Alumni 2022-23 (In-city)

Abhimanyu Gupta

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  Abhimanyu is a Mumbai based Actor: Theatre Maker. He is a trained Hindustani Shastriya Sangeet Vocalist and a dancer. He feels that theatre being about people is a point of singularity between different mediums of art. The point being people learning about the self and the other.

Anukriti Mishra

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  For Anukriti, the realms of fantasy and storytelling are both cathartic and political. She believes that performance and storytelling are instrumental in the transmission of knowledge, power, and identity and insists that choosing compassion and empathy in an apathetic modern world requires resilience — a feat that is possible for her only through art.

  She has received the prestigious Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation’s scholarship (2022) to support her training at Drama School Mumbai.

  Anukriti holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from University of Delhi and a master’s degree in Performance Studies from Ambedkar University Delhi where she got the opportunity to learn from theatre directors Dr. Anuradha Kapur and Deepan Sivaraman. Her master’s thesis submitted to Ambedkar University Delhi was titled ‘Protest in Verse: An Analysis of Hip-Hop Music in Delhi’.

  She has also worked with Ms. Zuleikha Chaudhary as a Research Assistant in Alkazi Theatre Archives.

  She wishes to use the training received from Drama School Mumbai to create and be part of art (as an actor, writer, researcher, or director) that reflects on her personal and ideological struggles with the ongoing cultural dialogues.

Anya Ghai

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  Anya grew-up climbing mango trees in a valley, all through the dot com era; she was fire-hardened while working in advertising in Bombay and now she works full time as an actor and a theatre-maker, post her training at The Drama School Mumbai. She is a post graduate in Crafting Creative Communication from MICA, Ahmedabad. She co-directed and co-wrote a short film commissioned by upGrad that was released on SonyLIV as part of an anthology series, produced by Ronnie Screwvala. She has also co- directed and written ad film campaigns for upGrad, Delhi Commission For Women, Amazon Web Services, Spotify, and 4700 BC Popcorn.

  She directed “अंब दा बूटा”, a theatre production which was her final showcase at the Drama School Mumbai. She will be performing in a play called Bageecha, directed and written by Lakshvir Saran, produced by Manav Kaul. The play opens at Prithvi Theatre Festival this year.

  During her time at Delhi University, she learned from Dr. Namrata Jain, observed her building campus communities by directing and leading theatrical presentations related to gender equity. Anya was widely appreciated for her performances in “ला पता” (Directed by Dr. Namrata Jain) , This-Quiet ( Directed by Priya, Pandies’ Theatre) and “Humein Marammat Ki Zarurat Hain” ( a street play devised by Memesis, Theatre group of Daulat Ram College, Delhi University)

  Lots of hanging around the phool mandi, the doorways and the railway tracks, is the idea of her ideal day. Two of her toes are almost stuck together, forming one. She cries sometimes to end a fight. She is driven but insecure, childish and old school, reckless and loving. Aside from the requisite industry bona-fides in her CV, she brings the following to the table: good manners, charm, modesty and videos of her cats.

Ayush Thakur

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  Aayush is an actor, theatremaker, who was born in Darbhanga, Bihar. A history graduate from Delhi University, he wanted to become a cricketer until 5 years back. After finding mediocrity in the field of sports, even though a major cricket fanatic till date, he had to leave it to pursue other callings. He started his theatre journey in the Delhi Theatre Circuit in 2018, joining a workshop at the Shri Ram Centre from where he joined the group called Treasure Art Association, led by NSD alumnus Sajida and Joy. He was trained in realistic and psycho physical acting during his 4 years there.

  During those years, he performed in plays like Andha Yug, Virasat, Pashmina, Matadin Chand Par, Yahudi Ki Ladki. Along with that, he has also acted in the direction of Ranjeet Kapoor in the play Begam Ka Takiya. He was a guest artist in NSD’s 2nd year classical production “Karngatha” in the direction of Rita Ganguly.
  During the lockdown, he was selected for NSD’s 15 day online workshop.

  He has also written, directed and performed a solo piece “Spotlight“, a dance psycho physical performance. Before coming to DSM, he got an opportunity to do backstage work for Lillete Dubey’s theatre group Primetime Theatre for their 10-day festival in July 2022.

  He has also trained in Seraikela Chhau at Triveni Kala Sangam under Guru Sapan Acharya, for a year.
  All of this led him to train at DSM. He is eager to find his own voice as a maker and also as an actor.

Bhavya Rampal

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  “Hasya: What a Funny Thing! Understanding Humour through Select Performative Traditions of the Indian Subcontinent” was the title of the 100 paged research thesis that Bhavya authored for his master’s degree in Performance Studies. Naturally, humour forms a big part of his life, so does theatre, music, and so does the big mother of them all, Performance. Bhavya is an actor, theatre maker and performance scholar from Delhi, and is currently based in Bombay.

  He received the prestigious Inlaks India Foundations’s scholarship to support his training at Drama School Mumbai. Before coming to drama school, Bhavya had been practicing theatre in Delhi for over six years, wherein he acted, wrote, and directed for stage. The time in Delhi involved working and learning with different theatre makers and performance collectives, and undergoing a training in Hindustani classical vocals. Being a part of different amateur theatre groups and the Delhi University theatre circuit, he has worked in nearly twenty different theatrical productions in varied capacities.

  Bhavya has also worked as an improv performer & facilitator with Kaivalya Plays: he was a part of their India Improv Ensemble which was conceived as a four months long training/showcase program in different improv formats; and he was a co-facilitator with Varoon P. Anand in Kaivalya’s “Language Learning through Improv” program with Vanderbilt University, USA.

  Bhavya has acted in a couple of digital ad-films for Microsoft and Blink It, satirical sketches, and a short film titled ‘Aur Bata’ directed by Mohit Tiwari.

  Bhavya holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from University of Delhi and a master’s degree in Performance Studies from Ambedkar University. For him, Performance Studies functioned as a space for un-learning whatever he had learned about theatre during his practice and discovering this art form at a newer and nuanced crossroads of politics, philosophy, aesthetics and history. There he got the opportunity to learn and train under celebrated theatre directors like Anuradha Kapur and Deepan Sivaraman.

  After completing this academic training in Performance, Bhavya decided to get back on to the floor with the PG course of Drama School Mumbai, and he has no plans to leave the floor as of now!

Faisal Hifazuddin

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  Faisal khan, is an actor, who professionally active in theatre till 2016, till school life he found his love in acting, he won state level companion in 2015, & he had done modeling in the production name Glambird entertainment,after year he found his love in writting & learn the art screenplay, & write a Gujrat film for a regional director, his makes short which selected in national science film festival, he is currently making stories.

Gunjan Tirmale

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  Gunjan is an actor and dancer from Shahada. Born in a Maharashtrian family with roots in Andhrapradesh. For the longest time, her constant audience had been her mother, when she would act only for her in the kitchen. After graduating in Mass communication and journalism, the nomadic pursuit of finding oneself has made her explore many spiritual paths, acting being one of them. While the rest of her college batchmates were in the corporate rut post graduation, she was plucking fruits in the quaint village of Bolpur, learning ancient art forms like Gotipua and Chhau.
  Her idiosyncrasies for which she was often looked down upon came full circle when it helped her find her voice at the drama school. In the fast paced city life, she brings authenticity to the word authentic. While people around her are constantly looking for gigs, she hunts for experiences. Experiences that can widen her life’s portfolio.
  Sometimes you don’t know where your foot is going to land, but in her case wherever it lands it will truly liberate her because of her ability to fly with her feet on the ground.

Jasjit Singh

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  Jasjit aka Faqira, is an actor based out of Mumbai. He was actively involved in theatre since school. An English Honours graduate from Kirori Mal college, Delhi University, He was an integral part of the theatre society of the college, The Players, having served as the president in his final year.
  He has acted in a couple of short films and some web sketches.
  Having completed his acting and theatre-making course from DSM, he now looks forward to pursuing opportunities as an actor and theatre practitioner.

Karan Harplani

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  Karan Harplani is a Mumbai based theatre-film actor, music composer and a director, whose work has primarily been in theatre, ad films, shorts films and music videos. He is a trained guitarist who also loves playing different sports like cricket, volleyball, table tennis etc. He is passionate about learning new ways to create art, be it through acting, directing or composing music/songs.

Mayank Dave

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  Mayank Dave is a Mumbai based actor from 2021 he is in theatre. He would love to fully explore himself in acting and be a part of different stories. Earlier in college he was very active in taking part in college pageants. He is also a freestyle dancer as well as an athlete. He has done his graduation in BMM (Advertising) where he did a couple of short films and ad films during his college time. Furthermore, he did a workshop with Maneesh Verma where he was directed by Anamika Haksar there. He was also a part of Natyakiran Manch for 1 year where he did plays and has also worked in a workshop designed by Atul Mongia.

Mayank Vashisth

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  Mayank Vashisth is an Actor and Director.
  He was born in Rajasthan and brought up in Delhi. Acting and Theatre has been a very integral part of his life since childhood. He has been associated with theatre since 2015. He has staged many productions including Gasha, Pune Highway and has worked with many renowned theatre groups in Delhi. As a director, He has directed many street plays and few stage plays.

  He believes training is essential for any craft. That’s why he has been constantly training. He has attended acting workshops in Looking Glass project with Tadpole repertory, facilitated by Bikram Gosh. Clowning workshop by Amarees Theatre and many physical and voice conditioning workshops.

  Mayank has acted in various ad films for Rapido, Zomato, Truecaller, Campus. He has also done 2 music videos. When it comes to cinema he is not just interested in Acting but also the craft of cinema and storytelling. As an Assistant Director He has worked on many projects. One of his project “Make me up” is available on Hotstar.

  Not just in learning and exploring. Mayank also believes in educating others about the craft. He has conducted many workshops in N.K bagodia school, Delhi and Akshara Theatre for different age groups ranging from 3 to 50.

  He is currently looking forward to work and explore the field of theatre and films.

Muskaan Chandra

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  Muskaan is an actor, and a model hailing from the pink city of Jaipur in Rajasthan. She’s been intensively involved doing acting for the stage and modelling ever since her college days as a Mass Media and Communication student at the Mithibai College of Mumbai. Muskaan went on to win the Miss Photogenic Face 2014 at the Jaipur Fashion Show, and the Miss Photogenic Face 2019 at the Miss Supermodel International Pageant that was held in Goa. She was also one of the top 5 finalists in this very same pageant. After completing her graduation, Muskaan went on to work at a startup firm for a couple of years, only to have gone on to quit her job because of her passion for acting and modelling. She’s worked in TVCs for brands such as Nivea and Big Basket to name a few. Muskaan eventually rediscovered her love for theatre by pursuing her PG in Acting and Theatre Making from the Drama School Mumbai. Now, after DSM, she looks forward to start her new professional journey in the industry as an actor for stage and screen. In her free time, Muskaan loves to travel to new places in search of new experiences, learnings, and people. She likes documenting her passion for traveling in the form of travel vlogs and fitness vlogs too since she’s a fitness freak.

Naitik Gaurav

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  Naitik Gaurav is a proud native of Bihar, where he was born and raised. He is a graduate in Hindi literature from Delhi University and deeply passionate about philosophy, literature, and physiology. Based in both Mumbai and Delhi, he’s an actor and theatre maker with a rich background in the field. He’s had the privilege of working with renowned figures from the National School of Drama, including Joy Mansiam Mittai, Anuradha Kapoor, Happy Ranjit, Sajida Saji, and Anju Jately. His artistic journey extends beyond acting; I’m trained in Butoh and yoga. He has showcased his talents at prestigious events such as the Meta Theatre Festival and Jairangam Festival.

  Beyond the stage, he is a trained dancer, gymnast, writer, spoken word artist, holds a black belt in martial arts, and excels in playing multiple musical instruments. In the sporting arena, he’s played cricket at the national level and dabbled in volleyball and football at the regional level. He has over 20 plays under my belt in various Delhi theatre groups. In 2022, Naitik achieved a significant milestone by being selected in the final interview at FTII (Film and Television Institute of India), marking a new chapter in his artistic journey. Recently, he also completed his post-graduation in Drama at Mumbai’s renowned Drama School Mumbai, further honing his skills in acting and theatre making. His journey is a blend of art and science, as he is deeply connected to spirituality and science, seeking to understand the profound connection between the two. He is constantly exploring the intersection of art, athleticism, literature, spirituality, and science, seeking to bring unique perspectives to the world. Let’s connect and share our creative and intellectual journeys.

Nimisha Desai

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  Nimisha Desai, an actor, theatre-maker and a lawyer was born in Banaglore, and is currently based in Bombay. She holds a Bacelor of Law degree from Christ University, after having practiced Criminal Law and IP laws she found her way into Drama School. Currently, Nimisha is working as a stage artist.

Prabhakar Kumar

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  Prabhakar Kumar is an actor and a theatre maker from Bihar, currently based in Mumbai. Inspiration for his work comes largely from his deep and abiding connection to his heritage and culture. For four years, he has studied hip-hop and Krump dance, and he has gone on to represent Bihar in a variety of settings. Prabhakar began his career as an actor in 2019 and has worked with companies such as Patna IPTA, Theatre Unit Patna, Cadence Theatre Mumbai, The Actor’s Mirror Delhi, and Good Act Theatre on various productions. He then went on to explore his artistic self at Drama School Mumbai, where he honed his craft and even wrote his play Veer Ki Khoj as part of the annual showcase, which was toured and performed in various cities. He aspires to keep growing as an individual and keep working on his skills as an actor and as a theatre maker.

Pranjal Vaid

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  Born into a Punjabi joint family with twenty-six people living under the same roof, Pranjal’s training in drama began fairly early. When he was in junior school, he’d convinced a friend and his parents so much so that they really came home to check if he had a cub as a pet. He’s continued to keenly observe and participate in the drama around him to be able to recreate it onto the stage or onto the screen. Recipient of the prestigious Inlaks scholarship to pursue a course in acting and theatre making at the Drama School Mumbai, Pranjal has been doing theatre over the last many years with groups such as The Tadpole Repertory (Neel Chaudhuri), The Company Theatre (Atul Kumar), Third Space Collective (Dhwani Vij, Neel Sengupta), Indian Ensemble (Abhishek Majumdar), Being Association (Rasika Agashe), Crow (Nayantara Kotian, Prashant Prakash), Kaivalya Plays (Varoon Anand) and The Playfactory (Mohit Mukherjee).  Pranjal was widely appreciated for his performance in Quicksand (Directed by Neel Chaudhuri) which was performed at Tata literature live festival (Mumbai- Prithvi and NCPA), Rangshankara Theatre festival (Bangalore) and Remembering Veenapani Theatre Festival (Adishakti Theatre, Puducherry) He has also had the opportunity to perform at Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (New Delhi- Kamani), Short and Sweet International Theatre Festival (Delhi) and Vinod Doshi Theatre Festival (Pune). Pranjal has acted in multiple TVCs, digital ad-films, corporate films, comedy sketches etc. and most notably, played the protagonist in a six episode Bengali web series by the name of ‘Mashup Monkeys’ produced by Addatimes. During school, he also trained at the National School of Drama (Sunday club-T.I.E 2007-09) and learnt Navarasa Sadhana at Natankairali, Kerala under the guidance of Guru G. Venu in 2019. Pranjal has a post graduate degree in creative communication from MICA, Ahmedabad.

Praveen Kumar

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  प्रवीण कुमार बिहार से हैं। बिहार से होने के बावजूद जन्म मध्य प्रदेश के होशंगाबाद जिले में हुआ, क्योंकि पिताजी पैरामिलेट्री फोर्स में हैं और जब मेरी मां मुझे ले कर पेट से थी तब उनका तबादला वहीं पर था । पांचवी कक्षा तक की पढ़ाई अलग अलग राज्यों में रह कर हुई, और उसके बाद हम बिहार शिफ्ट हो गए और हाई स्कूल तक की पढ़ाई बिहार से ही पूरी की । उसके बाद दिल्ली जा कर थिएटर करने का फैसला लिया और फिर दिल्ली में एक थिएटर ग्रुप के साथ जुड़ कर काम करना शुरू किया । कई सारे नुक्कड़ नाटक किए और स्टेज शोज़ भी किए । देश भर में अलग अलग शहरों में थिएटर फेस्टीवल में जा कर नाटक किया । शिमला, सहारनपुर, मेरठ, इंदौर, ग्वालियर, गोरखपुर । दिल्ली में रहते हुए इन सभी शहर में भी जा कर नाटक किए । इंडियन पीपल थिएटर एसोसिएशन के फेस्टीवल में भी परफॉर्म किया । इसी के साथ नारी सशक्तिकरण पर दिल्ली पुलिस के साथ मिल कर कई नुक्कड़ नाटक किए । महारथी, कन्यादान, मैं भी बच्चन, पतलून, जब शहर हमारा सोता हैं, जैसे नाटक अमूल सागर जी के निर्देशन में किया । महेश कटारे द्वारा लिखा नाटक “पहियों पर चढ़े सुख” अयाज़ खान जी के निर्देशन में किया । मुंबई आने के बाद ड्रामा स्कूल मुंबई में एडमिशन लिया और यहां पर पढ़ाई करते हुए अपनी टीम के साथ मिल कर एक नाटक बनाया “शहद” । ड्रामा स्कूल के प्रॉडक्शन में तैयार किया नाटक जो की रसिका अघासे द्वारा निर्देशित किया गया था उसमे हिस्सा लिया ।इसी के साथ अलग अलग जगह घूमने का काफ़ी शौक हैं । तस्वीर खिंच लेने की आदत हैं, अपने गांव से और अपने परिवार से बेहद प्यार है ।

Princy Sudhakaran

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  Princy is a Mumbai based actor. She began to work in theatre while keeping up with her job as a Software Engineer. Her theatre journey started by working with Ekjute Theatre group, Manav Kaul’s Aranya Theatre group, Working Title, Ranga Theatre and Tpot Production. She has assisted Juhi Babbar for her play Dauda Dauda Bhaaga Bhaaga Sa. Her performance in Aranya’s Laal Pencil and in Ranga Theatre’s adaptation of Midsummer Night’s Dream had won her a special mention in the play review done by Vikram Phukan. Princy was also featured in Stage Impressions’ showcase of upcoming young actors. She has some training in the classical dance form Bharatnatyam.

