Category: Acting & Theatre

I do not know whether this is going to turn out to be a sensible move or not. However, I have been impulsive in a lot of decisions that I have made in life and this may be one of them. I have enrolled for a very (very!) expensive gym. They say it’s India’s biggest fitness center. It’s called True Fitness and is located at Andheri West, about 10 minutes away from where I live. It is a star-studded gym occupied with film and television celebrities!

I was introduced to this gym by my flatmate Kartik and when I went for a free trial, I liked what I saw. The entire top floor of the mall (Crystal Point / Star Bazaar) is occupied by this gym and I hear that the 3rd floor too has some yoga and spa faciltities for VIPs. No wonder then that people like Shahid Kapur, Anushka Sharma, Asin, Minisha Lamba, Madhur Bhandarkar, Aamir Ali, and a host of other celebrities whose names I do not know have chosen this gym for their daily workouts!

On my first day, I bumped into Sudhir Mishra, the director of Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi and yeh Saali Zindagi. I saw a couple of aspiring actors doing the usual (wannabe) talk with him. I so wanted to go and tell him “Sir, I am a very good actor and I would love to work with you in your next film. Please let me audition once. You won’t regert it”. However, I just kep quiet. I did not want to come across as one of those several aspiring actors who are just waiting for an opportunity to see a director and pounce on him. I had to respect his personal space. The same happened with Shahid Kapur yesterday. While there were a couple of people walking up to him and doing the regular “I like your work” chat, I did not feel like. What I really want is for these celebritiess to know me first! Know me for my work or for something good I have done. Then, it makes sense to use the gym as a social place and chat up with them.

Right now, I just happen to be one of the many unknown faces who dream of making it big like these guys. I thought I should first rise above this level, somehow! And then, I will be worthy of talking to them. It’s quite ironic though. If I do not use these opportunities to talk to directors, how would I rise above this level. Why have I joined such an expensive gym then?

I have no idea how I am going to crack this. What I do know is – I am going to work hard at the gym and try and build a physique for myself that will sell. Meanwhile, any opportunity that I get to meet a director and tell him about myself and ask for a part, would need to be capitalized on in a subtle way. Not like a wanna-be!

One more thing before I sign off for today…Every time I see a Star, I feel restless! I feel that I have such a long way to go while these guys have already made it so big. It urges me to do more, it motivates me to push further, it drives me to work harder. Watching Shahid Kapur work out next to me has done that. Once again, I feel all charged up…restless..raring to go! I want to be on the move..meet as many producers, directors, casting directors as possible..I have to do something or I will regret wasting all this time for the rest of my life!

 

Love and Regards

My first newspaper mention is here!! It’s for my performance in the play Siddhivinayak Saves Mumbai from Terror Attack in The Deccan Herald. It says:

“Dilip Merla, as her disinterested husband, portrayed the quintessential urban lad whose only ambition in life is to make pot loads of money. He was a delight to watch.”

Here is the entire artcile:

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/144768/opening-many-eyes.html#top

Many thanks to the reporter for the kind words!! 🙂

2^nd of March, 2011. Reporting time was 10 am at Prithvi. We had packed up by 11.30pm the previous night so we had enough time to rest and get back. However, I don’t think many of us slept well. Like Nikhil told us the next day, he kept waking up every 15 minutes to see if it was time to go yet.

I picked up Bhardwaj and reached Prithvi by 10.30am. The Prithvi café was as pleasant as it is on other mornings. No crowd, no noise, just Prithvi and us and the lovely morning. There had been several times when I had reached Prithvi early in the morning with nobody else having arrived. I loved to just sit in the café and look at all the posters of classic plays on display. It is the ideal time and place for creative thoughts! This time, Anuj and some others were already there. Soon after we reached, we began with all the pre-performance work – arranging the props, setting up the stage and the set, helping Anmol who was to do the lights. This is when I rushed to a shop nearby to get an eraser and photo copies of the light design for Anmol.  I was surprised when I saw Sanjay Khan with his grandson in the shop buying a huge blue-coloured toy car! The kid looked just like his parents Hrithik and Suzaane – very cute and adorable! Anyway, so I bought the eraser and rushed back to Anmol, then continued with the rest of the production work and before we realized, it was post lunch time and nobody had eaten a thing since morning. People were hungry but there was no time. Also, the anxiety had taken over the hunger as it was getting close to performance time!

We spent a considerable amount of time placing the props where Anuj needed. There was a whole lot of crap in our set – drums, dry leaves, old sacks, benches, and several other stuff we picked up from the streets and the rehearsal space. We also had to use all of this to set up the tapri in one part of the stage. All of this with and Quasar and Anmol crying foul for not giving them the stage for lighting yet! So we quickly helped them with the lighting cues and just when we thought we’ll get some time to grab a bite, it was time for the first bell! Now, usually first bell means we have another 15 minutes to go on stage and begin performing. But in Holi, we begin performing right from the first bell. So Sohail and me did not get to even go to the loo. We rushed to our respective positions where I had to start laughing and Sohail had to start brushing his teeth(as part of our performance that is). And then rang the first bell…and in came the audiences – most of whom were my friends!!!

