Recently I interviewed two young actors Yogesh Patil and Teertha Khaklary form rural India who got selected in National School of Drama . They were among the 20 students selected from all over India for Theater in Education Course in National School of Drama (Tripura) . I hope there journey will inspire many youngsters all over India.
Me : Welcome , Yogesh and Teertha to this discussion cum interview. I hope you will enjoy it.
Me : How is your family background Yogesh ? How did your parents reacted when you told them about your interest in acting?
Yogesh : I am from a village called Dambhurni ( Jalgaon ) in Maharashtra . My parents are in farming from years and also work as daily wagers. They expected me to get educated and do a job to help them financially. I mean this is what every parents expects from their child. But when they saw me winning prizes and appreciation for my work in acting field , they never bothered me about my decision to go for acting. I am having freedom to do anything I want but at my own risk and at my own expenses.
Me : Why u decided to chose acting and direction as career?
Yogesh : I was not aware about the film industry or acting before entering this field . It is not my childhood dream to become an actor . This thing developed in me in my graduation years. I used to take part in drama all the times in my college and somehow i got attracted towards it. I started to watch films , dramas and listening actors like Nasiruddin Ji with more curiosity. I got appreciation for my acting and direction from people around me and also in state level drama competitions. It became my life. Till my final year I was pretty sure about what I wanted to do in my life and also understood that I am not made for 9 to 5 job. This is how I started my journey.
Me : How you got selected in National School of Drama (Tripura )? And how is the atmosphere there?
Teertha : It is dream of every aspirant actor to learn at NSD . I applied for NSD because I was having experience of drama ,theater and short films even before entering NSD. But I was not sure that I will get selected because there are many who apply every year while the seats are in 2 digits. I got selected for Theater in Education course . In NSD , there are people from all over India. There is healthy discussion about various aspects of films , dramas, feelings , societal issues, etc. I learned many new things about the technicality of shooting a film, expressing the emotions, camera , lights ,etc. This is , I think a treasure hub to grasp knowledge. It's a different world for us.
Me : Teertha , you are from hill tracts of Assam and have a engineering background . What influenced you to pursue acting as career?
Teertha : I think it's cinema that has influenced me because cinema has reached every corner of India now. I even did job for sometime after engineering but I was suffocating . I took the risk of leaving it and go for a career in films. I think , I took a right decision.
Me : Your documentary ' Colors of India' won an award for best direction in VIVEK National Film Documentary 2017. So what are the colors of India according to you?
Yogesh : We wanted to show the mentality of people behind carrying the symbols of their caste , religion and creed as well. There is representation of purity ,holy ,god, great persons and ideology all over India. When we call India as diverse country we visualize people of different religion praying to 'their' god. I think this so narrow concept of diversity. So i tried to depict the diversity through the symbols proudly carried by Indian people at all points of life. But at last they say that 'we are all Indians' . Yahi khasiyat hain India ki. I just pictured it.
Me : Do you think movies, short films or documentaries brings change in society?
Yogesh : Yes they do. At Least after watching my documentaries 'Colours Of India' and ' In Search Of Equality' people in my village have started discussions on tenets of constitution. This kind of things don't usually happens in rural India. People are fond of talking politics as pass time but they many times ignore the main issues.
Me: Why filmmakers are preferring untrained or new faces over the established one?
Yogesh: I think it depends on the theme of the film and also on the director himself. Directors are turning towards rural India because now they know that it possess huge talent. We have talented people in India but the need is to identify them and give them a recognition. 'Sairat ' made a big hit because of it's natural flow. We still remember the characters as " Parshya" and " Archi" of instead of their real life names. We have another recent example of " Jamtara" which is a web-series. The character "gudiya " is played by Monika Panwar who passed out recently from NSD Delhi. I want to say is that Indian cinema is changing. Now film makers do not want 'heroes' but real life characters.
Me : ' In Search of Equality' was your recent documentary . What was it about?