  To hone her craft she took part in some intensive acting workshops by Neeraj Kabi, Kathryn Doshi(The Micheal Chekhov Technique) and Daminee Benny Basu (Eric Morris System).

  Princy has anchored a show on DD national called Hunnarbaaz. She has acted in several short films and commericals. Her short film Dum Dum Deega Deega, directed by Ayush Kapur was nominated for Filmfare Short Films Awards. She has worked in an Indo-Canadian feature film – Palki directed by Shailendra Vyas. She was part of an Independent feature film – Bhor. Princy has also acted in Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna’s directorial debut, The Last Color, which also features veteran Neena Gupta. The Last Color which is streaming on Amazon Prime was in contention for a nomination in the 2019 Best Picture category for the 92nd Academy Awards. She has also played a pivotal role in an Amazon Prime web series – Mumbai Diaries 26/11 directed by Nikkhil Advani and Nikhil Gonsalves produced by Emmay Entertainment.

  To expand her horizons as an artist and to receive formal training she joined Drama School Mumbai.

Priyanshu Gupta

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  Priyanshu Gupta is often questioned why his instagram Id name is @saturday19_ . He loves playing percussions, singing, dancing with floor and fabrics. He is trained in contemporary dance form. He learned and practiced psychophysical form of theatre with Joy Meetei and Sajida Saji in Delhi. Also attended online workshop of Acting and theatre from National School of Drama, Delhi. He is a Certified Yoga Instructor and practices Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. He enjoys playing badminton and swimming in rivers and seas. He did his graduation in B.com Honors and post graduation in Acting and Theatre Making. He has created a play अंब दा बूटा with his ensemble during his time in Drama School Mumbai. While staying in Mumbai he realized he enjoys rains while keeping his raincoat on.

Rahul Soni

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  Rahul Soni is an Engineer turned into actor and a theatre maker. He is passed out from Drama school Mumbai. Recipient of the prestigious Jindal Scholarship to pursue a course in acting and theatre making at the Drama School Mumbai. He is done several movies ( Blank, Bulbul)and Webseries(Dharavi Bank) . He has been active in theatre from last 6 years.

Ritik Agarwal

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  Ritik Mohan Agarwal is an artist based in Bombay
  He has been a part of the Delhi theatre circuit and worked under Saurabh Sachdeva under the company “The Actors Truth” for an year and has trained under Stephen Book and Meisner Techniques. He has also trained in realistic and psychophysical acting for an year with the “Treasure Art Association” under the guidance of Joy Maisnam and Sajida Saji.
  He has also worked with Shree Ram Centre of Performing Arts for two of their productions ‘Blackhole’ and ‘Andhayug’ and has worked various plays under the same.
  He has completed his 1 year diploma course in Acting and Theatre Making from Drama School Mumbai and is looking forward to exploring more in the field of theatre and film.

Siddharth Jalan

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  Siddharth, born and raised in Kolkata, discovered his passion for acting while pursuing engineering. He delved into the world of theater, actively participating in various plays. Recognizing the significance of training for an actor, Siddharth embarked on a journey of online acting courses during the lockdown. He completed courses by Saurabh Sachdeva’s ‘The Actor’s Truth,’ and pursued an online course in Screen Acting from FTII.

  Siddharth’s fascination with psychology and his avid reading on the subject led him to realize the synergy between acting and psychology. This realization inspired him to undertake rigorous training at Drama School Mumbai. Following a year-long course at DSM, Siddharth emerged as a highly confident actor. His portrayal of SATIN in the annual DSM production, ‘Log Jo Dikhte Nahi,’ garnered significant appreciation. Additionally, his portrayal of Sharukhkan, a skilled tailor in the play ‘Aamb the Boota,’ was well received.

Sidhant Seth

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  Sidhant Seth, an actor, theatre-maker, and multidisciplinary designer was born in Ranchi but has lived in nine cities globally before finding his way to Drama School Mumbai, and is currently based in Bombay.
  He holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where his projects have won numerous accolades and have also been published in different media. Upon graduation, he found his way to the sets of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, S4 as an Art Department PA where he learnt about Set and Production Design on the job. Later on he quit his full-time job as Architectural Designer at Kohn Pedersen Fox Assoc., a leading Architecture firm, specializing in Super tall typology to pursue his passion for acting. Before DSM he studied Acting for Film at the New York Film Academy for a year, simultaneously putting his learnings to use from the Art Department of MMM S4, in NYFA’s in-house productions and upon graduation from NYFA he bid adieu to his 7-year-long relationship with NYC.

  Currently, Sid is working both in theatre/film as an actor and adjacent to it as a graphic designer. He was recently part of a theatrical evening comprising several short pieces called Inqueerable where he performed in two pieces, one written by Vikram Phukan and the other conceived and performed by Sidhant himself. He will soon be a part of the upcoming run of Postcards from Colaba by Vikram Phukan, starting in September of 2023. He is also collaborating with Yaanus Atelier on an experimental project, Who are you and who should I be? As he continues to explore this industry further he hopes to also try out his skills in directorial positions and will continue to merge his design acumen into this field.

Stalin Mathew

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  Stalin is a performer and theatre maker who loves farming, reading, creative freedom apart from performing. He loves to be around kids, animals, honest and genuine people who live from their heart. He loves singing and writing. In his journey he has realised that art is a form of love and you can create something profound when you do it from your heart. So he would like to collaborate with true souls who shower ideas and have a passion for art in their hearts. He would love to be a part of the theatres and movies which will be voice of the voiceless. He believes in freedom and equal rights for each and every living being on this planet.

Sumit Bishnoi

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  Sumit Bishnoi is an actor, theatre-maker & director. Hailing from Haryana, he started exploring the medium of performing arts at an early age in school playing various characters in Shakespearean dramas. He continued his exploration further in college while pursuing his bachelor’s degree from Delhi University with theatrical performances like “Noise Off” by Michael Frayn, “Ten Little Indians” by Agatha Christie, “Bali & Shambhu” by Manav Kaul and many more. He also acted in various short films & visual projects during this period. After that, he enrolled in Drama School Mumbai to polish his craft further.

  In his journey as a theatre-practitioner, he has learnt & worked with names like Tadpole Repertory, Samarth Theatre, Sukhmanch Theatre by Shilpi Marwah, Bikram Ghosh, Choiti Ghosh & Sandeep Bhattacharya.

  He is primarily interested in discovering newer, relevant & immersive forms in contemporary theatre in these rapidly evolving times. He also loves to play violin in his free time.

Sumit Rawal

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  Sumit is an actor and theatre-maker from Mumbai. He graduated in Financial Markets but chose to work in Digital Marketing to simulate his creative itch. He has been working with a theatre group known as Ekanki as an actor and production manager. The group has performed at Thespo 20 and NCPA @ 50. He has worked in multiple theatre productions in Hindi, English and Gujarati. He has worked on a few ad films, some short films and a cameo in a web series. He is inclined towards acting, writing and production aspects of stage as well as screen. He has a knack for mythology and is looking to bring such stories to stage. While theatre-making is the ultimate life that he wants to lead, he is currently working on setting up his own social media shop where he can learn and earn.

Vishal Gaurav

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  Vishal Vardhan is an actor, writer and theatre maker based in Mumbai. After working for 5 years in Delhi Theatre Circuit. He joined Drama School Mumbai through a scholarship.

  During his Delhi Theatre days, he was part of various classical and contemporaries plays. He worked mostly with Bharti Sharma (NSD)and Mohit Tripathi and also did some freelance work as an actor. He disregards casting in theatre or anywhere on the basis of look, height, voice etc and believes an actor should get a proper chance to audition. He himself uses this practice of auditioning for different roles in a single play and passionately rebels against putting himself under any box.

  He recently did a role where he played a trans prostitute under Rasika Agashe. He doesn’t prefer to be called as an ‘Artist’ as he sees life and whoever is living it beautifully and embracing it perfectly as an art form.

Vishal Kasana

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  VISHAL KASANA is a Mumbai based Actor, born and brought up in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. He did schooling from Noida and graduated in B.com programming from Aurobindo college, Delhi University. He started his journey in arts and Theatre from Delhi theatre circuit, he was active in Delhi theatre since 2015 to 2019 where he traveled across India in several regional theatre festivals i.e.- Shimla, Chandigarh, Benaras, Azamgarh, Dehri, Onson etc. From 2017 he started working under the direction of Bharati Sharma in her repertory company called “Kshitij theatre company”. Performed in several plays i.e. – Andhayug, Guilty my Lord, Tughlaq. He was also part of ‘Tughlaq’ which got selected in BHARAT RAMG MOHATSAV, NSD. After that, he made his own theatre company with his batchmates called “knack theatre company ” and designed and performed Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Delhi and in Mumbai. He is working in Mumbai theatre circuit with Atul Kumar in “The Company Theatre’ since 2019. Performed in a non-linear, episodic contemplation by 10 actors who are searching for joy and beauty through the prevalent realms of gloom and struggle. He also performed in a collaborative work: an adaptation of certain questions put to his mother on her death bed by Andrei Tarkovsky translated by Anastasia Hamolka , directed by – Atul Kumar and performed by Vishal Kasana. He has assisted Atul Kumar in several plays i.e. – The Last Poet directed by Amitesh Grover, An Oak Tree, Piya Behrupiya. He has done several short films like – Darpan, Aruna (got selected in People Film Collective Kolkata, the Lift Off Global Network Film Festival England), 8 din ki farwary and fugazi. He had an enriching experience in Adishakti workshops about acting techniques. He got his certificate in theatre in making from Drama School Mumbai recently.

Alumni 2022-23

Aayushi Syal

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  Hi, I am Aayushi Syal. Born in 1998 and brought up in the hills of Shimla Himachal Pradesh. Completed my high school graduation from Convent Of Jesus And Mary , Chelsea Shimla. Trained for 8 years in primarily Kathak and secondarily in Contemporary Dance, Bailey and Folk Dance forms of Himachal and Punjab from YWCA, Shimla. Straight after my schooling , I started participating in beauty pageants and was Miss Shimla 2016 2nd runner up, Miss Himachal 2017 top 10 and won Miss Himachal Fitness Model 2018. I did theatre for about 3 months at Gaiety Theatre Shimla and also worked as a fitness trainer for a small span of 8 months , while i was preparing to shift to Mumbai. In 2019 , I had shifted to Mumbai and worked exclusively with modelling agencies like Adore and Toabh for various TVCs print ads and catalogues . I have worked for brands like Philips, Honda, Mastercard, Lodha Luxury, Bajaj Alliance. Currently I am represented by Toabh. Since I was auditioning as well, so I felt the need to train myself as an actor and develop a better understanding of the craft. So I auditioned for Drama School Mumbai and completed my 1 year course of Acting and Theatre Making 2022-23. I graduated from DSM in 2023.

Atrrayee Chowdhury

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  Being from a culturally inclined family and dancing from the age of 3, Atrrayee has always found her peace on stage.
  A professional Odissi dancer for the past 20 years, Atrrayee did her graduation in English honors from IGNOU.
  While performing in various dance productions,prestigious dance festivals and participating in competitions nationally and internationally, she discovered her interest in theatre.
  Following this interest she volunteered and actively took part in Thespo – A Youth Theater Movement, where she assisted renowned theatre makers and also acted in her very first play “Gulabi Kachchha”.
  After graduating from DSM, she now aims to act, direct and devise dance dramas.
  Other then explaining the meaning and spelling of her name, she also likes to paint, loves to talk, eat and make people aware about her ornithophobia (especially pigeons).

Neha Gargava

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  Neha is an Voice Actor with an expertise in dubbing. She has been the Voice Of Nala (Lion King), She-Hulk in the recent Hotstar series, Catwoman (The Batman, 2022) and a lead voice in plethora of theatrical movies and shows on Netflix, Amazon and more. She has achored Rangoli on Doordarshan and has more than a decade of experience in text work through various forms of voicing. She is a self trained singer and is an asset to a production requiring singing and has a strong grasp over hindi, she has a knack for picking up phonetics and that comes in handly with incorporating forieign languages into her work. In her creative journey she feels an insatiable and growing urge to share her perspective and outlook and explore the unknown and known from other aspects of life and humans. She wants to create and be part of stories that speak to her as a human being and as a mom who is a girl too. In her quest she pursued the DSM programme in 2022-23 and is looking at creating performances through acting and creating theatre.

Pearl Raphael

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  Pearl Raphael is a voice-over artist, singer-song writer and actor. Born in 1996, based in Mumbai. She speaks English, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, French and ASL (American Sign Language). Having a flair for showmanship she decided to hone her acting skills and did a PG Course in Acting & Theatre Making from Drama School Mumbai. She did her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology & Sociology from St. Andrew’s College. Her talents extend beyond acting, as she is also a musician & sports enthusiast. She was the School Captain at Bombay Cambridge School. Her hobbies include solving the rubik’s cube while rapping, juggling, baking, playing the guitar, ukulele, piano &indian flute. She enjoys practicing yoga, singing & dancing. Her dedication to physical fitness and her passion for various sports have honed her discipline and determination. She’s garnered numerous accolades in sports; she’s won over a 100 medals in track & field events and 6 overall sports championship trophies in school & college.She rapped and acted in a music video for Sadhguru’s Youth & Truth Campaign. She acted alongside Makrand Deshpande in a short documentary film for Iyengar Yoga. She acted in a scene in Son Pari as Princy’s friend. She did the vocals on the Title Track of the series ‘MentalHood’. She’s done several jingles and Co-operate Anthems for JCB excavators, ICICI Bank and Himalayan Water. She dubbed for Jamie Lever’s character Jenny, in the movie ‘Rashtraputra’ and translated & supervised the French vocals. Pearl aspires to leave an indelible mark in the world of entertainment.

Priyanshu Singh

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  Priyanshu is an actor and theatre maker born and brought up in Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra. Priyanshu did theatre very actively for four years in his college and was also the Vice President of the dramatics society of his college in his final year. He has performed in various stage plays and street plays and represented his college in many cultural festivals and theatre competitions of reputed colleges across India, to name a few IIT Bombay(Mood Indigo), IIT Delhi(Rendezvous), IIT Kharagpur(Spring Fest). He also received the Excellence in Acting award from the News and Publication society of his college. He has also trained under Saurabh Sachdeva’s The Actors Truth, where he got the opportunity to write and act in a short film. He worked as a Software Engineer in a corporate after completing his engineering but then due to his interest in acting and theatre went on to quit his job and pursue PG in Acting and theatre making from DSM. Apart from theatre and acting, he is very passionate about singing and has a keen interest in filmmaking as well and has written and directed two short films of his own.
  After DSM, Priyanshu wants to pursue acting professionally for theatre and films. Moreover, he also aims to spread awareness about theatre and its craft in his home town as he sees that there is a huge dearth of opportunities for people who want to pursue theatre or even watch and experience it in his state.

Jyotsna Singh

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  Jyotsna is an actor and a theatremaker from Delhi. An economics graduate from Delhi University, Jyotsna made two independent documentary films on the life of the Santhal tribe living in Jangalmahal in West Bengal and on the drug epidemic in Punjab, respectively. She went on to train at the Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts in Delhi from 2018-19 while working as a feature writer for a business magazine. During her training, she performed in productions like Baaki Itihaas by Badal Sircar directed by Sameep Singh, The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter directed by Santanu Mallick, and an antibody-devised production of Sophocles’ Antigone directed by Niloy Roy. After finishing her training, she joined the repertory company at The Little Theatre Group and performed in various productions for two years, like the devised production on the crisis of plastic pollution called ‘Panniarchy’ and Ibsen’s Ghosts directed by Prof KS Rajendran. Jyotsna is also trained in Seraikela Chhau at Triveni Kala Sangam under Guru Sapan Acharya.

  Since her training at DSM, Jyotsna looks forward to making theatre and exploring her own style of storytelling apart from working as a stage and screen actor.

Madalasa Padhye

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  I was introduced to theatre at a very young age. I also started learning Kathak from Smt. Radhika Phanse and gave 4 exams. Later, during college, I participated in theatre activities, performed as an actor, crew member, etc. Apart from college, I gave voiceovers for short films and films in Hindi and Marathi. Till then I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to do in my career, but all I knew was that I had to be on stage, backstage, or around the stage. I worked as a research team member for a production house and also as a casting assistant before joining the Drama School. I now plan to write, direct and act.