I started laughing my lungs out…was not difficult as I kept seeing some friend or the other of mine staring at me wondering what I am doing and that made me laugh further. On third bell, I ran to change my costume and take my position for the beginning of the play. After that, nothing was in anybody’s control..the performance had started..I wasn’t feeling anything that I felt before the beginning of the show..The character of Basant and mood of the scenes took over everything!!

Everything went well till the scene that shows a rift between Basant and Pandey (played by a certain terrific actor named Amol Parashar). The rift led to a collapse of the tapri..the tapri we took almost two hours to set up! However, Nimesh who played the tapriwaala and Anuj covered it up brilliantly with their performance! There was a line goof-up in the last scene of the play due to which things dragged a bit but the actors improvised and brought about the effect that was required. By the end of the show, everyone knew that there were goof-ups but it was still a satisfying performance. The 9pm show could only get better!

 I met my friends after the show – 62 of them! They had loved it and appreciated my performance. However, as it always happens with me, they liked other actors better! The winners were – Nikhil Pandey a.k.a. Srivastav and Rajat Sharma a.k.a. Ranjeet for their cuteness…and Abhishek Bhardwaj a.k.a. Gopal for his performance! They also appreciated Amol, Mayur and Nimesh for their respective performances! And it goes without saying that Anuj got not just the sympathy votes but also the credit for pulling off such a beautiful performance in addition to directing the play. There wasn’t much time to socialize as we had to get ready for the 9 pm show. The tapri had to be reconstructed..Oh dear!! What a task that was!! So we all rushed back and got at it…Quote amazingly, the tapri was ready in no time..we had a little pep-up by Quasar and Anuj and we were all ready for the 9 pm show!

Once again, I was back at the starting position and the laughing began. My closest friends and their families were coming for the 9 pm show so this one was special too. I had asked Dad not to attend these shows because of the nature of content in the play. I wouldn’t have been comfortable performing it before him..not yet!!:) But everybody else was there and once again, I was nervous. However, the show started and took away all of the fright! This show, in my view, was much better than the 6pm one! We were more confident, the tapri didn’t fall, no one forgot lines, the audience laughed at all of my jokes..Wow!! I couldn’t have asked for more!! Everyone was happy after the show – the actors, the director, the band, Anmol. The audience was not really HAPPY but I would like to believe that they felt what we wanted them to feel.

By the end of all this, I felt really proud of Anuj. He deserved every bit of the acclaim he was getting. His direction, execution, acting were all spot on! He got beaten up to an extent one can’t imagine..but he was smiling and laughing at the end of it all..because I think it went exactly as he wanted! Anmol did a brilliant job at lights considering he was not given a technical run-through with the actors! And how can we forget the BAND?!?!?

They played, they acted, they conquered everybody’s hearts!! People have been asking me for the songs since the day of the play! Arjun has his own female fan- following…Dimitris (don’t know how to spell his name) seems to be the new cute-kid on the block!! Nidhi was her usual best. A friend of mine said to me – “Woh ladki koi bohot badi actor hai kya?? That girl looks like a brilliant actor, I am sure she does much more in other plays.” Considering the length of her role, this is commendable!

 As for me, I was on cloud 9 when while packing up, Quasar said that these shows were dedicated to me..he acknowledged that I had auditioned for 4 Thespo plays and finally got to perform in one! I was really happy to know that Quasar actually knew me by my name and that he remembered that I had performed in those 4 plays! I also felt a bit sad that I wasn’t being appreciated as much as some of the others..but then I thought – it’s a part of every actor’s life. There will always be senior actors who will be appreciated more. There will be performances that will overshadow mine. I just need to try and do the best I can in my role and make sure every performance is better than the previous one. It is that graph that will lead me to the actor I want to be! I won’t deny that the greed to be the best and get the best remarks, the best comments, the biggest fan following still exists in me. However, I would like to believe that it’s human and if I really want all of that so badly, I will get them some day! And it’s not that I got nothing!! My office friends gave me a lot of compliments; my best friends messaged me appreciating my work and my courage to pursue my dream! I haven’t heard from Anuj about my performance yet but I think he might have liked it this time round! 🙂 All of these are enough to keep me going for a while..

Till the next one then..

Love

Three years of struggle to break through this and finally…finally I will be performing a THESPO play at Prithvi!!

There is a certain amount of craze involved with performing at Prithvi. Every time I have stepped on the Prithvi theatre stage for a performance, or even for Production work, it has felt like heaven! If you have ever worked inside the Prithvi auditorium in any capacity, you would know what I mean. It truly is a temple for all actors in India..well..at least for me it is! I can’t forget the days when I was working as production controller for Neeraj Kabi’s Hamlet. I used to be back stage at Prithvi arranging all the props, making sure the actors had their costumes in place, arranging for tea, coffee, water for the cast and crew…. Even then, the Prithvi auditorium was the place to be. Mind blowing stage, awesome ambiance, brilliant acoustics, and the best part is – a person sitting in the first row can actually touch the actor! That’s how close you are to the audience at Prithvi! I remember when I was doing backstage for ‘The Shahenshah of Azeemo’ by Shivani and Sumit (where the hell are you guys?!?!). I used to climb all the way up the lighting ramp and be seated there while the play went on on the stage underneath me. I used to wait behind a black cloth (so that the audience doesn’t notice me) for my cue to press the knob of the snow can at the right time. While doing all of this, I used to dream of the day when I will perform on this stage. This stage that my senior actors respected so much. This stage that was known as the best in the country. This stage that had served as a platform for everyone from Naseeruddin Shah to Konkana Sen Sharma, from Makrand Deshpande to Neeraj Sir who first introduced me to this lovely auditorium!

