I still don’t have it….

I was thrust into those until the age of 13. After that I just plain refused…no more singing, definitely not in those competitions…was the plan !!! I continued to act though, won a couple of awards for the same along the way (not gloating at all…yeah right !!) and wrote and directed plays….even I was 14.

Sometimes I wonder…what is better….doing Indianized versions of Shakespeare or doing plays written by some famous author….Indian or international….OR…. writing your own stuff?? I guess both have their advantages….If you do Shakespeare…you come in contact with literature….and thence start reading more. When you write your own…and don’t read enough…you get biased…almost start thinking in a certain way….and even arrogant. I stood grossly at the center of that spectrum. I read a few literary authors..and I was not that arrogant

One of the things about being in someone shadow…is until you grow out of it, you are always cold (there…thats a perfectly profound proverb…indigenous of course…why couldn’t I do that for the “sticking out” bit…)…Since I expressed interest in acting and theatre…I was immediately compared to my playwright grandfather. He is a renowned playwright of considerable stature and fame….I won an award for acting, in a small scale competition….with three teams participating!! It was outrageous. It even spurred my parents…to try and influence me positively…and they thrust some books at me….I did read some of them . One thing I must about my parents, they wanted me to explore this creative space….or any other one for that matter. My Dad has always told us that we need to be good at one sport and one art form, apart from being good at academics and nurturing hobbies (like reading, music etc also creative in itself).

In Highschool (11 & 12)….I did not act for two years…never was on stage…and sub consciously missed it. As soon I was enrolled in Engineering…I started on that path again…Through the years there were a fair few things and gigs happening in and around the place I live in which I have acted. I say that, as it came annually….being a part of a couple of plays every year was commonplace. Suddenly not having done it for a couple of years, meant that I started to miss it….and it made me realize that I love it….and heard that I was good…that always helps.

I took a short crash course in theatre from Satyadev Dubey sir. He is well known director and spoke very higly of my grandfather…every time. In fact that, i.e. his continual praise of my Grandfather as a huge figure in Marathi Theatre, made me realize more than anything…how famous and renowned he really is. I met a lot of people who were trying to make a mark on the Marathi TV scene then. Some of them have made it big now…films…serials/sitcoms…plays. I applaud them with all my heart. One of my brother’s good friend from IHM, Mumbai is now a heart throb for the local Star Network Channels.It is very hard to succeed as an actor in the Indian industry….it is by far the most cherished dream of more than half of the billion people of India, the other one being representing India (Cricket).

Where am I heading now? I have been trying to write my own plays and even a short film, recently a novel. Its not going great as none of them have been completed . I have tried my hand at poetry….its alright I guess….nothing too fancy…I have tried my hand at writing and composing rock songs….didn’t work out…I have been maintaining this blog…and I guess I am doing alright…yeah? What I am trying to get at, is that apart from acting…I haven’t really been “artistic”. Now that there is no “stage” … I thrive on entertaining people I meet. In my Engineering days, I was called the “Story Teller (Potli Baba)” . Someone who could hold an audience….just by narrating some incident….of course spicing it up a bit en route. Its funny…but a friend of mine…used to come to me and tell me a joke or anecdote that he found funny…and then ask me to narrate it to the others….he claimed I was much better at story telling….funny ain’t it ? I still do play a few tunes on my Guitar….after a drink or two…but I miss singing it for a special audience…

A good friend, having seen me as a part of a presentation party, for an elective….said that “mate…you were good…its like you are a different person on the stage”. I think I am…it brings out a lot of good things in me…I miss that feeling…its something like an adrenalin rush…when you go on ….. its inexplicable…its divine….

I guess…making someone smile is the best gift you can give them…so long as they don’t think you are cheap for doing just that every time (important to make them realize that you are laughing with them and not at them…first you need to get to laugh though..period). I love doing it…and have been known to be good at it. When we did the final presentation a couple of months ago…I was on stage after a long time….I was touted the “funny guy from the presentation” and it made people recognize me the next time they saw me…..it was then..that I realized…I miss the stage ….

I miss it a lot….I miss the excitement of the competitions….how we had to juggle our lives around the deadlines…I just miss the fun…and the commotion…the competitive spirit…late nights practice sessions….arguments…everything….celebrity status…the acclaim…at times the critics……and most of all I miss my friends…Pranav Godbole, Aashish Bhutkar, the TE Electrical group…especially Kapil Madan, the “girls” from Firodiya…who I think remember me only for the hardships I caused….even when I was on their very own team….and most of all…I miss the “on stage me”. I will wait…something might just come by. If not that…it when a couple of friends come over…and we have a drink or two..and I pick up the guitar…or else…just when I have to tell a small anecdote that happened…the feeling is there…and it comes from within…without me having to trigger it in anyway. But I still miss the “stage”…I miss the audience….the high..and “the on stage me”

Some of my noticeable achievements:

Part of a presentation team which demonstrated through role play, the journey of the iWiFi Bondi project, in front of 60-80 industry professionals in a pub….as an assessment task (2008)!!!

Production Assistant in a short film “Santiago” which was shot using a Bolex camera on 16mm film (used by Charlie Chaplain) and was appreciated greatly- Video available on Youtube at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXx_4c7RXao (2007).

Acted in a play (which also included dancing and playing the guitar) in Firodiya Karandak (2005)

Co-scripted and acted (negative protagonist) in a play (Vastav-The only Reality) which ended up in the “top 9″ in the Purshottam karandak (2004)

Provided external help (acting & backstage coach/adviser…lol…people are going to love this ) for a play in Firodiya Karandak (2004)

Acted in Shashwat (negative protagonist) in a play entered in the Purshottam Karandak (2003)

Wrote and directed a Street play (Just do it) which won first prize at the Expressions competition organized by the Indian Express (1998).

Played the role of a jungle cat (I know…I know…) in a play called “Nandanvan” (1998)

Participated in a choreography competition “Yeh Hai India” organized by the Times of India (1997) and won
(Basically by doing what we were told…with almost no creative input)

Featured in 6 events in the annual social gathering in the year 1997 (2.5 hr program, 8 attire changes and a lot of muggin up of ddialogues and even dance steps….eeewww).

Won the best actor award in a short skit competition hosted by the “Agakhan palace Mahatma Gandhi trust” (1996) (Ironically doing better than my brother who also played Gandhi in his skit)