Pritul Biswas

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  Pritul has always been fascinated by actors and the multiple worlds an actor lives in. His exposure to stage began from an early age with the small annual functions and performances. It was all fun and games until the play, “Mitrachi Goshta: A Friend’s Story” by Vijay Tendulkar, changed his life. It was the first time he looked at theatre seriously and found out about everything it had to offer. Theatre was the place he will never be bored at. This was back in his first year in College. All throughout his Bachelors and Masters in English(honours), Pritul has appeared in as ‘Prabhakar’ in ‘Boiled Beans on Toast’ by Girish Karnad, an adaptation of ‘Toba Tek Singh’ by Saadat Hasan Manto, a group-made devised production called “Ulti Va” based out of Khalil Gibran’s poem, ‘Pity the Nation’. Although he started with the proscenium stage, he has mainly worked with the ideas of Eugenio Barba and Badal Sircar’s ‘Third Theatre’ and Grotowski’s ‘Poor Theatre’.
  Pritul, now, wants to pursue Theatre, in search of new characters, ideas and artistic explorations. Being a trained Sitarist, he also explores the world of music and sound whenever he can apply them. His passion as an actor and as a musician, is to always explore and discover new things about self and the world.

Rishika Kaushik

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  Rishika is a writer and theatre practitioner based in Delhi. She graduated with a Bachelors in English from Sri Venkateswara College, DU where she performed plays such as How I learned to Drive by Paula Vogel, The Nether by Jennifer Haley, Simurgh – an adaptation of Orshina by Hanit Guli. She completed her Masters in English from the University of Hyderabad in 2021 and was pulled in by an artistic urgency to work in the theatre. She worked as Project Coordinator in Rest of the Struggle, as part of the Spielart Theaterfestival, 2021 in Munich. She has acted in a children’s play with Theatre-I Entertainment in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Centre of India and performed in a number of schools in Delhi-NCR. She also performed in zoom play called Allegedly by Mallika Taneja at the Favoriten Festival, 2022. Currently, she is building her own practice, rooted in impulse and feeling. She is interested in making theatre that is personal, feminist, and anti-oppressive. In search of her own interiority, she hopes to translate it into social action. Her process includes reading compulsively, writing a lot of poems, walking the city at midnight, eavesdropping on conversations, and pondering on plays while eating a plate of pasta.

Rochan Mathur

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  Rochan Dayal Mathur is a stage and screen actor, an Improv Comedian and a drama facilitator.

  He has worked with multiple theatre groups as an actor, and as a production assistant for others. He has acted in digital advertisements and TVCs for many brands and in comedy sketch videos for MensXp and Indiatimes. He has done 200+ improv comedy shows of ‘RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW’, Delhi’s longest-running short-form improv show by the Playground Improv Collective. His maiden feature film, ‘The Writer’s Inn’ by Autarky Films is soon to be released.
  Rochan is interested in Applied Theatre and works as a facilitator with schools, colleges and corporates to spread the joy of drama. Recently he has designed and co-facilitated workshops for major business consulting firms, a FMCG company and a top life insurance company.

  He is currently shooting a series of videos for ‘PlayCKC’ & ‘Angel One’ and taking summer theatre classes at a school in Delhi.

Tushant Mattas

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  Tushant is an actor-writer based in Bombay. He graduated from Jammu University as a Dentist before becoming a Theatre artist when he shifted to Delhi where theatre culture convinced him to pursue the dream of storytelling (before the release of Tamasha). In Delhi, he worked with Bela Theatre Karwaan for 4 years as an actor in productions like Men without Shadows by Jean-Paul Sartre, Dayan by Mahasweta Devi, The Miser by Moliere, Swan Song by Anton Chekhov, Toba Tek Singh by Saadat Hasan Manto among others. He also worked as a light designer within Bela Theatre Karwaan and with a few other theatre groups in the Delhi Theatre Circuit. He did the light design for Laxmi Rawat’s directorial play “Chal Ab Laut Chalein”, Amol Sagar’s directorial play “Gagan Damama Bajyo”, Amar Sah’s directorial play “Gadhe Ki Baraat” etc. Apart from theatre, in 2019, he worked on a bilingual Limited TV series in Assamese and Hindi for DD Anuprabha written and produced by Reema Borah (GraFTII) and directed by Sandeep Patil (GraFTII) where he wrote Hindi dialogues, was an actor, assistant director as well as did costumes for the show. Tushant has a keen interest in writing which was limited to writing poetry but got spiralled when he started attending “Spiral Bound”, a Screenplay writing initiative started and taught by Boman Irani and playwright Anosh Irani during the pandemic in 2020 which is still going strong. Tushant now plans to act and create theatre which he deeply believes in, which has its roots embedded in the kindness of the human journey through the course of time and write some more poetry while being the main lead of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (of course in his mind).

Vikram Thakur

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  Vikram’s journey of acting on stage and screen started while he was pursuing his BBA Marketing degree from Manipal University. Since his first year of undergrad in 2018 he’s been extensively involved in college level theatre as an actor having performed in numerous street and stage plays for his university dramatics club, Aaina Dramatics. Few of the stage and street productions that he worked in during his college days are namely Habib Tanvir’s Charandas Chor, Satish Alekar’s Mahanirvan, Gulzar’s Khuda Haafiz, Chacha Chaubey ke Chashme Se, Media pe Vaar, and Saamaj Ji ka Ladka. He further went on to win many laurels with his dramatics club by performing these plays at various college festivals across the country like IIT Bombay’s Mood Indigo 2018, VIT Chennai’s Vibrance 2019 and MIT Manipal’s, Revels 2019 to name a few. Vikram is also a model and has done a number of print ads in his hometown of Jamshedpur, Jharkhand for clients such as Srinath University. He was one of the top 10 finalists of Mr. Jharkhand 2019, where he was the youngest contestant ever to compete for the title. Vikram debuted in the independent short film circuit in 2020, where he played the protagonist in Behind the Scenes Filmmaking’s “Thanda Gosht” the film got selected at the London Lift Off Film Festival in two categories, and till today Vikram’s performance and the film remains a major success on YouTube. Vikram then went on to feature in another short film titled “Jasmine” which was a Film and Television Institute of India, Pune production and was directed by one of their student filmmakers, Yash Kumar Yadav. After graduating from DSM, Vikram attended an 8 day residential workshop on the application of Navrasas and the importance of Kalaripayattu for an actor in Canacona, South Goa under the mentorship of Theatre Flamingo’s, Keatan Jadhav. Here, he also volunteered for the Canacona Theatre Festival 2023, and got new insights about the third form of theatre inspired by Indian theatre legend, Badal Sarkar’s methods. Vikram now looks forward to make his mark on screen by being a master of his craft. In his free time Vikram likes to write shayaris, workout, and he loves to watch and analyse films.

Arvind Nair

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  Arvind Nair is an actor, writer, video editor and theatremaker from Delhi. He graduated with a Bachelors in Psychology Honours where he realised after being a part of the dramatics society that he wanted to perform and pursue a career in acting. A person who likes to dip his toes in every other field he finds interesting and with an egregious sense of humour, after graduating from DSM, Arvind hopes to create and tell contemporary stories which are surreal, abstract and maybe just a little bit weird.

Farha

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  Farha did her graduation in HINDI HONS.from Hindu College Delhi University and started her acting carrer in 2015 from Delhi. she holds a strong commnand on haryanvi, magahi, bangla Punjabi and Hindi.
  She has worked in one TV commercial as an actor and also as an Assistant Director For two short Films one with “MAC Productions” and another one for “The actor mirror films”.
  She has worked in Delhi Theatre as facilitator, Director, Actor, stage manager and Assitant director. She has done Children Theatre workshop In Dehradoon for the students of “Pine Groove” as a part of their summer camp workshop. IN theatre She has majourly performed in AASHADH KA EK DIN BY MOHAN RAKESH AS MALLIKA, NEEND KYU RAAT BHAR NAHI AATI BY SURENDRA VERMA AS YUVATI, ANDHA YUG BY DHARAMVEER BHARATI AS YUYUTSU AND GANDHARI, SAMVADIYA BY FANISHWARNATH RENU AS BAHURIYA,hota main shayar agar as ritu, Kathakaar ka Catharsis as Gaay, Yun to nahi,Jis lahore nahi vekhya o jamya ee nayi by asgar wazahat etc.
  She has always been a mover and keeps exploring her physical abilities. she has been into Gymnastics, yoga, chhau and movements.

Goutham Suresh

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  Goutham Suresh Madhavan (Born 29 Oct 2000) is a contemporary Artist, who would like to create art for exploring new experiential terrains, unfold new connections and erase boundaries between genres, forms and styles.

Sahil Minhas

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  Sahil is a Zoology Graduate, who has always been a stage person since his childhood. He finds the most comfort in writing and has contributed as a writer in an anthology book “Shades of Love” by Ukiyoto Publishers. Sahil began his stage journey through debating and reaching till National levels and slowly when he began exploring the stage world more, he found a sense of belongingness to the world of Drama and Art. Sahil moved to Delhi to learn and understand theatre more and worked for 1.5 years in Delhi Theatre Circuit, being a part of many theatrical productions. While doing theatre, he also asssisted as a research assistant in “Ovarian Cancer Research”. Sahil’s writing inspirations comes from observing and listening to people and their stories and how the tiniest of incidents subconsciously affect humans and wants to write more about these complexities of humans. Sahil belives that art should come from the place of sensitivity, kindness and empathy and wants to build a community which doesn’t focus on romanticisation of art only but also where it comes from, because he believes that the idea of art coming from stress, torture and pain is disturbing.

Divyagaurav Rana

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  Divyagaurav is an Actor from Bombay. Brought up in an Army family, he’s travelled to many states across the country. He likes adventure, exploring random forest beaten paths leading to secret places. He loves Punk Rock music and innovation. Writing lyrics and composing music soothes his soul. He has worked for projects on SonyTv and Dice Media platforms. As of now, he’s trying to understand his life better and improve his acting further.

Monika Gupta

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  Monika is an actor, theatre practitioner and facilitator based in Mumbai and Delhi. She has graduated in Chemistry Hons. She started doing theatre in 2013-14 with Parvatiya Kala Kendra repertory. After that she
  performed in a variety of plays like Mansukh directed by Sameep Singh, Vivekanada Amratav ki Aur directed by Amit Saxena to name a few. Additionally, she has worked with
  Gateways to theatre company (works with schools and kids) as an assistant director and acting coach for five years. She has trained herself in different dance forms like ballet, chau and jazz for
  some time, not to become a dancer but to become more malleable as an actor.

  Her entry point to collect raw material is her body, impulse, music, pictures and improvisation. After that, she applies tools and techniques to give it form and make it performative for others to see.

  She finds movement quite spiritual for herself. During her training at DSM, she discovered writing can be a really helpful tool and an anchor point for her.

  After DSM in addition to working an actor, she is looking forward to exploring her storytelling style and make theatre.

Alumni 2021-22

Aditya Syal

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  Aditya Syal has done his Bachelor in Mass Media Studies from Gurunanak Khalsa Mumbai. He is an actor, impressionist, born in Lucknow and brought up in Nainital. Aditya has been doing theatre and camera acting since school and continued to do the same in his college. While doing his studies he got an opportunity to participate in a pagent Mr. North India 2016 which he won. After his win he shifted to Bombay and worked as a freelance model. He walked the ramp at several international and national fashion weeks and also got an opportunity to have his portfolio mentored by ace photographer Dabboo Ratnani himself. While multitasking his modelling career alonside his college, he also did not miss an opportunity to showcase his impressions ( mimicry of several actors and renowned personalities). Talent at various Open Mic events and college festivals. He enrolled in workshops and did a 15 days workshop with casting director Mukesh Chabbra where his craft was enriched and appreciated by the mmentor and that got him an opportunity to audition and further play a small cameo in the critically acclaimed webseries The Family Man. After a year, he played a character in the web series Candy alongside Ronit Roy and Richa Chaddha. He then got associated to Nadira Babbar who runs ek jut theatre in Prithvi and was fortunate enough to do a play written by her titled ” Operation Cloudburst”. The play was done under her guidance in various states. and was performed in Aditya’s hometwon Nainital as well. The play was directed by NSD trained actor/ director Idris Malik and Aditya was felicitated by Nadira Babbar and Aashish Vidyarthi. After gaining experience in theatre Aditya went on to do television commercials as well as digital commercials and did an advertisement with Rohit Sharma Indian Cricket Captain Rohit Sharma for a well renowned brand. In 2021 Aditya aspired to learn the craft further and enrolled in Drama School Mumbai which helped him to grow as an artist. After completing his course from DSM Aditya signed a couple of web shows which will be releasing in 2023 on various OTT platforms.

Vibhanshu Doshi

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  Vibhanshu Doshi is an actor, a spoken word artist, a writer, an editor and a film maker. He has been performing since the last eight years and has collaborated with various companies over the course of time.

  Vibhanshu was a part of the DSM annual production Ilhaam directed by Sapan Saran. He was a part of the showing of The Queer Heritage walk of Colaba ‘s indoor rendition in association with The Queer Muslim Project and The British Council India for Theatre Jil Jil Ramamani. He has been a a part of corporate advertising campaign for GoldF.He has worked in Even Mists Have Silver Linings (under the US Consulate General Mumbai) and Dear Departed with The Five Senses Theatre Group and collaborated with Vikram Phukan and Hardik Shah. He has also performed his solo piece Being Me in the independent queer fest Inqueerables led by Phukan. He has been a part of the Indo Canadian virtual festival Nautanki Creations supported by The Toronto Arts Council in 2022, where his piece Square of Lace was premiered, and in 2021- Smitten and Starstruck where his piece Let go was selected. He performed his piece Love for Thespo and Paprika Festival – Cosmocabaret.

  He has worked with NGOs Rahi Foundation, and The Turning Point in Out of the shadows, a shadow theatre project with his piece Sumit for CSA He has worked More than Brides Alliance where he conducted a workshop with young girls, encouraging them to write spoken word poetry and tell their own stories. . He has made fiction and nonfiction films, that were selected for The Kolkata Short Film Festival and The Heritage Film Academy Festivals. He has been featured in platforms like Kommune, Urban Solace, Yourquote, Tales and Tacos among others. During his time in Kolkata, he has worked with Shriek Of Silence in multiple productions including Gugga Bagga. He has had the chance to work with Rangsheela under Usha Ganguly.

  He is training himself in classical singing, and he aspires to be able to frame his thoughts musically and thus keep growing as an artist.

  Currently he is working with Jil Jil Ramamani’s new promenade theatre project– Postcards from Colaba. He is also part of Bruce Guthrie’s NCPA production Every Good Boy Deserves Favour.

Meenakshi Arundhati

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  Meenakshi Arundhati is an actor, dancer, researcher, writer and performance maker.

  She started dancing at the age of 4, and is a trained Odissi and Kathak dancer and is now learning Manipuri. In May of 2021 she graduated from the Manipal Centre for Humanities with a BA Humanities, with a major in History. Her undergraduate thesis titled The Body in the Archive/ The Body of the Archive: A Preliminary Excursion into the History of Odissi was a culmination of her reflection on her unconventional journey as a practitioner through the lens of History and Anthropology. In a college production of Harvest (written by Manjula Padmanabhan) she played the role of Ma. Meenakshi has completed three phases of the Navarasa Sadhana workshop under Venu G and a Kutiyattam workshop with Kapila Venu. She has written on dance for Reading Room Co. and has also edited a volume of poetry, Barshabatar by Bishnu Mohapatra. She loves learning new languages and can speak English, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil (in order of fluency) and hopes to learn many more.

  Meenakshi is currently a research intern at Khoj Studios, New Delhi. She is working towards building and locating her own practice as she navigates her study of the performing arts as an artist and researcher – on stage, on screen and on paper.

Sukrit Mahajan

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  Sukrit Mahajan, born and brought up in Delhi, is a theatre artist who has done Engineering from NSIT, Delhi where he first got introduced to theatre.
  He has been doing theatre for over 5 years. He has acted in 5-6 productions and has been involved in direction of 2-3 productions. Sukrit is primarily an actor, not only on stage but also for screen. He has acted in various independent short films and web series.

  Sukrit holds various allocades for his stage plays in college. These include 2 best actor awards for the adaptation of the play ‘Equus’ by Peter Shaffer and another best actor award for his portrayal of an autistic character ‘Jack Lane’ in the play ‘Never Any Fruit’ by Dougie Blaxand. He also won the best play award at IIM-Calcutta for his debut direction of the self written play ‘City of Stars’.
  Apart from the training at DSM, he has also undergone theatre training at Shree Ram Center for Performing Arts.

  Currently Sukrit is actively involved in creating work for the theatre, primarily in Mumbai and also building his career in acting for screen such as films and web-series.

Mayuri Ravindra

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  Mayuri is a Mumbai-based actor, theater-maker, and Kathak dancer. She started doing theatre in 2015, during her engineering days in Pune. She has acted in over ten plays, representing her college at some prestigious intercollegiate competitions. She has co-written and directed some of them, which won accolades for her and her college.