A couple of years passed by..And then, the day came when I was performing my first show as an actor at Prithvi. ‘Once upon a tiger’ it was! My first play, and also the one closest to my heart! For obvious reasons! I was nervous as hell but I managed somehow. The excitement took over every other feeling, every other emotion! When I was done, I was almost in tears!! I didn’t tell anyone, I don’t even remember the date. However, there is absolutely no doubt that it is one of the most memorable moments of my life! 🙂

After that, I did many shows of Once upon a tiger at Prithvi but I kept struggling hard with Thespo every year because I wanted a chance to perform another play at Prithvi. I kept performing in other plays at other auditoriums but not Prithvi. I thought Thespo was my safest bet. For those who are not aware of what Thespo is, it is an opportunity for people under the age of 25 years to showcase their talent in theatre on the Prithvi stage. Please read my post dated November 1, 2010 (http://dilipmerala.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/busy-week-at-thespo-screening/). I have posted about the Thespo screening last year. I was a part of 3 plays that were screened for Thespo but none of them got through to the festival. However, there is something  called as Thespo@Prithvi which gives good plays from the Thespo screening a chance to be staged at Prithvi on the first Tuesday and Wednesday of every month. We have recently been informed that our play ‘Holi’ (written by Mahesh Eklunchwar, directed by Anuj Rawra) has made it to Thespo@Prithvi for March 2011!!

I have been performing in Thespo screenings for 3 years with the hope that I will get a chance to perform a play at Prithvi again. And here is my chance!! With ‘Holi’, that wish has come true!!

HOLI opens at Prithvi on the 2nd of March 2011 – 6pm and 9pm. Hope to see you there!

Love..

Not too happy with the way I look here… but come on!!! It’s the first time my picture has appeared in a newspaper!!! This one is special!! It also has my name mentioned below the pic… Cool na ?!?!?

Thank you Mr. Gopi Warrier! Thank you Mr. Abhijeet Khade! And Thanks a lot Siddhivinayaka! 🙂

By the way, this picture is from The Asian Age dated 21st December (today) in page 3 of the Mumbai supplement. The article talks about our play “Siddhivinayak saves Mumbai from terror attack”. Here is a picture of the article:

Our play opens this Saturday, the 25th of December at the Ravindra Natyamandir, Prabhadevi. It will keep showing there every evening till the 12th of January, 2011. We then have our last set of shows from 14th to 16th January at NCPA, Nariman Point. Try and be there… It’s a simple, spiritual play with a beautiful message!

Love

I could never have imagined that my office friends will come up with something like this. All right, they are all super talented…and super crazy…but making a short film?!?!? This was not on the cards!!! However, it happened…

It all started with the funny man from Thane whom everybody loves (could never figure out why :P) – Mehul Shetty. One fine day he woke up and found out that he had nothing to do. So he decided that he will make a short film that can be uploaded on YouTube, sent for festivals, etc. He knew that he would have the backing of his editor friend Ankit Halai (who is a professional editor for Prime focus by the way) and his actor friend Dilip Merala (who is always up for anything where he gets to act!!). So he decided to take it further and before we knew, we found ourselves on location with the script, shooting for this ambitious and lovable project!

The good thing about this project is – there are no expectations from anyone. It is a group of friends coming together to do something that they are excited about! When we started, we knew that we had talented singers, dynamic dancers, and generally enthusiastic souls who could bring life to a project like this. However, what we did not know was that each one of them would turn out to be such good actors!! 😀 Anyway, that’s for later!! So we figured out the cast and crew of the film depending upon the characters and the volume of work to be done. Aanchal who is an excellent singer was to play Sutradhar (the narrator) and also sing the only song in the film. Swapna, Daya, Srimoyee, Akshara were made in charge of costumes, props, and any other Production work. Rohit and Saalim were in charge of sets and location (good for nothing these two…not one location was found by them!!)Rakesh and Nikhil were to handle cinematography because of their excellent expertise, skill, and experience with the camera. Mehul of course wore the director’s hat! And Rohit, Saalim, Daya, John, Ankit, Mehul, and I were to take centre stage as actors. Now, the important question was – what camera would we use?? After some discussion, our dear friend Chaitanya (who had decided to stay out of this project) agreed to lend us his point-and-shoot Fujifilm camera which had an HD video shooting option. This was very kind of him as it was a new camera and he was quite attached to it as it had become his source of some extra income (he sold nature pics clicked from this cam).

So, we now had a camera, a director, some actors and a rough storyline and script. We needed a location – a place where we could shoot slums, rag-pickers… poverty in short. I remembered how Mehul and the others always joked about my home town Sanpada as a gareeb, secluded gaav. So I thought – why not Sanpada?!? The best thing about shooting in Sanpada is that its population is hardly a few thousand (actually just 1000 I guess :P) So the shooting could be hassle-free. I knew a few places where we could shoot in Sanpada so I asked Mehul if it would work and Bingo!!! Sanpada it was!