Yogesh : We shot it last year entirely in villages of Maharashtra . But the finishing was not done. We worked on all the minute details and released it on this 14th April ( Birth Anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar). We asked few questions about equality to random people. It was surprising that people do not have any idea about equality. The women do not know that they should get equal pay for equal work. They do not have a slightest idea of the basic tenets of Indian constitution. Few teachers were knowing well about the ' equality' while they said that inequality still exists in Indian society. Some said that they were not allowed to enter in temples. We need education along with social awareness to reduce the inequality. Education alone is not going to work. Dr. Ambedkar imagined the world where the underprivileged is an active part of mainstream economy. He wanted women to set themselves free from their assigned gender role.
Me : There is NSD( National School of Drama ) and FTII (Film and Television Institute Of India ) for training aspirants of film industry. So is it that people who don't make it to these institutes will find it difficult to make career in films ?
Teertha : No. Not at all. You can learn and train yourself even when you don't get a seat in NSD and FTII . You can work in theater, dramas , short films to learn the same things which are taught in NSD and FTII. These institutes are not factories of making actors. You have to work hard on yourself to get work. Good example is of Nagraj Manjule.
Me : You directed an One act play called 'Nali'. What was it about?
Yogesh : Nali is the story of a school girl from a small village. It was about the life of all women who have to compromise their dreams due to social norms. Nali speaks about feminism. The unique thing about Nali is it's dialect called 'Ahirani'. Nali was recognized all over Maharashtra and we are still getting shows. It was also shown at a drama festival called 'Pancham Ved' in Goa.
Me : You made a short film on the life of labour based on Poem of Sabir Haka. Tell me something about it.
Yogesh and Teertha : Sabir is an Iranian poet and a construction worker himself. He has depicted the whole life of a labour in few words . We thought that this is the perfect time to create something on it. It correlates to the current situation of migrant labours all over the world not only in India. I know what it is to be a labor because I have worked as a labor in my school days to earn for my family. Sabir says " I was a worker since my mother carried me in her womb while working and I felt her exhaustion. Her tiredness is still in my body". This touched me so much to make a craft on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8rEN4x4XWc
Me : Who is your ideal ?
Yogesh : I think if I'll chose an ideal i will want to be like him/her. I want to make my own identity here. But I always try to learn from the journey of people like Nasiruddin Ji , Pankaj ji,etc
Me : What is your wishlist of directors you want to work with?
Yogesh : Ahh..There are many and Zoya Akhtar Ma'am and Anurag Sir is one of them.
Me : What do you think about the nepotism and discrimination in acting field?
Yogesh : I think it happens. But at the last point it's your work that give you recognition. Nawazuddin Ji, Late Irrfan sir, and Pankaj Tripathi sir are live examples of this. They are what they are and where they are because of their work .
Me : Do you get depressed sometimes due to the uncertain future in film industry? How you cope with it ?
Yogesh : Yes , I do. But I always tell myself that it's me who has taken this decision . I am honest about my work and keep doing it. One positive thing is that we are finding new things about us everyday. So this increases our confidence. It happens many times that we forget to eat while working. Sometimes we take break from our work and training. We are enjoying our journey.
Me : What are future projects ?
Yogesh and Teertha : We have started working to make something on Homo-Sexuality in rural areas. Because this issues like LGBTQ are taboo in rural areas. We need to talk about it.
Me : What you would like to tell other youngsters like you both who aspire to make career in Films?
Yogesh : Many young people from rural areas and small towns have a dream of becoming actor/director. But they do not get enough guidance about the process . It took a lot of time for me to get to know much about this field. Now much info is available online about it. Aspirants should watch good movies , dramas, listen to directors. We have to come out of our comfort zone. People should not come here for glamour and fame. Nasiruddin Shah ji once said that " agar tumhe aisa lagta hain ki tum acting ke bagair mar jaoge, to aap ne yaha aana chahiye" .
Thanks Yogesh and Tirtha for sharing your journey with us. I hope it will inspire others . All the best for Your Journey.
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