  She began working as a software engineer after graduating in 2019, but also kept up with her theatre and dance training. She joined a theatre group called Naval Pune, which participated in various competitions such as Thespo 21. Her performance as the lead actor in the play ‘Ram Naam Satya Hai’ got her a special mention from the jury, which included actors and directors Alok Rajwade and Vikram Phukan. She won the best actress award for her performance in the play ‘ZP’ in ‘Kalapini Natyawachan by Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Natya Parishad’.

  To hone her craft and receive formal training, she took part in some intensive acting workshops, undertook research projects, and worked with eminent theatre personalities such as NSD director Aniruddha Khutwad, actors Alok Rajwade, and Abhay Mahajan. Later in 2021, she co-wrote and co-directed a play called “Antyeshti” which got selected for the Maharashtra Cultural Center Pune’s ‘Urja Praklp’.

  Subsequently, to explore her reel side on screen, she acted in the short film ‘It’s OK’ directed by Vivek Suradkar (FTII). It was selected for an official screening at the Pune International Short Film Festival and featured in The Indian Express among the ‘Top 10 Marathi Short Films to Watch’. She was hired as an assistant art and production designer for a few commercials, including Realme Buds Noiseless, Oxycool Ayuhealth, and the short films Cheeni and Joy.
  She has an affinity for physical theatre and is also an active Yoga and movement practitioner. She is associated with Natak Eke Natak, a Pune based group that organizes shows of renowned theatre performances. After graduationg from DSM, she worked as an actor and assistant director for the adaptation of the play ‘Yaatnaghar’, written by Mahesh Elkunchwar and directed by Mitali Joshi, with Khoj Theatre and assisted director Nikhil Kedia for the play What Goes Around. She is also a part of the play ‘Every Good Boy Deserves Favour’ produced by NCPA and directed by Bruce Guthrie, as a dancer. She wishes to delve deeper and explore herself as an actor in both stage and screen mediums.

Akshat Verma

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  Akshat Verma is an Actor, Theatre and filmmaker from Delhi, currently based in Mumbai
  He has done his graduation in journalism and mass communication from Amity university, Noida. During his time of graduation, he worked in various short films as an actor, assistant director, creative assistant, graphic designer and editor. He had assisted on a short film “Question Mark” which went in various international festivals and won many awards such as “Dada saheb Phalke International film festival”, “international Motion picture festival of India” etc. He recently worked in a short film named “Vikram” staring Gopal Datt.

  He has been doing theatre for 6 years and also won lot of awards for his college theatre company “Aghaaz” and got an appreciation letter from National Channel DD Urdu for performing on the occasion of independence day. He has received training from various acting and theatre workshops such as FTII screen acting workshop, Asmita theatre , Moonlight productions , Mukesh Chhabra theatre workshop etc. He has worked under esteemed production houses like Anurag Kashyap’s Sikhya Entertainment and peeping tom productions. Apart from this he likes reading books and playing guitar/ukulele.

  Currently Akshat is working on his own theatre production and freelancing in short films.

Samruddhi Deshpande

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  Samruddhi is an actor currently based in Mumbai. Since her childhood, she had an inclination towards performing arts as her family had a theatre background. She explored that side of herself while studying in Pune and started to perform in plays in 2016.

  She performed in various Inter-Collegiate Drama Competitions in Pune, several times as a lead, and also performed in many experimental theatre productions. She has been a part of more than 10 plays over a period of 6 years. Her interest in this art was validated when she received many accolades for her major roles. She performed in a program based on Marathi Literature. She also acted in a Marathi ShortFilm ‘Freshener’ which has been screened in various short film festivals and is also available to stream on MX Player. She has also explored her skills as a Voice Over artist for various commercial Voice Overs, Advertisement Voiceovers, and Audio Books.

  She was also a part of an Acting Workshop about ‘Verbatim Theatre’ by Vikram Phukan which was organised by The National School of Drama, Delhi. Moving further, she decided to convert her passion into her profession and achieved a merit-based scholarship for a postgraduate program at the Drama School Mumbai (DSM). As a Final Production at DSM, she went on to be a part of the play ‘Butter and Mashed Banana’ written by Ajay Krishnan and mentored by Chanakya Vyas.

  After successfully completing her program at DSM, she co-founded a theatre group, ‘KHOJ’ with Parul Rana and the group is currently working on the adaptation of the play ‘Yaatnaghar’, written by Mahesh Elkunchwar. Samruddhi wishes to advance her career on stage as well as on Screen.

Parul Rana

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  Parul R believes that art has the potential to affect human consciousness and bring about a behavioural shift in society, even if it’s at a microscopic level. She has been pursuing theatre since 2017 and has performed and received accolades in various inter-youth college festivals, including those of IIT Kharagpur, Chandigarh University, Punjabi University Youth and Cultural Festival, LPU Global Fest, and many more. She studied Social Communications Media at Sophia College in Mumbai. The course, in addition to teaching her the technical aspects of journalism and filmmaking, also gave her a fresh perspective on subjects like social and human issues, mass media accountability, and ethical ideals, which broadened her viewpoint on the world. For the Drama School Mumbai Annual Production, she performed the play Butter and Mashed Banana, which was mentored by Chanakya Vyas. Post DSM Parul has been writing extensively about theatre with the Mumbai Theatre Guide Website as a part of her goal to contribute in some way to preserving the history of Indian theatre, arts, and culture. She received the Mumbai Ekatra grant, supported by the Kshir Sagar Apte Foundation. Under this, she has performed shows of Yatanaghar, a play written by Mahesh Elkunchwar and directed by Mitali Joshi Deshmukh. She is also working with writer, and director Vikram Phukan on the show Postcards from Colaba.

Arjun Raj

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  Arjun is an actor , writer and director .He is raised in Dehra dun and Kolkata. He completed his graduation in Bachelors in Marketing (Hons )from the Calcutta university . He was always into Dance , theatre and sports since childhood . He was a district – level cricketer . He played in the Cricket association of Bengal (C.A.B under 17 ) Tournament twice in 2015, 2016 respectively. After that he left cricket and started pursing his passion for acting during his college days . He joined a theatre group called Little thespian which is a Hindi /Urdu national theatre group , he was associated with the group for 3 years . He has been part of many productions and street plays during this time . He went on to perform in the Jaipur theatre festival 2020 and Kolkata national theatre festival 2021 with his theatre group .He took part in many workshops during this while and did a four months production-oriented workshop with Makarand Deshpande. Also, He has been part of five short films , in which three of them he himself wrote and directed . During the pandemic when theatre and everything was on hold , he didn’t stop he wrote and directed three short films which went on to different film festivals and got awarded . Because he has this ‘never say die’ attitude he strongly thinks an artist can never be quarantined at any point . One of his short film ( Genesis )was screened in the Germany film festivals 2020 and is now available in a Switzerland based OTT platform ( Sofy. Tv).
  The film also received most experimental film award 2021 in Kolkata international film festival .
  He won three best actor awards in international film festivals for his short films.
  Other then that he also did poetry podcasts and wrote screenplays as a freelancer .
  After his post graduation in acting and theatre making from the Drama School Mumbai . He is settled in Mumbai and keen to work in screen and stage as an actor . Recently , he got selected for the German play ‘ bent ‘ by Martin Sherman . Which is going to be directed by renowned theatre director Glenn Hayden.

Twvinkle Kapoor

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  Twvinkle is an Actor, Dancer and a Movement Artist from Lucknow, based in Mumbai. She has completed her Bachelor’s degree in Banking and Insurance from HR College of Commerce and Economics. Twvinkle actively participated in Inter College fests and won many of them in Drama, Dance and Fashion show categories, across Mumbai. Apart from that she has done a couple of Digital Ads as an actor.
  She did her Diploma in Dance and Interdisciplinary Practices, which Includes training in Modern Contemporary, Basics of Ballet, Capoeira, Kalarippayattu, Chhau, Breaking and Performance Art, from Moksha Art Space, Bangalore.

  She performed in a Physical Theatre production, “BODHI” Directed by Rahul Goswami and a site-specific Physical Theatre piece, “WHAT IF I DO DO?” Directed by Nakula Somana, at the Bangalore International Center. She along with her team at The Moksha Artspace has also adapted and performed the Play, ”OF MICE AND MEN”, as a part of their Physical Theatre project.

  She has written a Short Film, “CHOICES” and acted in it, for Dharakala Production Pvt. Ltd, Lucknow.

  After successfully completing her training in Acting and Theatre Making from The Drama School Mumbai, she has worked in a Theatre production called ‘SWIPE’, directed by Arjun Pathni. Along with playing a small role in the play she has also managed the sound of the production entirely.This was performed at The Soho House Mumbai and at The Veda Factory.

  Currently, she is working as a part of the Talent Relations and Castings team at The Viral Fever Productions.
  She has acted in the Sketch series, ‘Partners’ by TVF and has been a part of the Girliyapa sketches as an actor. She has also been actively participating in the creation of micro content for various channels like, The Timeliners, TVF and Girliyapa.

  Twvinkle is looking forward to more such acting opportunities on screen and stage.

Shishir Kolte

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  Shishir Kolte is a Pune-based, artist cum tech geek. He has successfully completed 8 grades in dramatics from LAMDA and has also done a PGCert course from DSM. He also enjoys playing the Piano and likes producing electronic music.

  He has been doing theatre since he was 11 years old. He was a part of an award winning Marathi short film called Umaj. He has been a part of several plays in multiple languages like Bhar Divsa, Family Matters, World War 2 the musical, Accidental Death of an Anarchist.

  Much like theatre he also has a passion for technology and wants to integrate the two for a complete sensorial and immersive theatre experience. With Virtual and Augmented reality getting a massive boost in development, he thinks it is a real space where people can not just witness but also participate in different forms of theatre from up close and not have a “Stage” come in between them and the performers.

  In addition to performance and production, Shishir has been facilitating drama workshops for kids and adults alike. Having experienced the benefits first hand, he’s on a mission to help people unlock their true selves through the medium of dramatics and help them broaden their perspectives. He has been a drama facilitator for two years pre pandemic for Expressions Unlimited! in Pune and has also co-facilitated an acting workshop and helped in devising a street play for Saathi Haath Badhana which as a NGO is focused on spreading the importance of mental health.

Garvita Yadav

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  Garvita Yadav is an actor-theatre maker who hails from Delhi. She has been actively contributing to theatre for the past five years. She was active part of the ‘Hansraj Dramatic Society’ during her college tenure, where she presented her capabilities in diverse fields, she was the lead actress in ‘L for Clowns’ directed by Nischay Malik and Tushar Gupta, directed a self scripted play called ‘Letters to Kasturba’ which performed at the Convention Centre of Delhi University; she also actively contributed to the street theatre in Delhi.

  She is a professionally certified SCUBA diver and has worked in the capacity of a Divemaster before joining DSM.

  During her course at Drama School Mumbai she co-founded a theatre group called ‘Asabhya Ensemble’. The group has performed Leo Butler’s ‘Boy’ and Donald Margulies’ ‘Time Stands Still’, for both the plays she creatively headed the production. Her production ‘Time Stands Still’ has been short-listed for ’TAP’/ Tuesday’s at Prithvi and will be performing at Prithvi Theatre in early 2023.

  She has now shifted to Bombay with the aim to work dedicatedly in theatre and explore new horizions with her group. She wants to work towards making theatre more accessible and spread it beyond the circle of regular theatre enthusiasts.

Ankit Dabas

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  Ankit is an engineering graduate from NSIT Delhi and a theatre enthusiast who has been pursuing theatre since 2017.
  He has been a part of multiple street productions, stage productions,and short films. His prominent work in the theatre field during his graduation was in “Muktibodh” directed by Akshat Girdhar and Harsh Vardhan Kumar, in which he played the lead role of a Banarasi Policeman. This was selected in various theatre festivals like Old World Collegiate and Ateliar Theatre Festival. He was the lead actor in the short film “My Dearest Mia”, directed by Akshat Girdhar, which was selected in four international film festivals across the globe.

  Alongside studying at DSM, Ankit was also trained through Shree Ram Centre for Performing Arts.

  Currently, he is actively working as a theatre practitioner, devising his own work in Delhi and Mumbai.

Shashank Pallav

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  Shashank Pallav is an actor and a theatre maker. A doctor turned full time artist, Pallav has acquired training in different dance forms such as hip hop, locking, popping, breaking, and Bollywood. He is a Kalaripayattu, Thang Ta, and Tai Chi practitioner as well. He comes from Patna. He has been a part of over 300 national and international street dance battle events and has won awards for the same. He then founded his own dance crew, known as “Dpirates,” which was selected among the top 8 crews from across India to perform in the finale of India’s biggest hip-hop festival, “Brezzer Vivid Shuffle,” in 2017. He has organised many dances and educational events in Patna for underprivileged people.

  He has worked in New Delhi with renowned theatre companies. Some of them are Barry John Acting Studio, Sukhmanch Theatre, The Actor’s Mirror , Fitzmaurice Voicework by Ryan O’Shea, and Parvah Theatre Laboratory by Neeraj Kabi to receive formal training. He has also worked with Sanjay Upadhyay in Patna. In 2019-20, he was awarded a fellowship from the Delhi government’s Department of Arts & Culture through the “Street Theatre and Performance” program. He then explored himself as a chief assistant director and assistant director for short films and web series with a team from FTII, which is set to release on the “Humara” movie channel.

  Upon graduating from DSM, he founded his own theatre group, “Inroots Theatre and Film Company,” under which he conducted acting workshops for beginners in his hometown (Patna). He is currently in Mumbai, working as a Stage Manager for different productions such as: NCPA Connection Festival associated with National Theatre, Every Good Boy Deservers Favour, Akvarious productions and Aadyam. He wishes to create his own work and explore himself as an actor in both stage and screen medium.

Kumar Abhimanyu

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  Kumar Abhimanyu has been doing theatre for the past 8 years and has been part of more than 10 productions. His body of work includes stage and street productions, OLX Autos TVC, Baked – the series, performance art, several short films and immersive theatre . He was an active member of Ramjas College’s dramatics society ‘Shunya’ in his early years where he acted, wrote and devised several plays. He has performed in Old World Theatre festival and was also selcted for ‘TAP’/Tuesdays at Prithvi by Thespo. He has taken workshops under Tadpole Repertory, Tech Quratet, Third Space Collective and Jana Sanskriti. His love for knowledge for the arts led him to pursue Masters in Performance Studies at Ambedkar University Delhi, where he was mentored under the likes of Anuradha Kapur, Deepan Sivaraman and Arjun Raina. He co-wrote and acted in ‘Lifeline 99 99 – a one-on-one Telephonic performance’ which was a huge succes during the pandemic. Currently, he is writing and devising his own plays.

Paridhi Bhandari

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  Paridhi Bhandari is an actor, clown artist and a theatre practitioner.
  Paridhi has done her graduation in Mass Media (Advertising) from Mumbai. During her college days, she has done street plays and participated in various inter-collegiate theatre festivals. Since then, her interest in theatre grew which led to an opening of a show for TEDxHindujaCollege where she directed and performed a play. She has also worked under Juhi Babbar at Kalaghoda Art Festival for 10 days. She has been a part of Betaal Theatre Group where she worked as a stage manager for Raamji Kab Aayenge, an adaptation of Waiting for Godot and performed the role of a step mother in the play called Tughlaq, directed by Abhinav Grover which was performed at Ranga Shankara (Bangalore), Veda Factory (Mumbai), Pune Theatre Festival and Chandigarh Theatre Festival. She has worked for Thespo and has created work for the festival. She has directed and edited a short film called Koshish which got nominated for Shorted. After achieving a merit-based scholarship at Drama School Mumbai, she performed in the final production for a play- Ilhaam which was directed by Sapan Saran. Recently she worked as an AD for an experimental play called Crumbs for Abhivyakti Art Festival, Ahmedabad. She has started her own production where in she directed and performed a clowning based play named Hang-in-There in Ahmedabad.

Meghna Manglani

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  Meghna Manglani is a Mumbai based actor-theatre maker. She has completed her graduation in Liberal Arts with a specialization in psychology from NMIMS University, where she was first introduced to theatre and filmmaking. She has done several short films in various different capacities like acting, direction and cinematography during her college days which were a part of different festivals. Feeding her curiosity in performing arts, she decided to pursue PG course in Acting and Theatre making from DSM. Meghna is also a movement enthusiast and finds meaning in the act of creation. She believes that art holds the potential to initiate important conversations and aspires to do the same through her body of work. She is part of a play called I Killed My Mother/ It Wasn’t My Fault and is working with Khoj Productions on the adaptation of the play ‘Yaatnaghar’, written by Mahesh Elkunchwar. She wishes to explore herself through the medium of art and develop her career in theatre and screen.

Pritesh Singh

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  Pritesh, an artist hailing from the vibrant city of Lucknow. With a passion for storytelling, Pritesh embarked on an artistic journey that encompasses street theatre, stage productions, and the camera. He is a graduate of Delhi University where he persuaded in Bachelors of commerce(H), it was D.U. where he was first introduced to the transformative power of drama through captivating street performance on the Kinner(Transgender) community of India that resonated with audiences.
  Driven by a relentless pursuit of artistic excellence, Pritesh further honed his skills at Drama School Mumbai, expanding his repertoire and embracing the art of acting both on stage and in front of the camera. Notably, he also had a privilege of learning from renowned figures such as Shree Surya Mohan Kulsheshtra, a recipient of the esteemed Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) award and former director of the Bharatendu Natya Academy (BNA). This collaboration enriched Pritesh’s artistic journey, deepening his understanding of the craft and broadening his creative horizons.
  He has also worked with esteemed production like AKvarious, through which he got the opportunity to show his talent on the prestigious stages of Prithvi Theatre and NCPA. Beyond his artistic pursuits, Pritesh finds inspiration in music, writing, and sports.