The call time was 7.30 am on a Sunday morning!! For a bunch of amateurs starting a project which is not going to pay them anything, this was very ambitious and a bit difficult!! Well, impossible actually 😀 Mehul turned up at 8ish. The two of us checked out the location. Srimoyee arrived with Saalim, Ankit, and most importantly, the CAMERA by 8.45ish. It was not bad considering that Srimoyee was coming from Borivili (another world altogether), Ankit from Andheri and Saalim from Malad. Hats off to these guys for agreeing to travel all the way to Sanpada just for the love and enthusiasm towards this film!! J Alright, so Nikhil and Rohit were there soon after that and we had enough people now to get started. I was supposed to have written lines and been ready with them by 7.30 that morning. I wasn’t ready. I did not know what to write! So I just made something up on the spot and gave it to Rohit to memorize.

We decided to begin with a scene where I am supposed to running happily (cliche bollywood :P). And there I was – ready to face the camera for the first time!! None of my friends knew that it was the first time I was facing the camera for a professional (we can call it that, right?!?) shoot. Yes, I have been doing theatre but I had never shot for anything before (except for my friend Ajay’s film promo where I was sitting in the background). I was nervous, very very nervous! To be honest, I was the only one bearing the burden of expectations here. I thought that I would make a fool of myself if I did not do well because all my friends have always known me as someone who wants to become an actor. I had been telling them about my theatre activities and my dreams of becoming a superstar! If I did not do well here, what would they think of me?!? Anyway…I decided to put this thought aside and concentrate on the scene..

Rolling… Scene 1, Take 1, action!!! I ran…and ran…and ran…as if I just got legs!! Cut… Some technical issue…Take 2! Cut…Take 3! Take 4… Take 5… We did close to 15 takes capturing different angles with me, running at varying speeds! It was fun!! By the time we were done, I was sweating but not tired at all.. After all, it was the first scene of my life!! I was charged and ready for a 100 more takes if required! I have no idea what my friends thought of the scene. If they liked it, good for me. If they did not, I don’t think they will ever tell me. But for me, it was a very happy moment…something that I will never forget 😀

The next scene to be shot was between Rohit and me so we did a line-run and a quick rehearsal. Once again, several retakes for several reasons, the biggest one being – actors are laughing!! It was weird acting with Rohit because I had never thought I will be shooting with him. We were saying lines which we don’t usually say….wearing clothes which we don’t usually wear… but Rohit was still a bit of his usual self. I mean…He is supposed to be a rag-picker for God’s sake.. but he was still saying ‘wallet’ instead of ‘batwa’ or ‘purse’!! He insisted that all rag-pickers know the word “wallet”!! However, by the time the scene was done, we realized what a fantastic job this guy had done!! He had acted surprisingly well and pulled off the scene just like a professional, experienced actor! We decided to end the day with this scene as many team members had other commitments. And that was pack-up for the first day of shooting for Ek Choti si Aasha!!

We met again after a couple of weeks to continue shooting to be surprised even further! Mehul and Rohit shot a scene on the railway tracks of Sanpada. In my opinion, this is going to be the best scene of the film! Extremely well performed and brilliantly shot by Nikhil!

We then shot a chase sequence between Mehul and me on the same railway tracks..Once again, the camera work here was fantastic!! Rakesh joined us for a while here just to say “Hello”, check if the shoot was coming along well, and in the meanwhile click pictures of a few butterflies near the railway track! We also very quickly shot a scene while having lunch (yes, while we were eating at a restaurant!!)… Considering that we shot at a restaurant with people entering every now and then, I think we did a good job! Effective use of time and space I would say (my idea!!). That was pack-up for day 2!

The next day was a Sunday and the team came over to my place for breakfast where they all met my family – My Dad, Mom, Sister and lovely Daadi!! After a round of dosas, wadas, chutney, sambhar and coffee we were ready to go. First scene was the one with Daya and me which was to be shot inside the slums in one of the jhopdis! Daya changed into an old sari at my place and we took her to the location in my car. Daya did this scene so brilliantly that this scene was wrapped up in no time. She was full of energy, loud and clear and as natural as an actor could get! Yes, I bore the brunt of it in every take (she is supposed to be hitting me!) but that’s OK! This was followed by Saalim’s scene where he is supposed to give a small speech about life, the opportunities it provides, and the path we should choose. All I can say is that, it was not SMALL at all! He wrote his own lines and made sure that he gets more footage than anybody else in the film! But the guy did a good job!! He used his excellent Hindi and Urdu speaking skills to come up with some good, filmi, philosophical lines and ended up saying them pretty well.

It was 3.30 on a Sunday afternoon and everyone wanted to leave – I had rehearsals in the evening (as usual :(), Srimoyee had to get back to her country Borivili where Chaitanya was awaiting his camera, Ankit had to report at work by 5 pm(sad that he had to work on a Sunday) and everyone else had something or the other to do. So that called for pack-up on day 3 of the shoot!

By the end of this schedule, there was a lot that each one of us had learnt. Rohit learnt that he has a star in him (what with all the tantrums during the eating scene – main aise nahi khaunga…waise nahi khaunga). Daya learnt that she was a good actor and should do it more often. Mehul learnt that when you truly feel you want to do something, you should go ahead and do it..it works out some way or the other. Ankit learnt that travelling by train from Andheri to Sanpada is not as difficult and horrific as he thought it was. Saalim learnt that the more lines you write, the more difficult it is to learn them and deliver!! And I… I learnt that there will always be a lot of expectations and a lot of competition around. There are talented actors everywhere.. Some I that I am aware of, some that I’m not! But they are not always competition!! They are catalysts that help me perform better, try harder and get closer to my goal. The key is to never get intimidated and keep going on the path that I have chosen…. with the hope that someday, I will surpass everyone else and get to my target!!