  With an unwavering love for the craft, he is driven by a deep-rooted passion for art and acting. It is this profound connection that fuels his dedication to storytelling and allows him to breathe life into each character he portrays.

Akshay Shridhar Chari

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  Akshay Shridhar has been practicing theatre since 6 years where he has been part of numerous productions and workshops. He was part of Mukesh Chhabra’s Production oriented workshop conducted by Kanupriya Shankar Pandit, Imtiaz Ali, N.K.Pant from NSD fame. He also was part of Artist Collective workshop conducted by Nitin Goel sir from FTII fame. Apart from these he did many productions with Samahaara theatre group based out of Hyderabad and founder of which was Rathna Shekhar Reddy. He also was actively involved in Delhi theatre circuit for more than a year. He also has trained himself in Carnatic vocals. Along with that he even did an advanced movement session with Seher Noor. He then went to pursue Theatre and Arts making course from Drama School Mumbai (2021-2022) batch. In Drama School he developed several interests which included Clowning, teaching and a keen artistic aye not just for talent but also design aspects.

  Skills: He is a trained Carnatic Vocals singer. He also has a flair for sports and well versed in sports like Cricket, Table Tennis etc. He also has learnt basics of Kalari and loves movement as it is a part of therapy. He has a keen artistic idea not just for talent but also design aspects that may include designing logos for social media etc. He is an excellent communicator and has great ability to research and foresee events. He is an engineer so has a technical mind too that comes in handy. He loves reading books and has lately developed interest in writing poetry and stories. He also has shown interest in honing his base instrument which is Piano.

  Recent works as an Artist after graduation from Drama School: He worked as casting co-ordinator for Castingwaala where he did the casting for non actors for 2 projects. He also got selected for teach for India. Currently he is working with Bollywood Actor and Dsm alumnus Vivaan parashar for his company called the Arena that teaches students in the age bracket of 6-19 years in Personality and Communication Development.

  All in all he wants to be a patron of art and all his endeavours are directed towards that.

Deepak Choudhary

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  Deepak Choudhary is a theater-maker and actor from Mahendragarh, Haryana. He graduated from Dyal Singh College as an English major. He has been pursuing theater for the last three years working in various productions in Delhi. He has acted in “Aadhe Adhure”, “Gadhe ki Baarat”, “Train to Pakistan”, “Toba Tek Singh” and many more. He has worked with major theater groups like Bela Theater Kaarwan, Ras Theater Group, Mask Theater Group and Treasure Art Association. He completed a workshop in psycho-physical acting conducted by NSD-graduates Joy Maisnam and Sajida. He also did a 3-month course in Method Acting from Jeff Goldberg Studio which culminated in a final production. Deepak is also actively engaged in sports, he was a state-level athlete in school. He enjoys yoga, calisthenics and weight-lifting. After graduating DSM, Deepak plans to pursue a career in stage and screen.

Somya Singh

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  Somya Singh is an actor, theatre maker, voice-over artist, dancer, and movement enthusiast who hails from Lucknow and is based in Mumbai currently. She holds a degree in B.Tech(Computer Science) from Amity University. Before joining Drama school, she also worked in corporate, while she was contemplating life’s purpose, she found that her passion can be turned into a purpose and she believes that art has the potential to make an impact in people’s lives, the way art is created, artist enacts, narratives get translated, it can really leave people with questions in their conscious and subconscious and can give them the impetus for evolvement which she aspires to do through her body of work. Somya is also a trained Voice-over artist and has done 2 voice-over courses from Bangalore post which she lent her voice to some brands and companies, that includes Delhi Public School, Toyota, Radio ad NZ, Shree Anand Milk Products, Axis Bank, Some NGO companies, etc. Despite Voice overs, she has also done some anchoring projects for corporate, and real-estate companies including stage and digital. As a movement enthusiast, she has got some training in hip-hop dance form, post DSM she has been practicing movement phrases and is getting professionally trained in contemporary dance form. Somya began acting in 2019 and has done some workshops by Atul Mongia, Neeraj Kabi, and some other Drama School Mumbai faculties. She is actively pursuing acting for the screen and can be seen in an upcoming movie called Bad boy by Rajkumar Santoshi, the web series “Ladies Hostel”, the Documentary “Beast of Bangalore of Indian Predator,” the Documentary Drama “Once upon a wedding” and has done multiple ads and TVCs for brands like Air Asia, Furlenco, Dunzo, Lays, ITC MasterChef, Poise, Central mall, CCD, Society Tea, Fittr, etc.
  Post DSM, she was part of a play called “Everything and Nothing” and also assisted “Sapan Saran” of Tamasha theatre for a play performed at NCPA by “TeachForIndia” NGO-based School kids.
  She looks forward to her journey as an artist on screen and stage and is curious to get advanced and deep training in whatever skills she has learned in DSM.

Sachit Ghai

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  Sachit Ghai is an actor and a theatremaker. He has performed for more than six years and worked professionally with different theatre companies in Delhi and Mumbai. He started his theatre journey with Asmita Theatre Group where he served in stories of various distinguished writers and was a part of over a hundred street plays.

  He then worked with The Actor’s Mirror, a theatre company in Delhi run by Girish Kumar (FTII), where he organized and performed in theatre festivals. He played parts in more than thirty stage productions of plays like Hisang: Hijra sang Gandhi, Yun to Nahi, Hota Mai Shayar Agar, Kathakaar ka
  Catharsis, and Behroopiya. These plays dealt with topics like trans and gender identity,
  family and interpersonal relationships, and social happenings like honor killing, casteism, and
  Religion. He co-directed the two-actor play Behroopiya and performed in it as well. He also worked as a drama facilitator and assisted in various acting workshops for adults.

  Sachit has also worked with Pravah Theatre Laboratory and trained with Neeraj Kabi.
  He then went on to work as an Assistant Director in a short feature film ‘Nice Kind’ with a team from FTII which was released on Humaramovie on Youtube. Post DSM he has been working on co-writing a play at The Actor’s Mirror and has been working as an Asst Director in films and TVC’s.

  Apart from all this, he is also trained in MuayThai martial arts, Chaau and Kalari.

Rahul Kumar

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  Rahul Kumar is an actor and theatre maker. He was born in Siwan and brought up in Patna. He is an engineer turned actor .He started his theatre journey in 2015 with college theatre group ” GAP (Getting Across To People)” and then started working professionally with Yours Truely theatre group by Nidhi Rao in Bangalore . After completing engineering, Kumar moved to Delhi to acquire training and started working with different groups -Renaisstance theatre by Mohit Tripathi, The Actor Mirror theatre group by “Girish kumar Singh”(FTII alumnus ) and others. He has also keen interest in music and physical activities such as martial arts.He can sing and play guitar and is currently training himself in gymnastic.He has worked in productions like Consequences, Trust no one, The Confession, Thugs and has been a part of renowned productions like Haivadan directed by Mohit Tripathi, “Yun to nhi”,” Hisang “ , “Behrupiya” – all of which were directed by Girish kumar Singh . After graduating from DSM he is working proactively with Tamasha theatre group in Mumbai, led by Sunil Shanbaug and Sapna Saran. He continues to train himself and hone his craft.

Aditi Chandwani

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  Aditi Chandwani has been performing since the age of 7 in various plays, musical and dance performances. She completed her BBA degree with a concentration in finance and marketing from Emory University while also taking introductory courses in both theater and film. At Emory she was the Public Relations Chair of the Drama Guild, an actor in the semester-end productions and she wrote and directed her own short film.
  She then started her career in investment banking working with Citigroup in both their New York and London offices. The Broadway and West-end performances in both these cities piqued her interest further in theater and music post which she enrolled in Drama School Mumbai and began training as a western contemporary singer.
  She assisted on a few plays and co-directed a children’s play. She is currently teaching students speech and drama. She is also working with a Fin-tech company for their Youtube channel content while simultaneously taking on projects in both theater and on-screen.

Lobsang Jimba Norbu

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  Lobsang is a vibrant concoction of creative conviction and flexible skill. He’s an actor/theatre maker who is currently based in Mumbai. From a juggled educational triangle of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Assam, He graduated from the Assam Valley School and migrated to Bangalore for his Bachelor’s degree at Christ University. In both bases, he made strides in theatre and other extracurriculars while never missing an academic beat, acting in multiple proscenium productions in School, and thrust and black box productions in college. He was part of a theatre troupe called Runaway Cabaret which successfully produced multiple shows in and around Bangalore. Graduating with a degree in Media, Psychology and English, he is well versed in ways to effectively excavate oneself. He is intrinsically ambitious about theatre and the artistic expression of thought. In a serendipitous turn of events, the pandemic let the theatre bugs out to stray. After a bunch of short lived stints in advertising, it was time to listen to the gut and apply for drama school. He grew in ways unbeknownst to him.

  After graduating from Drama school, Lobsang is en route to the stage as he is crafting his debut play “Is Mommy Home?”. He is also acting as DA on a film currently. Lobsang is hopeful for the future of art, film, and theatre.

Kush Joshi

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  Kush is an engineer from Manipal Institute Of Technology in Electronics and Communication, where he was an integral part of Blitzkrieg Dance Crew India.

  He won multiple pan india Hip Hop competitions and has been a trained dancer right from childhood having done multiple workshops with Shiamak Davar as well. He has done multiple workshops with Drama School Of Mumbai where he has undergone an intensive training in storytelling, acting, theatre making, movement etc.

  He is also trained in Natya Shastra having worked with Neeraj Kabi. He was the co director and actor for Manav Kaul’s play Ilhaam.

  He has also been a part of multiple ad shoots in Mumbai. Kush is also a fitness enthusiast and is a trained footballer who has played at the district level. He continues his work in acting for screen and theatre in Mumbai.

Vidur Khullar

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  Vidur Khullar is a vibrant and versatile Mumbai-based actor and theatre maker, whose passion for the performing arts shines through in his work. Born and raised in New Delhi, he completed his bachelors from Delhi University. He always had a creative spark, which was ignited when he joined a theatre group in college. From there, Vidur has never looked back, and his career has been filled with a variety of notable achievements. He has appeared in over 7 Theatre productions, of which, the production “Ashwa”, an Indian adaptation of the play Rhinoceros written by the french playwright Eugene Ioneseco bagged several accolades including the award for the best Ensemble and Design. He has also been a part of various Nukkad natak and Mime productions, all of which showcase his skill and versatility in the field.

  As a Final Production at DSM, he went on to be a part of the play ‘Butter and Mashed Banana’ written by Ajay Krishnan and mentored by Chanakya Vyas.
  Moreover, Vidur’s creative vision has extended to other areas of the arts, as he has served as an assistant director in two short films. He has honed his skills through workshops from “The Roots India” in Delhi and has taken the initiative to create his own theatre collective with his peers called Sea Squirts Theatre Collective. Right after Graduating from Drama School Mumbai, he opened his play called “Do Roti Kam”. Vidur’s artistic ambitions did not end there, as he continues to create his own work in Mumbai, building his career both in Theatre and Films.

Gargi Datar

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  She has been working in films and TVCs since the age of 7. She recently played the lead role in a Marathi film “Lek Asavi Tar Ashi” directed by Vijay Kondke and can be seen in the Amazon Prime web series Modern Love Mumbai: Cutting Chai. Some of her other prominent works are advertisements for Vodafone Delights, Berger Paints, Malabar Gold (Tamil & Telugu), Medicare, etc, a lead role in the film Havai Dada with Anupam Kher which opened Gandhinagar Film Festival, second lead in the film Zokkomon by Walt Disney, some regional Marathi films and more.

  She got introduced to theatre in Pune at the age of 10 through the Gripps movement by Maharashtra Cultural Centre and has been actively engaging in English, Marathi and Hindi theatre across Pune and Mumbai for the past 7 years. She also does Theatre Training and Facilitation for children.
  She is a second-generation Kathak dancer and started learning the form at age 5. She has completed her Alankar in the same. Gargi enjoys teaching the form as well, both online and offline.
  Gargi has varied interests in curating events, learnings in the cultural spaces outside of dance and theatre, writing about such findings and more.

  After DSM, she is keen to explore her classical learnings through other movement based practices and create new work around these narratives.

Aayush Sharma

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  Aayush Sharma is an Actor, Emcee, Theatre practitioner, and Trained singer from Surat. He refers to himself as an accidental performing artist, as he began his journey at the age of 11 when his step-uncle recognized his singing talent and included him in his ensemble, which performed across India. Alongside singing, he became involved in acting with a theatre group, igniting his interest in the craft.

  Aayush pursued Journalism and Mass Communication from GGSIP University, Delhi, during which he extensively worked on radio and television productions. He produced audio stories featuring works by Saadat Hassan Manto and Premchand and participated in various television productions as part of university showcases. Notably, he was awarded the title of best orator for his performance in “Dastan-E-Cinema,” a docudrama series on Indian Cinema History.

  Driven by his passion for theatre’s transformative power, Aayush pursued a PG course in Acting and Theatre Making from Drama School Mumbai. He aimed to create a platform for emerging talent and innovative storytelling, leading to the establishment of Soot Stories.

  Under Aayush’s leadership, Soot Stories has thrived, earning acclaim for its bold artistic vision and commitment to community engagement. As the company continues to grow, Aayush remains dedicated to nurturing talent, fostering collaboration, and championing the transformative potential of theatre for generations to come.Aayush Sharma is an Actor, Emcee, Theatre practitioner, and Trained singer from Surat. He refers to himself as an accidental performing artist, as he began his journey at the age of 11 when his step-uncle recognized his singing talent and included him in his ensemble, which performed across India. Alongside singing, he became involved in acting with a theatre group, igniting his interest in the craft.

  Aayush pursued Journalism and Mass Communication from GGSIP University, Delhi, during which he extensively worked on radio and television productions. He produced audio stories featuring works by Saadat Hassan Manto and Premchand and participated in various television productions as part of university showcases. Notably, he was awarded the title of best orator for his performance in “Dastan-E-Cinema,” a docudrama series on Indian Cinema History.

  Driven by his passion for theatre’s transformative power, Aayush pursued a Master’s in Theatre Production and Screen Acting from Drama School Mumbai. He aimed to create a platform for emerging talent and innovative storytelling, leading to the establishment of Soot Stories.

  Under Aayush’s leadership, Soot Stories has thrived, earning acclaim for its bold artistic vision and commitment to community engagement. As the company continues to grow, Aayush remains dedicated to nurturing talent, fostering collaboration, and championing the transformative potential of theatre for generations to come.

Alumni 2020-21

Astha Gulati

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  Astha Gulati is an actor and a theatre-maker who found her calling for acting during her college days. She went on to do summer workshops with the Tadpole Repertory, Delhi in both acting and writing. She collaborated as an actor on a play titled ‘Prithvi’ with Kuljeet Singh from Atelier Repertory Company, Delhi. The play focused on the environmental politics that has engulfed our country and it was performed in several states. She has done a few YouTube sketches & ads.

  While completing her training from DSM, she and few of her peers worked on a play titled ‘Episodes of her attempt’ which got selected for Thespo Audiotorium Season 2. Astha has also spent 3 yrs in copywriting and scriptwriting for the Advertising industry.

  She further plans to work as an actor for both, theatre and screen.

Freya Kothari

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  Freya Kothari is a cross form theatre practitioner and actor. She graduated with a Theatre Major and Bachelors in Media and English from Christ University, Bangalore and from Drama School Mumbai.

  Her engagement with theatre started in school during the annual musicals and crept in throughout college. In college she was thoroughly engaged with theatre across all departments of theatre making ranging from direction to design to marketing and PR.

  Most noticeable work was The Crucible and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (Director) and The Lion King (Choreographer and Design). This is where she found herself taking up multiple roles (even the non-acting ones :P) and went on to produce theatre. She was the Executive Producer of India’s largest Theatre Festival – The Shakespeare Comedy Theatre Festival and toured 10 cities with 44 shows nationally and internationally she took the plays to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. She also produced the Vagina Monologues in Bangalore.

  She then went on to produce ad films and then moved to Art Direction for ads films. Some of her clients were Myntra, Ajio, Homecenter, Fastrack, Titan, Asian Paints, Puruvankara, Karle Varios among others. She also worked as an Asst. Production Designer on the film Mumbai Saga.
  She has worked on plays with Quiver Productions, Barking Dog Productions, Trishla Patel and Hidayat Sami in different capacities (actor, director, production/set designer).

  She is currently working with Akshay Gandhi (Still Space Theatre, Bangalore) on a site-specific play, as well as directing an ensemble piece that uses equal parts of text and movement and finds devising to generate material.

Meghna Roy Choudhury

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  Meghna Roy Choudhury is a trained Bharatnatyam dancer and has completed her master’s degree in Physics. Recently she was recruited at Indianostrum theatre, Pondicherry as an actor in their Therukoothu production of Veer Abhimanyu.

  She has performed in English, Hindi, Bangla, Marathi and Tamizh plays. She was selected for NSD Theatre Appreciation Course 2020 and MAMI Young Critics Lab 2020. She was selected by John Britton as a mentee at IAPAR’s emerging interdisciplinary theatre artists’ lab, 2020.

  Currently she is associated with Theatron Entertainments Pune and with them she has done various plays, including Mickey, which was nominated for META awards 2020 and currently she has been commissioned to write a Bangla play.

  Her play, ‘Hangman’s Noose Knot’ , was selected for Thespo Auditorium Season 2 competition.

  Apart from theatre she has acted on screen in a Netflix original series, ‘She’ Season 2 and in various FTII student films. She has also been a voice actor for radio plays on Radio Mirchi.

Mithil Raj Goswami

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  During his Engineering days in MIT Manipal, Mithil has actively been a part of their college theatre group since 2014 to 2019. He started with street plays and then started performing in stage in Udupi, Mangalore and Bangalore before briefly training in Yakshagana under world renowned Guru Sanjeev Suvarna for a production and found the importance of rhythm and body in theatre. In 2019 Mithil went back to his hometown Guwahati, Assam where the theatre culture was seeing a shift towards contemporary content in Assamese and English. He became a part of Agora- the space where they devise work through theatre exercises and also introducing the city to the black box culture. Later that year, Mithil shifted his work base to Mumbai and performed at Thespo festival in a fringe performance and also in Prithvi theatre festival. During the pandemic Mithil did an international collaboration through Thespo with Dr. Peter Gould under his Shakespeare Company in Vermont, Get thee to the funnery where he did Merchant of Venice in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and also performed in the TATA Literature Live Festival. After Drama School Mumbai, Mithil has been part of Yakshagana shows in Udupi and Pune. He has also performed a corporate play, has been part of D for Drama’s production, Rahul Rai’s latest play Dot Dot Dot and Studio Tamaasha’s play Words have been uttered. Mithil currently is an Assistant Voice Facilitator at DSM.

Norman Leslie Doss V

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  Norman Leslie Doss is a multifaceted storyteller who loves exploring the various art forms to do it through. Having completed his undergraduate degree in Theatre Studies, English and Psychology from Christ University, Norman has been an avid theatre enthusiast for more than 5 years.
  At Christ, he has experimented with and worked in various kinds of plays such as Shakespearean, Greek and musical plays. He has extensive experience with every aspect of the stage (and backstage). Apart from having worked as a lead actor, extra, and crew member, Norman’s interests also extend into set designing and fight choreography.

  Norman has interned with Dance With Me studio, the Indianostrum Theatre (Pondicherry) and has worked as stage manager on a Thespo project with Dot Theatre. Most recently, he has completed the DSM advanced training that was held in an offline residential mode.

  Apart from all of this, Norman’s interests include stage as well as screen acting; Shakespearean theatre is something he aims to explore more in the future.

Prabhuti Desai

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  Prabhuti is a theatre artist and a movement enthusiast. After graduating as an architect from SCET, Surat, she was keen to pursue her passion for performing arts. She started her journey in the field in 2016 with the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts. Since then, she has been training herself to quench her thirst for learning different forms of performing arts. Parallelly, she was also working as an architect and designer in Ahmedabad.

  She participated in numerous workshops and residencies by Darpana, Fanatika, Adishakti and Duende, to name a few. She has been a part of the ‘Self-with-Others’ Residency conducted by John Britton and Adishakti Residency. She performed at Natraani Amphitheatre as a part of students productions – where she worked under Revanta Sarabhai and Jignesh Patel for Unsuni, Viviana Bovino and Gregorio Amicuzi (Italy) for Body Memory (a physical theatre piece) and Vilas Janve for a mime piece. She has trained in Kalaripayattu. Her movement training comprises various movement programs with Somya Kautia. She has performed various movement pieces online and on stage.

  Quitting her job, she started her new journey in acting and theatre-making with Drama School Mumbai in 2020. After Drama School training, she successfully finished a course called Creative and Cultural Businesses Program by IIM-A, in which she started working on her passion project. She desires to create immersive and participatory experiences for people so that they can be provoked to discover their creative selves, the way she could discover her creative self through performing arts.

  She is keen on creating her performances for stage and plans to start teaching theatre and movement. In long term, she hopes to open up her concept space; a democratic space to build a community of like-minded people, where art can thrive and people can experience art and experiment.

Prashant Kumar Singh

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  Prashant started his theatre journey in 2016 in Delhi with Bhaav Arts Theatre Group.He went on to do numerous perfomances of street plays based on different social issues like national disintegration, drug usage, religion and faith. With the government of Delhi, the group travelled to different villages with members of the NGO to help the people affected with drug use and not able to chuck the habit. They travelled to rehabs understanding the journey and the path that led them where they were in their journeys. He has also been working in screen projects, starting from acting directing in short films for collegiate festivals, he went on to act as the main antagonist in a zero budget web series “The Journey Into the Night” which is available on Vodafone Play and Airtel X Stream. Currently, he is acting in Chuhal, adapted by Alternative Space Project, which is going to be performed in Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Delhi.

  Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/prashant.k.singh.9465
  Instagram-@practicallyimpossible17

Rishabh Kanti

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  Rishabh Kanti is a graduate from Manipal Institute of Communication. While still at college, he started working as an actor in various theatre groups. His acting career in Mumbai started when he screened a play for Thespo 19 and later became a Thespo Fellow for a year. He has worked in DforDrama’s ‘Transfer Kid’ & ‘Golden Jubilee’, BeTaal’s ‘Tughlaq’ (Fringe performance at Prithvi Festival ’19), Aranya’s ‘Rangaai’. He has worked/trained with theatremakers like Quasar Thakore Padamsee, Toral Shah, Manav Kaul, Atul Kumar, Neeraj Kabi, Kirtana Kumar, Peter Gould, Suba Das and Peter Rinderknect among others. He is going to be a part of ‘Greatest Show On Earth’ by Vikram Kapadia which is a part of Prithvi Festival ’22.

Rohit Thapa

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  Rohit Thapa completed his BSC from Mumbai University in chemistry. In college he joined NSS (National Service Scheme) and participated in a lot of social awareness programs in which street plays were the medium. He was actively involved in writing, performing and directing of those Street Plays. In his college, along with a group of people he formed a theatre club called “V the change”. He also worked with this organization called MAVA (Men Against Violence And Abuse) and performed street plays with them and facilitated their gender and sexuality sessions.

  After that he took one year acting training in 5 senses group and performed and did backstage work in many plays. He went on and worked with Aarambha Mumbai and Afsana theatre group. After Drama School Mumbai he wants to create his own work and explore opinions and ideas towards the truth of the society and how it reflects in his own body.

Sachin Ravindran

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  Sachin is an aspiring actor and theatre maker from Kerala. He worked as an architect for two years, before deciding to pursue his passion for theatre. He is a trained Indian classical singer, has won many inter-school and college competitions and was titled ‘Kalaprathibha’ for the State level Youth Festival in 2013. His passion for theatre began from a very early age, while participating and directing plays in school and took shape while conducting case studies on Theatre schools in India for an architectural project. An agile mover, he integrates physical work to explore characters and includes movement and Kalaripayattu as a part of his regular practice. He worked as an asssistant director and in the production design/execution, with Our Theatre Collective in Bangalore in their latest original multilingual play ‘Imagine a room’. He is currently working with Indianostrum Théâtre in Pondicherry as a full-time theatre artist. He has trained in Therukoothu a tamil traditional folk form with Kalaimamani Dr. Purisai Kannappa Sambandan and played character of Saindhavan(Jayadratha) in ‘The tragedy of Abhimanyu’, a Therukoothu play, which toured in different parts of Tamil Nadu and completed 12 shows since it premiered in the end of March 22. While being actively involved in theatre he also wishes to explore all mediums as an artist including screen. His long term goal is to build a space for artists from all arenas to collaborate and create together.

Sarthak Sharma

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  Sarthak is an actor and theatre maker who was born and raised in Noida. He holds a degree in Mechanical engineering and had worked for 3 years before pursuing theatre and acting.

  Sarthak did theatre at an amateur level in his college where he was a part of the theatre society and performed in stage and street plays. In college, he also found his love for Stand Up Comedy which he continued after graduation and performed comedy in multiple venues across Delhi, Gurgaon, and Noida.

  Sarthak is also actively pursuing acting for the screen. He can be seen in an upcoming Independent Film called Meghdoot (Cloud Messenger) directed by Rahat Mahajan. He also played a a primary character in the Nazar Battu Web Series called Classmates. He has also been a part of 5 Short films like “Chalte Rahiye Janab”, which won Silver Film at IFP Season X and “Kakbagodaa” which won at the Indie Film Summit. Apart from these he has done a T-Series music video for Guru Randhawa and multiple advertisements of brands like ACCA, McDonalds, OnePlus, Subway, TrulyMadly and Airtel among others. He is also associated and has worked under Atul Mongia’s Artist Collective and Saurabh Sachdeva’s The Actors Truth, where he made three short films which he wrote, acted, directed and edited.

  At Drama School he found body practices like Kalaripayttu and Contemporary movement, practices which he has continued even post the school. Also during his training at DSM, he was part of an ensemble that created a play titled ‘Episodes of her attempt’ which got selected for Thespo Audiotorium Season 2. After DSM he has been working with Studio Tamaasha under Sunil Shanbag and also did a movement theatre piece called ‘Where is my mind’.

  Sarthak is very excited and looks forward to his journey as an actor on stage and screen and as an artist and how he can be part of projects that help create a difference and challenge him and his surroundings.

Satvik Mahajan

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  Satvik Mahajan is an actor, theatre maker and dancer. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Vellore Institute of Technology.

  As an actor, Satvik has worked with prominent theatre companies in Bangalore like Bangalore Little Theatre, Indian Ensemble and Still Space Theatre Company. He has done various TVCs and Digital Ads for brands like Spotify, Toyota, Nescafe, Reliance Trends, Bounce Bikes, Verisign and Manipal University. He was seen as a lead in short film “Truth or Trash” directed by Praveen Whitefield, and two music videos “Tum Mere Ho” and “Zindagi Ke Safar Mein”.

  Satvik is trained in movement from P.A.R.T.S, a school for contemporary dance. He works as an Indian contemporary dancer with a Bangalore based dance company Nritarutya, for various shows across India. He has also performed with Daksha Seth Dance Company in Trivandrum and in Telegu feature Film named “Mahanati”.

  Satvik Worked as a choreographer in Colors Kannada Dance Reality Show “Takadimita” and various Corporate Companies like Make My Trip, Goibibo, Redbus, Unilever, SAP labs, First Advantage, British Telecom, Shell India and Paytm. He is also trained in Kalarippayattu and kathak.

  Satvik is looking forward to work with different theatre companies in Bangalore and Bombay. He is working towards pursuing a career on big screen.

Sharodiya Chowdhury

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  Sharodiya is a trained actor and theatre maker based out of Mumbai. She graduated with a B.A.LL.B (Hons) from Narsee Monjee’s Kirit P. Mehta’s School of Law, Mumbai before training at the Drama School Mumbai (Batch 2020-21)

  As an Actor, she featured in the short film “Dekhish ki Amon Bhabhe” which streams on Disney Plus Hotstar and has performed corporate shows with Leogirl Productions. In her earlier days, she trained and performed with Ramnath Tharwal’s troupe in Mumbai.

  As a Playwright, her first full length play titled ‘Product of the System’ and was
  selected to be mentored as one of the ten writers from India for the ‘Unblock’ workshop
  conducted by the Traverse Theatre(Scotland) and Rage Productions. For the same play she was awarded ‘Best Writer’ at CINTAA’s ActFest’19. In a writing programme between Thespo and National Student Drama Festival, London as a part of the project with another young British writer she wrote a full length play – ‘Paperwalls’ which was showcased at Thespo’s annual youth theatre festival.

  As a Director, she directed the dramatic reading of the play, ‘The Golden Dragon’ by Roland Schimmelpfenning in collaboration with Goethe Institut and Thespo at Prithvi House, Mumbai. In the pandemic, she adapted the same for the online medium at the TATA Literature Live Fest’21.

  Along with pursing her career for the screen, she hopes to start her production house ‘Golpo Productions’ where she intends to experiment with Bengal’s folk forms and make them accessible to the cosmopolitan audiences by marrying modern and traditional conventions of storytelling.

Shivam Vig

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  A hotel management graduate, Shivam worked in the hospitality sector for about a decade before giving it up to pursue his long-held dream of making a career in the field of theatre arts. Throughout this period, however, he was consistently acting in plays on the side and gave more than a dozen performances with various theatre companies/groups across Delhi, Pune, and Bangalore.

  After graduating from the DSM, he is currently collecting experiences – both of the stage as well as of life, along with pursuing a career on screen.

  He has worked with multiple theatre companies like MukhaMugam, Still Space Theatre, Namkampani etc. and has also been attending individual workshops to hone his skills further. His puppetry performance ‘Ulta Pulta’ with Namkampani was one of the ancillary acts at Rangashankara’s Aha! International Children’s Festival 2022. He has also been a part of various corporate training teams and corporate theatre shows.

  Along with theatre, Shivam is also a voice artist and lends his voice to various audio modes on multiple platforms. He’s recently recorded an audiobook for Audible and regularly lends his voice to ‘Headfone’ app which makes audio series content in Hindi.
  Shivam has also shot multiple digital ads for brands like Infosys, Headfone etc. along with some short films.

  Simultaneously, he’s looking to make his own work based on the stories that he considers relevant to today’s world. The time at the school has opened him up to different avenues which he would like to explore in the time to come. These include dramaturgy and Shakespeare among others.

  In the long term, he plans to take up teaching theatre as a way of paying back to the art form and hopefully open up an art space which allows for the engagement of the art form with the community.

Shreya Sharma

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  Shreya was introduced to theatre at a very young age. But back then, performing with the local theatre group was a mere hobby. It was only during her undergraduation days in Sophia College, Mumbai, that she revived her love for performing arts. Before spending a year studying theatre at The Drama School, Mumbai (DSM), she had a stint with OTT platforms in the production front. However, after being a part of the PG Diploma Course in Acting and Theatre-Making during the lockdown, she understood she belonged in front of the camera and not behind it.

Shreyan Saraswat

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  Shreyan is an actor, writer & theatre-practitioner based in Mumbai. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from KKWIEER college before training with the Drama School Mumbai (20-21).

  He has been a part of an International Docu-Drama series called Fool’s gold directed by British Indie Film-maker Darcy Gladwin.
  He has played the lead role in short films like “Farsighted” & “The Art of Tying your Shoelaces”.
  He played a Secondary character in a webseries called “Keep rolling” by Shivaji Storm Sen’s Embracing Chaos productions.

  He has performed in an adaptation of “4.48 Psychosis” directed by Srinivas Beesetty for Bangalore Little Theatre with shows at RangaShankara & Allianz francaise in Bangalore. He performed in a Devised Hybrid performance piece on climate change called “My peace is not your piece” directed by Piyali Dasgupta which had online & physical shows.

  He has performed at Prithvi House as a part of Remembering Dubey Theatre festival in Dec 2019 directed by Hidayat Sami and Trishala Patel. He performed in an adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar’s “”Jaati hi Pucho Sadhu ki”” with Vihangam theatre group in Mumbai. He performed in Kommune’s Tamasha in a dramatic reading of Sadat Hasan Manto’s “”Aql Daadh”” directed by Sheena Khalid.

  Most Recently, He has been working on a long term project called Border Busters, An Indo German Artistic exchange program with Schauburg theatre and Kirtana Kumar’s Theatre Lab ( Youth ) with performances in Munich & Bangalore.

  Shreyan is currently working towards finding his unique voice as an artist & creating his own work.

Siddhant Arora

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  Siddhant Arora is an actor, writer, bookseller and publisher based out of Dehradun. After being in and out of the street theatre in college, he got a chance to perform at Prithvi for Thespo, paving the way towards more acting workshops and Drama School Mumbai.

  He aims to introduce Dehradun to the idea of theatre games and get playfulness back to the town. Theatre as a form serves the most fundamental human need – to witness and be witnesses, with that, he wishes to transform the world; if not that, just himself.

Vrinda Malhotra

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  Vrinda completed her B.Sc. in Life Sciences from SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi. There she was an active member of the theatre society, Ankur where she performed in both street and stage plays. The plays were based on topics pertinent to the society and were performed at National School of Drama, JNU and Indian Habitat Centre.

  She then went on to work with theatre groups in Delhi such as Third Space Collective and CROW. She also worked with Production Designer, Parul Sondh in the art department for Kanu Behl’s feature film Agra. After training at Drama School Mumbai she wishes to stitch her experiences within theatre and camera to embody plural truths through acting and performance.

Medha Sagari

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  Medha Sagari is an artist, storyteller based in Kerala. After completing her graduation in English literature from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala she joined the Drama School Mumbai from where she did Foundation course in Acting and Theatre-making.
  Medha is a trained Kathakali artist and has been practicing over 7 years.
  She worked as a fellow for Thespo India. She’s currently pursuing her masters in visual storytelling from Bournemouth University.