Until the next one… Loads of love… Be good.. and stay around! 🙂

P.S.:

Ek Choti is Aasha is the first project by our team 9-tanki entertainment. Check it out:

http://9tanki-entertainment.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/9tanki-Entertainment/130335967026585

Some more pics of the shoot:

https://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1768507855202&id=1314370817&aid=101960&ref=mf



One of the most exciting aspects of becoming an actor is the travelling involved with the job. A lot of people consider becoming actors because they see themselves flying to different locations (Switzerland, New Zealand, even Kashmir for that matter), and visiting places that they wouldn’t have otherwise! Imagine how great a feeling it is when you know that you are going to be seeing the most beautiful places in the world and that would be a part of your job!! Your traveling, accommodation, food will all be paid for! All you need to do is – just turn up! 😀

In my case, I am yet to reach a stage in my career where I will be travelling a lot and to such far-off places. However, thanks to my dearest theatre mentor Jaimini Pathak, I have had the opportunity to travel to a couple of places with our play ‘Once upon a…tiger’. Last year, it was Jaipur. And this time, it was the wonderful city of pearls, lakes, IT companies, delicious biryanis, and of course the Charminar – Hyderabad!

The trip took off on the 23^rd of November, 2010 at the CST station where all the girls arrived with their luggage including props and sets for the play. It was a shame that the girls had to take charge of all the ‘Tiger’ props and sets since all the guys (including me) were coming from places and events too far-off. Thank you Shweta, Nidhi, Trupti (or is it Tripti ?!?), and Jaspreet for this kind help! I am sure Jaimini was as proud of you girls as mad he was at us!! 😛

The train journey to Hyderabad was fun as the people travelling included a mix of different personalities with different colours – the energetic and funny (almost always :P) Tripti, the cute and bubbly Shweta, the crazy (sometimes abusive) duo – Deepak and Nitin, the sweet and sober Jaspreet, the sandwich-man Ashu, the articulate and fun-loving Nidhi, and the ‘check-out-my-laptop-ke-saath-free-mila-hua-camera’ Dilip!! It was from here that Shweta and Nidhi became “The Inseparables”! Due to a problem with one of the seats, I moved a couple of compartments away to another seat where I slept off at around 2.30 am. Shweta and Nidhi slept off on one berth but not before chatting away to glory right until the wee hours of the morning! When we reached Nampally in Hyderabad at 12.30ish, we were all hungry, sleepy, but super excited!! You know how it feels when you finally reach where you are headed for, right?! ? 🙂  It was a new city and we wanted to explore as much as possible in the little time we had! So to start with, we made plans to go to the Golconda fort after freshening up at the hotel. Little did we know that destiny had something else in store for us!!

A couple of girls from the theatre festival picked us up from the station in two huge Sumos. Well… Sumos are generally huge so there was no need to mention that! 🙁 Anyway, so we went to the hotel first which was a slight twist in the tale. We had assumed that we will first be going to the performance venue, dropping off the props there, then to the hotel, freshening up and pushing off for Golconda. However, Anand communicated to us that the actual plan was – we go to the hotel, have lunch and freshen up, then go to the venue with the props and sets, and then REHEARSE OVER THERE FOR THE REST OF THE EVENING as preparation for the shows next day! Boooooommmmmmm!! So there was no question of going anywhere else that day and our Golconda plan was just washed away 🙁  However, looking at the positives – we reached the hotel to reunite with our long lost teammates – Vijay babu, Vishwas, Chetan ‘star of the show’ Chand, and of course Jaimini and Anand!! We ate some fantastic food (at least I thought so), got some great rooms to stay in, and we were all ready by 4 to get started with rehearsals!

Off we went to the performance venue where Jaimini had a 2-hour monologue awaiting him (Mahadevbahi at 6 p.m)! He decided to spend some time with the Tiger cast before he goes on stage. We began rehearsing and while we were taking our lines, there was a last-minute change! After some discussion, it was decided that I will be playing Minister saab while Anoop will be playing Guard Chacha (the original plan was to do it the other way round). So while Jaimini was performing on stage from 6 to 8, Anoop and me were busy memorizing our lines so that we didn’t look like fools in the run-through that was to be done after the Mahadevbhai show! Personally, I was very excited to be playing Minister because it is my favourite part in this play. I had seen Vishal, Amol, and even Jaimini playing Minister and I have the greatest regard for all of them as actors. Vishal is super-versatile and super-consistent; Amol is my favourite, most-admired stage actor, someone I have always looked up to! And Jaimini is, well, JAIMINI PATHAK!! So playing a role that I’ve seen all three of them play was extremely challenging as well as exciting! Also, as compared to Guard Chacha which is a quiet yet strong, fairly passive character, Minister is full of life and energy, over-the-top and fun to explore!! So I gave it all to memorize the lines and follow the simple instructions that Jaimini gave me for the part. Anoop did exactly the same with Guard Chacha. For those who do not know, Anoop is the curly-haired, cute-smile guy who appears in quite a few ads. My favourite is the SBI Life insurance ad where he sings in the rain to his wife – “Hum jab hongey 60 saal ke aur tu hogi 55 ki….” 😀 Anyway, so the day ended with a thorough line-run on stage and we returning to the hotel, eating some delicious food (no biryani yet 🙁 ) and everyone off to sleep after a tiring day!