Namrata Tipirneni

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  Namrata Tipirneni is an actor-writer from Hyderabad.

  She started her journey in theatre doing various inter-collegiate productions of proscenium and street plays. Prior to DSM, she has worked with the Hyderabad based theater group Samahaara on plays like ‘The Last Wish Baby’ (adaptation of William Seebring’s The Original Last Wish Baby) and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’.

  She co-founded her own theatre and film production, The Cutting Chai Company and staged their original play, ‘Kabaddi- The Game of Partition’. She has also co-written and acted in the short film, ‘To Me From Me’ by The Cutting Chai Company. She has recently worked in the web series ‘Commitmental’, Telugu movie, ‘Agent’ and an indie movie, ‘Inko Coffee’.

  Namrata is a UN award winning writer who won accolades at the Peace in the Streets Global Film Festival in 2016.

  As an actor and a writer, she wants to tell stories rooted in her truth and invite people into her world, blurring boundaries and creating new realities.

Rashmi Khanna

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  Rashmi Khanna is a multidisciplinary artist based in Mumbai but currently working in Pondicherry with the Indianostrum Theatre as an actor. She was trained in classical dance form Bharatnatyam at a very young age followed by Jazz from the Danceworx. She is trained in Therukoothu (a Tamil Nadu based folk form), Kalaripayattu (a martial art form) including the stick work and trained in Theatre music with Amod Bhatt.

  Theatre journey for her started in college and by the final year, she was professionally performing with artists, courtesy, the youth theatre festival Thespo. She has performed in Kala Ghoda Festival, Prithvi Theatre Festival, Thespo where her play was staged in Prithvi Theatre under the full act plays and Purisai Festival. She has performed in Mumbai at NCPA, St. Andrews, and out of Mumbai as well. Her performances have been for city audiences and because of Indianostrum, she also has been able to travel and perform across villages and towns in South India.

  Along with being an actor, she’s also assisted directors and worked on productions with Bhasa Centre, AGP and wrote and co-directed a few others.

Vidur Sethi

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  Vidur Sethi is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural practitioner. Their practice is located at the intersection of performance, writing and curation.

  After their Masters in Literature from School of Letters at Ambedkar University Delhi, Vidur completed a specialisation in editing from the Seagull School of Publishing, later participating in the Foundations of Acting and Theatre Making course at the Drama School Mumbai. They’ve also been a part of different theatre workshops, have faciliated courses in literature and performance practice at schools in Delhi before choosing to create their time as an uninterrupted movement within the arts for their practice to slowly find its locus in the idea of ‘processing deviance.’

  Their works in the field of arts and culture include playing the lead part in ‘Pine Cone,’ a film by National Award Winning director Onir; the film is set to release next year. Additionally, they’ve been a features writer for the arts at STIRworld and have works published in the Hakara Journal, Artdose Zine and Seagull School of Publishing Blogs. Further, Vidur has collaborated in performance pieces such as ‘Ruins in Reverse,’ ‘Mothership of a Whippersnapper,’ ‘Home to War Kitchen,’ ‘Coming out Party for the Androgynous Tree,’ and ‘Masculinity’ to name a few (presented at spaces such as NSD, Goethe-Institut/Max Muller Bhavan, JNU, Lok Kala Manch) in the capacity of an actor, dramaturge, scenographer, writer and curator. Hosting the Artdose Podcasts and working as the Curator of Physical Art at Terrain.art, Vidur’s practice currently finds an occupation into the extension of imagination of an actor’s body which negotiates with norms that entail the institutional spaces of performance. They’ve previously co-curated a show titled ‘memorising pf-nh’ at India Art Fair that looks at the future of NFTs and fungibility in the Global Art Scene and are the co-founder of a book club which has diversified into The Gnamma Collective — a space-time for having exchanges on artistic and political processes.

Anjana

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  Anjana is an actor-creator and writer based in Bombay. Stories and storytelling is how she connects with the world; she intends to tell a few tall tales through her body and words to make a living. Currently, she is processing and reimagining stories as a way to cope and reflect upon her disorientation with body, gender, the socio-political landscape we inhabit, and the narratives that we tell each other to stay alive. Apart from creating, she is deeply interested in the technical aspects of putting together a performance, especially production and stage management. When not running away from creating work, you can find her trying to arrange the right clip and filling excel sheets with much enthusiasm and love. Anjana last worked as the production assistant for the play Swallow (2022), directed by Arghya Lahiri.

  They come from the school of collaborative processes and horizontal power structures in theatre-making and otherwise. Dismantling, resisting hierarchies, and creating an equitable space is of utmost importance to them and their practice. Additionally, they are equally passionate about research and documentation in the realm of art and cultural practices.

Ashmita Arjun Chhabria

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  Ashmita is an actor, writer and director who is avidly interested in understanding and deconstructing the heightened drama found in popular media and culture. She is deeply curious about desire and sexuality, technology and business as sites for narrative building by using the tools and histories of fashion, poetry, humour, and movement. Her practice functions in a medium agnostic manner, serving story over form. Her narratives tread the delicate balance between personal and political and centre female desire and subjectivities at the intersection of class and economics.

  She has worked in the capacity of a director for Three And Then Some in collaboration with Chennai Arts Theatre for the Erotica Theatre Festival, and Co-written and Co-directed The Gentlemen’s Hourglass at Rangashankara in Bangalore. And as an actor, performed Norway.Today by Igor Bauersima in association with Goethe Institute among other productions. Additionally, she has worked as a freelance screenwriter for a variety of OTT platforms. She is the founder of Runaway Cabaret – a performance collective and an experiment in experiential marketing. Her educational history includes a BA in Theatre Studies, Literature and Psychology from Christ University, Bangalore and an acting and writing intensive at Stagedoor Manor, New York.

Aarohi Sharma

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  Aarohi did her graduation from NIFT, but striving through a conflicted passion for academia and performing arts she finally went on to choose the latter. She did her debut as a female lead in a film called ‘Matto ki Saikal‘ by Prakash Jha Productions which went to Busan, SAIFF 2020 and then released in cinemas all over India in 2022. The film received an award for Best Feature Film at DCSAFF in 2022. She also works as a drama educator now and has conducted workshops for Dia Mirza, Sanjana Sanghi and Fatima Sana Shaikh.

  She started her acting journey in school with Mr. Stephen Marazzi and acted in musical plays like Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Pilgrim’s Progress. During her stint in NIFT being the Cultural Secretary of college, she led the theatre team and was also actively involved with an independent body called ‘Chhaap’ and performed over 80 street and stage plays for government bodies like NCB, Govt of Gujarat, GIDC, BSF, Ahmedabad & Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation. She actively performed in the Ahmedabad – Gandhinagar circuit and won first position at IIM – Ahmedabad, IIT – G, GNLU, NID etc.

  Post DSM training, she inculcated breath & release work from her spiritual journey and went onto curate special modules. This led her to conduct a workshop for Dia Mirza, Fatima Sana Sheikh & Sanjana Sanghi for their upcoming film Dhak Dhak. She has also worked with Teach for India, Hiranandani International School & Ahmedabad International School.

  Apart from theatre she has always been actively involved in dancing and was selected to pursue Professional Dance Certification from The Danceworx in jazz and contemporary dancing. She is also trained in Hindustani Classical Music from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad.
  Her passion for amalgamating academia and art has made her work with organizations like WWF-India, IIM – Ahmedabad, TVF etc. Post DSM, she was also selected to attend the one-year diploma in classical theatre at NDS Varanasi.

Alumni 2019-20

Aaditya Rawat

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  Aaditya is an aspiring clown. He was working as an assistant director in production companies (Trinity Films and Nirantar Productions) before joining Drama School Mumbai. He participated in a clowning workshop by Rupesh Tillu that made him pursue Theatre-Making. After completing his course at DSM, he interned with Theatre Professionals Private Limited and the Third Space Collective, exploring Theatre and Education. He then joined K12 Techno Services as a Theatre Curriculum Planner. He is also a Theatriculate Fellowship 2022 awardee and is currently working on his own play. 

Akash Ghosalkar

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  Akash Ghosalkar has done his bachelors in Management Studies from Lala Lajpatrai College. He is an actor, writer and director. Born in Mumbai, Akash has been doing theatre since his college days and has performed in multiple college level festivals. 

  After college, he chose a different path where he began working in production for films and web. He also worked as a casting assistant. He later wrote and directed a couple of independent short films. His short film Ajay, directed by Vikrant Dhote, in which he played one of the protagonists, won Best Narrative at Kashish International Film Festival.

  He has worked as a Production and Stage Manager with director Faezeh Jalali for her plays, Shikhandi and 07/07/07. He has also had training in the Meisner Technique. Akash is currently working as an actor in the plays Shikhandi by Faezeh Jalali and Dry Ice by Vikram Phukan. He has worked in web shows and is pursuing his career in stage and screen acting.

Ashish Atrey

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  Ashish Atrey is a theatre practitioner, writer and scholar. He has completed his Masters in Theatre and Performance Studies at Ambedkar University, Delhi. In 2019, he went on to pursue the one year theatre training program at The Drama School, Mumbai.

  Ashish’s efforts are towards Devising a Research-Orientated Theatre Practice with major

  emphasis on training and experimentation. He has worked with theatre directors like Anuradha Kapur, Abhilash Pillai and Deepan Sivaraman in different capacities ranging from actor, scenographer, assistant director to stage manager.

  Mohan Rakesh’s Ashadh Ka Ek Din, Shakespeare’s King Lear, Macbeth and Ari Sitas’ Dark Things are few of the dramatic productions he has worked in. He is currently a repertory member at Indianostrum Theatre. 

Jai Khadilkar

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  Jai is an actor, theatre maker and voice artiste based in Mumbai. Prior to pursuing formal training at the DSM, he worked across several media parallels, from being an artiste manager to a copywriter, eventually venturing into and establishing a career in voiceovers under the moniker, The.Vox.Fox 

  Having had limited experience in theatre before, Jai developed a keen pursuit for performance and production in the medium upon graduating from the DSM, and began serving as assistant director and stage manager in Vikram Phukan’s play Dry Ice for Theatre Jil Jil Ramamani. As an actor he has showcased in Boundless Media’s: Brave New World, Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach on Disney+ Hotstar and Good Bad Girl on SonyLiv.

Koyel Sahoo

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  Koyel Sahoo is an actor, theatre-maker and model. She started performing at an early age in a community temple premises in Delhi and continued it further in college while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Maths Hons. from Ambedkar University, Delhi. After that, she came to Drama School Mumbai to learn more.

  She is the co-creator of Inching Closer, an interactive audio experience on connection and intimacy. Her most recent theatrical performances include The Unnatural Tragedy by Margaret Cavendish, They Do Not Move and Other Misunderstandings, an adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, and Don Juan Tenorio for The Instituto Cervantes. She has acted in three student film productions and one short film called Unbinding which has been screened at various film festivals, Indian and International, winning eleven of them. As a theatre facilitator, she has worked with Joy of Drama, Slam Out Loud and Pandiemonium Kalakaar Collective, teaching children and young adults. With DSM, she works as a Technical Support for the online classes and workshops.

  She is deeply interested in and practices various movement forms and her style of performing, creating work and self-expression is a reflection of her diverse learnings from Physical theatre, Yoga, Capoeira, Butoh, Jazz, Laban techniques and Kalaripayattu.

Lakshay Chawla

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  Lakshay Chawla is an actor and a theatre maker based out of Mumbai. He has been active in the Delhi and Mumbai theatre circuit since 2010. He has been a part of The Players, the drama society of Kirori Mal College. He was selected for the play kaunsa gaon kiska khet commissioned by Indian activist Vandana Shiva for her group Navdanya.

   After graduating from college, Lakshay continued working in the theatre. He has managed productions like Piya Behrupiya and Khwab Sa by the Company theatre. He is an alumnus of the Drama school Mumbai.

  After graduating, he directed the play Beds which was supported by Drama School Mumbai Foundation. He has worked as an actor in plays like Cymbeline and The Unnatural Tragedy. He continues to work as a freelance actor and director in Mumbai.

Manasi Bhawalkar

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  Manasi has been doing theatre since 2012. She started out by doing backstage management for Grips Plays, and then performed on the stage for the first time in a play called Deewar Mein Ek Khidki Rehti Thi directed by Mohan Maharshi, which was for a student production for FTII. She has performed in 11 plays till date.

  Manasi has also acted in several short films, and feature films such as Photocopy (Marathi), Tikli And Laxmi Bomb, both on available on Netfix. She is also seen in Devi Aur Hero which is being screened at various film festivals currently.

  She has a little training in classical music and dance. She has been under the guidance of Mita Vasisht. In 2018, she received a silver medal for acting from the Government of Maharashtra in the Rajya Natya Spardha. Manasi also received a Nomination for Best Actress at the Zee Natya Gaurav for the play Sameekaran. 

  Post Drama School Mumbai, she has worked in a digital performance Colour of Loss, directed by Mohit Takalkar. She is one of the leads in a Marathi web series called Hinga Pustak Talwar for Planet Marathi.

  She is currently working with Manav Kaul’s Aranya theatre group in the play Jo Dooba So Paar. Manasi has also been a part of various TVF Girliyapa videos. She recently made her debut as a lead actor in a Marathi film called Soyrik – directed by National Award winning filmmaker Makarand Mane. And has been nominated as the best actress for the same.

Mansi S Puggal

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  Mansi believes that art is the best way to heal the world. It has the power to effect subconscious and lasting change on humanity.

  To pursue her journey as an artist, she joined DSM right after her graduation from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. After exploring college theatre as an actor-director-writer through multilingual productions of Romeo and Juliet (as Juliet), Silence! The Court is in Session (as Benare), Othello, Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead, and many others, she chose to get some formal training. She is currently continuing her exploration as a student actor at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.

  She worked briefly as a drama facilitator with Joy of Drama, Delhi and with Hiranandani Foundation School, Mumbai. She also performed in a digital production of Margaret Cavendish’s The Unnatural Tragedy directed by British director Graham Watts.

  She is a trained Kathak dancer, a fitness enthusiast, and a martial artist.

  Her debut film, Lailaa Manju is currently doing the rounds in the film festival circuit.

  She is glad that she is striving to make the world a better place, one performance at a time! 

Nandakumar GK

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  Nandakumara has been pursuing theatre for more than a decade. He began his theatre journey from Rangabharati theatre group, located in his hometown, Huvinahadagali in Karnataka. To pursue further expertise in theatre, he joined the Ninasam Theatre School in Karnataka. After completing his course in Ninasam he worked at the Ninasam Tirugaata Repertory. Subsequently, he also began writing stories which got published in regional newspapers in Karnataka. 

  He has received BCS Iyyengar Fellowship from Ninasam Pratishtana for developing further theatrical works. Upon joining DSM, Nandakumar also received scholarships from the Dr. Shankar Shesh Foundation, TATA Trust and the INLAKS Foundation to pursue his education. After completing his course at DSM, he has been professionally evolving himself as an actor, writer and theatre maker. Currently, he is working for a well-known repertory in Karnataka called Rangayana Mysuru.

Nipun Srivastava

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  Nipun Srivastava is an actor-writer who is an alumnus of Drama School Mumbai (Batch of 2019-2020). Prior to being a student of theatre, Nipun has worked as a Copywriter in multiple digital agencies, post his graduation from Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi (IIMC) in 2017. They have also worked at Alliance India (formerly, India HIV/AIDS Alliance) as Communications Consultant where they contributed to the organisation’s visibility and active collaboration with key populations affected by HIV. They were also associated as a Project Coordinator for Ekalavya, an online acting and theatre initiative by Drama School Mumbai.   Currently, they are also working as a  Communications Consultant for a project called ‘India Working Group for Health Advocacy’ at International Planned Parenthood Federation -South Asia Region. They are also working as a Social Media Communications head and additional projects resource for Bengaluru-based Bhasha Centre for Performing Arts. Besides working as a Communications Consultant, Nipun is figuring out his voice as a theatre-maker, a writer and a performer.

Ojaswi Bhattarai

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  After training in Shilpee Theatre Nepal, Ojaswi did her BA in Theatre Studies from Christ University, Bangalore. During these 3 years, Ojaswi explored western theatre in both theory and practice. She graduated from DSM in 2020, post which she actively pursued Digital Theatre, being part of various collaborations under Thespo. Working remotely from Nepal, she has acted in plays both offline and online, notably under Get Thee To The Funnery (Vermont, US) and KathaGhera Productions (Nepal). She recently played Snowball in the Nepali play adaptation of Animal Farm by Geroge Orwell. She co-directed Thespo Tapri for QTP Mumbai for 2 consecutive seasons. Ojaswi also worked under Shilpee Theatre Nepal where she initiated a Children’s Theatre Workshop and trained the students under Storytelling Workshop for 3 months. Currently, Ojaswi is pursuing acting and experimenting in Nepali Theatre.

Phalguni Vittal Rao

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  Phalguni Vittal Rao is an actor, writer/journalist and theatre-maker. She is currently the Communications Coordinator for DSM, the Librarian at Bhasha Centre’s The Drama Library and content writer at Ranga Shankara. She has also worked with Firstpost, The New Indian Express and The Better India in the past. She holds a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media (2016-17) and a BA in Theatre Studies, Communication and Media, and English (2013-16) from Christ University, Bangalore. 