The next day was the day we were there for. Two shows of Once upon a tiger at the Vaishali Bisht Children’s theatre festival! We were all charged up and ready to hit the stage. The team met in the Men’s green room for a pre-show pep-talk by the director. Jaimini decided that we’ll have this talk inside the loo. Strange, but fun! So, off we went! We listened to every word Jaimini said very carefully as we had to implement it on stage. Simple, sweet words of wisdom with the odd, sad joke every once in a while!! That’s Jaimini for you! J And then…And then…And then…. Rooooaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!! We had a great show and we were all very happy that we could live up to what was expected. After all, there were 2000-odd kids in the audience! Can you imagine?? 2000 little monsters watching a play with actors who in their personal lives are as kiddish, mischievous, funny, monstrous as them!! A huge challenge but extremely satisfying once through J We returned to the hotel for food and some rest and came back to the venue in the evening for the next show. This one was easier with a smaller crowd. However, quite strangely, we have always performed better before huge, badly-behaved crowds as compared to small, well-mannered audiences! Something to think about! May be we were all feeling Jaimini-sick as he had left for Mumbai a couple of hours before this show! 😛 Jaimini had shows of Dirty talk in the evening in Mumbai for which he couldn’t be with us for the evening show. Great moment for Working title though!! Shows happening at different cities in the country at the same time and the director struggling to be everywhere!! How fantastic is that!!

So the shows were done with and it was party time!!! We went back to the hotel where the lovely Vaishali, Priyanka and Dipti had arranged for a party for the cast and crew of Working title!! This is something Jaimini shouldn’t have missed but unfortunately he did! It was here that Chetan Chand found his stardom and fan following! Again, for those who do not know –  Vijay babu, Chetan, Vishwas, and Deepak are pretty much the backbone of the shows that we do. They take care of the sets, lights, sound and everything else that actors need to perform well and put up a good show! We are because they are!! And this was the first time I was seeing all of them in such a party-mood! Chetan went all-out with his Sunny Deol dance, acts of seducing people on the hot seat (they made one up and put everyone on it turn-by-turn…thank God I was spared!), imitating everyone from Jaimini to Anand to Nitin to even Priyanka and Vaishali!!

There was booze and food (BIRYANI….FINALLY!!!) and music and dance… and after Chetan stopped his vulgar yet funny acts, there was a whole lot of singing! Shweta, Nidhi, Vijay babu, Deepak, Anoop and yours truly gathered together in the party hall and started singing some lovely old Hindi songs. We sang everything from slow, romantic numbers to peppy, lively tracks!! It was a pleasant surprise when Anand joined in and showed us what singing really is!! We felt like we invited a quiet spectator to join us and he is now kicking our ass!!! He sang some songs which we had no idea even existed!! I must also mention that Anand was brilliant as Daadhi Kaka in what was his first show for Tiger. It is one of the most difficult roles of the play and I thought he played it extremely well. That combined with all the production and organizing work that he had to do! He made sure everything was in place for the cast and crew and he also arranged for everyone’s safe and timely return to Mumbai which was a tricky task to deal with!! Hats off to this wonderful actor, smart organizer and kick-ass singer 😀

So when all this was over, my voice (like Tripti’s) was screwed!! I could hardly speak. This is what happens to people for whom singing with enthusiasm is the same as shouting out loud!! 😀

We all went back to sleep only to wake up late next morning and to try figuring out how we’ll all get back to Mumbai. Finally, it turned out that Shweta, Nidhi and me will take a 6 O’clock bus back to Mumbai since we all had appointments the next afternoon. The others were to leave later that evening. I don’t know how their trip back was but my bus trip went off pretty well. We ate idli, dosa, roti, chicken, etc. on the way. We even got to watch half of Chup Chupke (Shahid-Kareena) and half of No entry (Salman-Anil-Bipasha) in the bus. I slept off before No entry ended and woke up in the middle of the night to hear two chirpy, chit-chatty voices while the rest of the bus was fast asleep. No points for guessing who they were! 😛  I joined for a while and we spoke about movies, plays, and some other things I can’t recollect. The bus dropped me at Sanpada (where my parents live) at 7.30 in the morning and while I was walking back home, although I was tired, and sleepy, and a bit hungry…. I was already thinking about the next time I will be traveling again for an acting assignment!!

Be good people…

Lots of love..

Some more pictures of the trip:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=100251&id=1314370817

Weekends are always very busy for actors who have a full-time day job. It’s the only two days they get where they can dedicate their entire 12-14 hours during the day for audition hunt! This weekend I decided to leave no stone unturned. I went to each and every audition place in this part of the city to make sure I made full use of the two precious days. It turned out to be quite a roller coaster ride.

I started with 106, Aram Nagar where I was sent by a casting agency for a Karbon mobile ad. It was the most horrible audition space I had ever seen. The narrow lanes of Aram Nagar are clustered and have hardly enough space for three people to walk together. To top it, the bungalow where the audition was being held had a narropw entrance that led to a small room filled with film reels (old, rusted film reels actually).

There was a fan that did not help at all. It was 2 in the afternoon and everybody was sweating profusely which reminds me that there were 24 of us in this waiting room outside the audition room. This room led to another room inside where the audition was being held. I did not get to see the audition room. You know why?? After waiting there for 2 hours and 20 minutes, sweating in the heat, awaiting my turn, the casting director came out and told me “Come tomorrow and carry a pair of formals with you!”. This is the same director who had come out several times in the past 2 hours and had seen me waiting for my turn. Had he said it then, it would have saved a lot of my time. However, I can’t do much about it, can I?? So I thanked him and I left. There are a couple of other audition places in Aram Nagar that were very close to this place – Studio 2000, Channel 9, Anurag Kashyap’s office. I went to all of these places and found out that either there are no auditions or that I am not fit (Rajnigandha pan masala – Studio 2000). So I left to go to a different area altogether – 4 Bungalows – RTO lane.

I went first to Studio Elle where they were auditioning for a Dominos ad. I was NOT FIT again. I then went to Studio 77 where I saw my friend Punit Batra waiting for his turn. This is one thing that I have noticed at a lot of auditions. You make a lot of friends and you always bump into them at all the other auditions. It’s quite strange because these are your friends and in a way you are also competing with them to get the part you are fighting for! Anyway, so I was happy to see Batra there whom I informed about the Aram Nagar Karbon mobile ad and asked him to give it a shot. I also met Ashish here for the first time. Ashish plays ‘Zeeshan’ in the TV series Kya Mast Hai Life on Disney. Zeeshan happens to be Zenia’s twin brother – Zenia played by my friend Shweta Tripathi! That’s how I started talking to Ashish. He came across as a sweet, intelligent actor who will eventually make his mark In the TV world and will move to greener pastures then! I think he is already doing pretty well because I (who does not watch too much of TV) have already seen him in some ads and in this TV series. Here’s wishing him all the best!! Anyway, with regard to the audition – I was NOT FIT again! I then went to another studio nearby – Studio 7000. They were auditioning for an English corporate film for which I was NOT FIT as I was too young.

After 4 bungalows, there was just one more place to go to – Oshiwara Link plaza – more commonly known as Shreeji (the restaurant on the ground floor of the building). This is where I lost it a bit. Here’s what happened – On the 2^nd floor, studio Nirvana, they were casting for an ICICI ad. There were close to 30 people waiting outside the studio. I went and wrote my name on the Cue sheet (a sheet which registers your name so that people can be sent inside in the order in which they came). I was number 36. They told me that people till number 20 are already in. So, I waited for my turn. It was 5.20 pm then. At about 5.30, the casting director called out the next few people. The list stopped at number 34 (Noooooooooooo!!!!! 🙁 🙁 🙁 ) and the rest were asked to wait for their turn. After this the door did not open for a long long time. There were girls entering the room from the back door and also some other more popular actors given entry from behind. But this front door did not open until 7.20pm. At 7.20pm, the casting director said that they are taking a tea break and would take 10 more minutes. The door opened at 7.45pm and I was let in with the next batch of people. Now, this was nothing unusual. Waiting outside audition halls for 2.5 to 3 hours (or more) is something that almost every aspiring actor (including me) has done several times. However, given the history of other events in the day, I was a bit frustrated and angry about the fact that other people were given an entry from behind while I was waiting for my turn here for almost 3 hours. I decided I will speak up. So when it was my turn to face the camera, I was asked to give my introduction, number and profiles. Here is what I said – “Hi, My name is Dilip Merala. I have been waiting outside for the past 3 hours and so I might look a bit frustrated. Forgive me for that. My aim is to become one of those important personalities who are given entry from the back door. Here are my profiles!”(followed by the routine left right turn for profile capture). The cameraman told me that I should introduce myself and not the studio. After a minor argument, they decided to keep the same introduction without going for a retake. I then performed the part of the audition (guy giving directions for an address with ICICI as a landmark). Towards the end they told me, there are people who wait for their turn an entire day and I told them I know that but I still wanted to speak out. They said they can just delete my entire take if they want. I said if it’s in my destiny, the take will be deleted and I can’t do much about it. But I wanted to speak up.

As heroic as this may sound, this was a bad move. Not because it could cost me the audition, not because it will spoil my rapport with people involved, but because I thought there was nothing the cameraman or the casting director could have done about this. They were doing their job of auditioning people according to the Cue sheet. They had to entertain the occasional “IMPORTANT PERSONALITY” and girls because that’s how the industry works. Why would they want to empathize with those standing outside when they know they have so many options??My intention was not to be rude to anyone – that’s the last thing I would want!! My intention was to make a point – I will soon be one of those treated specially!! However, I don’t think that’s how it came across. So I made it a point to return the next day and apologize to the casting guy and the cameraman.

The next day started with the Karbon mobile ad for which I was no.15 on the Cue sheet. I reached there at 1.15pm and was done by 2.15pm! I then went to a TV audition – Care World TV (opposite City Mall in Andheri West) was auditioning for a new series so I decided to give it a try. I auditioned for the part of a frustrated salesman whose personal life is going through the rocks. The audition went pretty well I thought!

I then went to Shreeji and apologized to the crew from the previous day’s audition. They smiled and said “It’s alright!” I don’t know what they must have said after I left, but I felt much better! I met Naveen here after quite a few days. Naveen is my co-actor in a couple of plays and has also assisted in Love Sex aur Dhoka and Jashn. He is the guy looking for his boxers in one of the Tata Docomo ads!! 😀 He had left for Delhi a few days ago due to some health issues. It was great to see him hale and hearty and raring to go once again!! 🙂

After this I went to Elle and Studio 77 again to check if there was something new going on there but there wasn’t! I am now back to home sweet home!! As I write this post, I feel I have learnt something new, given some good auditions, grown as an actor as every new experience and observation adds to an actor’s encyclopaedia!! 😀

I am not going to get too much time to do this audition hunt thingy from next weekend as theatre rehearsals for Shit happens and some other plays will resume by then. However, I’ll try and be at these places whenever I get any free time so that I can keep all options open! If I don’t get the time, I’ll make time!! Haha 😀 😀

Sorry about this very very very long post guys..there was so much to say!! Hope you all keep reading!!

Lots of love…

It was crazy indeed..it always is at Thespo! First, the rehearsals for almost a month to make sure we don’t goof up on D-day. And then the screening with Quasar and Kashin (our honorable judges) staring at us as if they have no idea what we are saying or doing! They hardly laugh at your jokes, they hardly even smile! For one of the plays, Q actually stood up and walked away (to the loo I guess) and came back only during the second act (he left act one mid-way)! Anyways…personally, it was a satisfying experience for me as always. Why? Because I got to perform in 3 plays – all excellent ones, directed by very talented directors!

It started with ‘Afwah’ which happened to me by chance. My friend, Amol Parashar, gave me a call one night asking me to report to him the next morning because he wanted someone to read for a part during the screening. The part turned out to be that of G.S. Chaudhary, a smart-ass cop who finds out that there is something fishy about a social get-together of a few friends who share the second half of their first names with him (‘dar’)! Fun indeed! By the way, I thought Amol stole the show with his energetic, distorted (:P) take on Mahendar! Naveen as Rajendar, the guy who turns deaf, kept people involved and was funny in his deaf acts! Nidhi Bisht was her crazy self and was liked a lot by a certain casting director watching the play! And I must mention that Prabal’s direction and execution of the play as a quick-paced, slapstick fun ride was extremely entertaining and kept me as a member of the audience (my part comes only in Act Two) engaged and excited!

Next up was Evam Indrajit! This was a tough one as we had already taken a risk by choosing a classic! As Quasar pointed out later, such plays always come with their own baggage and we need to be very careful especially if we are gonna f**k with it! We were a bit under-rehearsed, most actors did not know their lines too well, the second-half was untouched, and everybody was nervous since we were doing EVAM INDRAJIT! What helped was that we had Nidhi and Manvi in the audience to cheer us up 🙂 So, when we got on with it, there were cueing problems, actors were forgetting lines (including me), etc. However, the good thing was that the mood was maintained, emotions were in place (I think) and we pulled off a decent show for the time we had spent on rehearsals. It was really bold of Nimish Surte, the director who adapted this one, to have even thought of doing so. The fact that he actually pulled off what he did in the amount of time he had just shows that he will go a long way! Also, Medha as Mansi was cute and sweet and I am sure she is the most beautiful Mansi any director would ever get! 🙂

Finally, the play that I had rehearsed the most for – HOLI! It had a cast of 9 actors (and 4 band members) playing characters that are very different from each other (like the colours of Holi). I played Basant, a guy with a lisp who has issues with his parents and gets rusticated from college for beating up the Principal’s nephew! This play went pretty well I thought but the director, Anuj Rawra, was not too happy with the way it went! That reminds me that I must mention how brilliant Anuj is! His implementation of Holi and his ideas about merging the band with the plot, the opening scene where the 6 characters break through Anand’s door, the final scene where it all comes together were simply… well.. Brilliant! He was very passionate about the project throughout its making and you could see it from the way he was running around on the day of the screening, arranging the sets, pepping up the actors, etc. The actors were all charged up and excited too. As a matter of fact, 3 of us actually got injured during the violent scenes! Exhausting but great fun!! 😀

As much as I enjoyed performing in all of these plays, the best part was the feedback session by Quasar and Kashin after each performance! They rip you apart!! They really do! But as Shweta pointed out, they do it for your own good. I made a note of all the feedback given to each of the plays and I realized that such is the knowledge, experience and expertise of these two guys, that if I use all of their feedback, I can actually come up with a near-flawless play myself! Of course, when I get that play to the Thespo screening next year, they’ll have feedback on that one too..feedback that’ll rip me apart, feedback that I wouldn’t have heard before, but feedback that will teach me a lot and help me grow both as an actor and as a theatre person in general!

It’s sad that the Thespo screening is over and there’ll be no more rehearsals everyday. However, that gives me time to go and hunt for more auditions, do other non-Thespo plays, spend some time with family! If one or more of these plays get through, it’ll be fun to actually take these plays to the Prithvi stage! If not, life moves on…and of course, I have one more year for Thespo..so I’ll try again next year!

Sorry for such a long post…it couldn’t have been shorter! Will try and get some pics of the screening and the festival soon..

Wish us luck!

Lots of love… Cya soon!