  Phalguni has been performing and writing about theatre since 2013. She has been a part of multiple productions such as Oliver!, Medea, As You Like It, and A Man For All Seasons to name a few. In 2020, she performed at Thespo-22 in The Ministry of Mundane Mysteries (directed by Sébastien Heins), an interactive audio-based experience done completely over the telephone. In 2021, she worked with Indian Ensemble as the production manager for A Zoom Call Re:Birds and performed in The Shakespeare Company of India’s Cymbeline (directed by Jemma Levy). She is also the recipient of the DSM Alumni Creative Collaboration Grant 2021 and co-creator of Inching Closer – an interactive listening experience on intimacy and connection.

  Apart from theatre, Phalguni is an avid reader, an amateur self-taught pianist and a basketball player who aspires to create an empathetic world through her stories and performances. She continues to explore voicework and physical forms such as Kalaripayattu, yoga, dancing and sports, and looks forward to keep working on screen and stage.  

Praveen Kumar

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  Praveen is a trained actor and theatre-maker based in Mumbai. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Manipal University.

   His journey with theatre started in school and continued into his college days. He has acted in more than 12 plays, street-plays and a couple of his own self written-directed short films. 

  Other than being an actor, Praveen is also a trained martial artist. He is currently working for The Viral Fever (TVF) as a writer and also working towards pursuing a career on screen as well.

Prerana

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  ‘कला और काल का एक संबंध है की दोनों का होना निश्चित है, जहां काल सबको क्षणिक बनाता है वहीं कला उसको अमर.’

  Prerana has been doing theatre for 7 years now. She has done Backstage, Management, Production, Lights,  Writing, Translation, Direction and Acting for various plays. She has worked with talented theatre makers in Delhi and Bombay. She also has amateur knowledge of playing djembe, dholak, dhapli, khartal, guitar and flute. She is currently working in the education sector – trying to build a musical/theatrical environment for the young ones.

  She believes that stories change lives and all the storytellers in the world are changing the course of the world 🙂

     
   

Ravi Kalra

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  Ravi Kalra has 7 years of experience in theatre and has staged 9 plays including Gagan Damama Bajyo, Gasha, Pune Highway and Meera Madhav. He has directed and acted in various street plays. He has produced and acted in multiple short films, one of which was aired on MTV in collaboration with the India Film Project. He has also worked as an Assistant Director on ad shoot with Bluedrop Pictures. 

  Ravi has done direction workshops in Looking Glass Project with Tadpole Repertory, facilitated by playwright-director Neel Chaudhuri, after which he directed his first full length play Mahua with shows in Delhi and Kolkata.

   He has also conducted various workshops on acting, stage lighting and direction. Ravi has a basic level of training in Tabla and percussion instruments. Recently, he acted in a Digital TVC for Amazon Prime Video. 

  He is currently looking forward to working with new theatre directors and filmmakers.

Rohit Satyan

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  Rohit began as a dancer at school and discovered himself as an actor on stage. Later, he joined the Hyderabad theatre circuit and played every role in setting up a stage show, from selling tickets, setting up lights and sound, waiting backstage to support other actors to performing as an actor himself. To get deeper into the form, he joined DSM and realized that he has to be more vulnerable and aware than what he actually is. Doing so opened more doors for him to perform and get better at his craft and eventually he landed in the Telugu Film Industry playing supporting roles.

Sarthak Dewan

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  Sarthak has been associated with theatre for more than 10 years and has worked in more than a dozen productions as an actor, director, sounds and lights designer from his days in Kirori Mal College (Delhi University). Before joining DSM, he was running his optical business along with doing improv and theatre in Delhi. He realised that he only wanted to pursue his art and gave up everything to get trained in the craft of acting and theatre-making. After his course from DSM, he has been working as a director’s assistant, casting associate, writer and an actor. He continues to explore himself and is trying to find his path by taking up projects that interest him.

Shristi Sharma

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  Shristi is an actor, theatre maker, voice over artist and a contemporary movement practitioner. She has been doing theatre since the past 6 years. Before joining DSM, she worked at PFT as Brand Creatives for three years while simultaneously doing theatre in Mumbai. She worked with multiple theatre groups like Rangshila theatre, Five Senses Theatre and has done about 15 plays.

  She holds a MBA degree in Brand Communication from Symbiosis university, Pune. Trained in martial arts and movement exploration, she continues to keep honing her skills in contemporary dance and movement practices. In IAPAR International Theatre Festival 2020, under the mentorship of Yuki Ellias, she worked on writing and devising her solo piece, which is in progress.

  Some of her screen work includes Meenakshi Sundareshwar, Paatal Lok, Gaangistaan (Spotify audio series), advertisements (Tanishq, Burger King, Ola Cabs, Zee TV, William Lawson, PVR). Currently, she continues to do acting both on stage and on screen. She also likes to write short plays.

Sritej Bhatt

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  Sritej has been active in the arena of theatre, starting at his architecture and design school, with creating sets for performances and acting in plays. He has led different theatre groups right from training, to be on stage, to conceiving ideas for performance and directing stage shows. This has developed in him a keen awareness on the processes of theatre-making, team work, inclusion and diversity, and individual growth.

  Studying at HFT Stuttgart, Germany and designing an exhibition on education systems across the globe, for ‘Institute of Foreign Relations’, has given him a deeper understanding on working processes that are international, involve intercultural collaboration, and are interdisciplinary.

  He has formally trained at Duende School of Ensemble Physical Theatre in a psychophysical approach to performance work; treating mental and physical development as interrelated and holistic. He has done his Post Graduation in Acting and Theatre Making from Drama School Mumbai which has exposed him to a range of Indian and Western tools and techniques of theatre, performance and education through applied arts.

  Sritej has performed in over 20 stage productions and is very passionate about making his solo performances. As a facilitator, he has trained students and faculties at CEPT University, SAL School of Architecture and Anand Niketan School, Ahmedabad. His domain of delivering work has been in improvisation, playfulness, ensemble connectedness, physical expressivity and cultivating presence.

  Sritej is the founder of a community theatre in Ahmedabad called Atman Theatre School where he conducts workshops and training sessions for a diverse audience. He believes in the transformative power of theatre and aspires to build a thriving theatre culture through arts education, learning and development.

Vvansh S Sethi

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  A trained professional dancer and theatre maker, Vvansh S Sethi practiced performing arts for 6 years before formally joining Drama School Mumbai to pursue his passion in acting and theatre-making. Vansh has worked as a performer, production manager, lights and sounds assistant for plays across different genres. 

   

  Despite having graduated in the middle of a pandemic in 2020, Vvansh continued to gain hands-on experience in theatre-making by working under the mentorship of theatre veteran, Sunil Shanbag as part of his internship with Studio Tamaasha. Here, he attended various workshops and honed his abilities as a theatre practitioner. Currently, Vvansh is working as an actor in ‘Strictly Unconventional’, a play by Faezeh Jalali. 

   

  Vvansh has also been a part of multiple film and OTT projects including ‘Deadline’ directed by Rakhee Sandilya, ‘Sanaa’, a film by Sudhanshu Saria, ‘Adhura’, an OTT series by Gaurav Chawla and ‘Doctors’, another show for OTT by director Sahir Raza.

Alumni 2018-19

Aaryan Tandon

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  A media and communication student from Manipal University, Aaryan Tandon has been practising theatre for the past 5 years. He has worked as a Director, Assistant Director, Actor, Light Designer, Sound Designer, Writer and Production Manager for 18 stage plays and a dozen street plays.

  He has worked under eminent theatre personalities like Mahesh Dattani, Sunil Shanbag, Atul Kumar and Padma Damodaran. He was a part of the Tughlaq production that opened at the Prithvi Festival and went on to tour Chandigarh and Pune with the theatre group BeTaal.

  He has been a part of a foreign collaboration project within Thespo with Canadian director Kathleen Duborg for a platform performance at Prithvi Theatre. He is seen currently in the new play written and directed by Mahesh Dattani, Snapshots of a Fervid Sunrise in the capacity of a Light Designer and Production Manager. He is also working on Mountain Language that is being curated by Atul Kumar.

  Along with theatre he is keen on exploring his own self as an artist on screen as well.

Abhijeet Singh

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  Abhijeet Singh is an actor and a theatre-maker. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Arts from Ramjas college Delhi University.

  As an actor, Abhijeet has worked with prominent theatre companies like Saanjha Sapnaa and LTG repertory in Delhi. Abhijeet also appeared in two short films. He was also seen performing in Betaal’s Tughlaq, Aranya’s Chuhal and Two Soldiers.

  Two soldiers was performed at InQueerable Happenings, a queer theatre fest organized by Queer Ink. Abhijeet is currently working with Manav Kaul in his new production Giving up on Godot. He is also working towards pursuing a career on screen.

Anmol Oberoi

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  Anmol Oberoi is an actor and a theatre maker and also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. As an actor, Anmol has worked with prominent theatre companies in Chennai like Crea-shakthi, Madras Players and Stage Fright Productions.

  He has travelled and performed in many cities with these productions. Right after graduating from Drama School Mumbai, Anmol worked as an assistant director and production manager under Mahesh Dattani and later went to Pondicherry to work with Indianostrum Théâtre on their latest production, Flying Chariots.

  He was also seen performing in Two Soldiers, a piece which was written and directed by his DSM batch mates. Two soldiers was performed at InQueerables, a queer theatre fest organized by Queer Ink. He was a part of Bone of Contention in a Cosmopolitan CHS, written and directed by Faezeh Jalali which premiered at the Prithvi festival 2019.

  He was recently seen performing in ‘ Even Mists have Silver Linings’ a devised play based on LGBTQ+ stigma in our society. which premiered at the G5A in March 2020. Anmol is actively working with theatre groups in Bombay and working on creating work of his own. He is also working towards pursuing a career on screen.

Apeksha Vora

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  Apeksha Vora is a researcher, educator and recently turned theatre maker based in Mumbai. She completed her Masters in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex in 2012. Since then she worked as a researcher with various organisations and movements. For the past 6 years she has worked with Nirantar Trust, a feminist organisation based in New Delhi, on experimenting with feminist research methods, capacity building and advocacy around issues of gender, sexuality and education. During this time, she worked on using Theatre tools as a research method.

  After graduating from DSM, Apeksha has been coordinating a theatre course run by Studio Tamaasha with students from Salaam Bombay Foundation. She performed in Graduation Day, a short piece written by Vikram Phukan. She has also co-written and co-directed Two Soldiers which was performed at InQueerable Happenings, a queer theatre fest organized by Queer Ink. She was also involved in organising the show.

  Apeksha is currently working on a facilitators toolkit on using Theatre tools in workshops for NGO community workers. She is interested in applications of theatre in research, education, therapy and community building and working as a facilitator and applied theatre practitioner.

Dhiraj Wadhwani

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  Dhiraj Wadhwani was an eletronics engineer before he quit his job at Price Waterhouse Coopers to pursue a career in theatre. He has been practising theatre for almost 8 years now. After graduating from DSM, Dhiraj acted in a cineplay for Zee5 under the direction of Mahesh Dattani. He also acted in an experimental take on Girish Karnad’s Hayvadan, curated by Atul Kumar. He was part of the Queer Ink’s Short+ Salty Theatre Fest, where he acted in Two Soldiers. He also designed and operated lights for the remaining shows at the festival. He was also a part of ADRAK – a play by NOW Productions, in its recent run. He was part of reading original plays at Tamasha Theatre and adapted Yuki Ellias’ play, Roxy, for staging in Hindi. He also conducted an acting workshop called Improv 101 for beginners in his hometown Indore. He has been managing stage for FATS Thearts. He assisted in light design and execution for Bone of Contention in Cosmopolitan Housing Society and toured with the production. Dhiraj founded Offbeat Circuit, a platform for the arts that has been hosting live sessions, workshops and discussions.

Mallika Shah

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  Mallika Shah is a trained actor and theatre-maker based in Mumbai. After discovering theatre in a stroke of luck at the State University of New York where she was pursuing a degree in Biology, Mallika decided to follow her new found interest in theatre and literature by spending four years studying and taking part in various faculty and student-led productions. She worked at an NGO called Antarang Foundation where she was a communications associate.

  At Antarang, she developed a keen interest and skill in media and design, and eventually joined the Drama School Mumbai. At the Drama School Mumbai, Mallika was enthralled by the culture of the theatre and found an inclination towards theatre-making that she didn’t have before.

  Since graduation, Mallika has worked with various theatre companies in varied areas. With the Bhasha Centre for Performing Arts in Bangalore, Mallika worked in dramaturgy, direction, and production.

  She has operated sound for Patchworks Ensemble’s shows of Shikaar, and has participated in a Bunraku Puppetry workshop conducted by Anurupa Roy. Mallika is currently co-writing plays with her peers and pursuing acting.

Manasvi Sharma

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  Manasvi Sharma has been actively involved in theatre for the past 5 years. He started his theatre journey in Jaipur with Artistic Director of People Media Theatre; Ashok Rahi and continues it in Mumbai with theatre-maker and clowning practitioner, Rupesh Tillu. After moving to Mumbai, Manasvi toured as a performing clown. He manages production for Clowns Without Borders, Sweden and Rednose Entertainment, Mumbai. With Rednose, Manasvi has acted and handled production for plays like Madbeth, Panchtantra and The Lover. After graduating from DSM, he did an internship with Abhishek Majumdar at the Bhasha Centre in Banglore. He worked as a student trainer with Tamasha Theatre under Sunil Shanbag for a collaboration with the Salaam Bombay Foundation. Manasvi had acted in Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq, directed by Abhinav Grover and Sharmishtha Saha’s Shakespeare adaptation Romeo Ravidas Juliet Devi. Most recently, he has been working with Lakshika Pandey on an adaptation of Vijaydan Detha’s short stories. He is also recording a collection of his own poems and songs while working as a voice-over artist.

Mati Rajput

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  Mati Rajput is a theatre maker, an actor and a designer who is finding her voice in the field of theatre. She has been working for the theatre since the past 6 years.

  She began her journey with Amygo Productions’ ‘The EQ’ where she worked as an actor and a production assistant. At a very young age she bagged IPTA’s Balraj Sahni Award for Outstanding Performance in 2015-16 and 2016-17 for Saavar and Khar-Khar.

  Mati’s knack for design began at Thespo – A youth theatre movement where she worked from 2014-18. She was the festival manager of Thespo 19. After graduating from Drama School Mumbai, she went on to work with Indianostrum Theatre in Pondicherry. She has acted in their new productions Flying Chariot(s) and Chandala Impure.

  She has returned to Mumbai after touring in Belgium, France and Tunisia with Indianostrum’s Chandala Impure. While touring in Europe, she received and opportunity to attend a couple of workshop. ‘Answers to Reality’ conducted by Armel Roussel a renowned Belgian theatre director and ‘Teru koothu workshop’ conducted by Purusai Sambandan master in Paris. After coming back to India, she attended ‘Ecole Nomade’ – a theatre workshop conducted by Ariane Mnouchkine and the actors of Theatre Du Soleil in Pondicherry.

  Mati is now creating a new play along with her peers.

Nihir Jain

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  Nihir Jain is an actor and a theatre maker. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Banking and Insurance. As an actor, Nihir has worked with prominent theatre directors like Sunil Shanbag, Mahesh Dattani Nadir Khan and Arghya Lahiri. He has also done a couple of short films and a music video with Eros that was directed by Krishika Lulla.

  Right after graduating from DSM, Nihir worked as a production intern on an Aadyam produced play called ‘A Few Good Men’ directed by Nadir Khan. He was also seen performing in Two Soldiers, a piece which was written and directed by his DSM batch mates. Two soldiers was performed at InQueerable Happenings, a queer theatre fest organized by Queer Ink. He is currently working on theatre group Betaal’s new production ‘Tughlaq’ that will be opening at the Prithvi Festival on the 10th of November. Apart from this, Nihir has worked as an Assistant Director on an unreleased feature film directed by Shashilal Nair. He has worked as a Casting Assistant at a casting company called F The Couch and was one of the finalists of the Bombay Times Fresh Face 2017.

  Other than being an actor, Nihir is also a trained dancer and a martial artist. He is now actively working on creating work of his own. He is also working towards pursuing a career in modelling and on screen.

Nikita Kumar

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  Nikita Kumar is an actor and a theatre maker. She also holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from JNU.
  As an actor, Nikita, has worked with prominent theatre personalities like Sunil Shanbag, Arvind Gaur, and Shilpi Marwaha.

  Right after graduating from DSM, Nikita worked in the funds team of The Aagaaz Theatre Trust in Delhi.

  Nikita is now actively working with theatre groups in Bombay and is also working on creating work of her own. She is also working towards pursuing a career on screen.

Nitya Mathur

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  Nitya’s journey with theatre started in school and continued into her college days. While pursuing her Bachelor’s degree from Sophia College, Mumbai, she was an active part of the theatre association, Sophia College English Dramatics Association (SCEDA), and even headed the society for one year.

  She’s been a part of multiple fringe performances for Thespo – a youth theatre festival, and has worked with companies like QTP and The Company Theatre as an actor. Post her graduation, she spent a year studying theatre at The Drama School, Mumbai (DSM), as part of the PG Diploma Course in Acting and Theatre-Making, batch 2018-19.

  She has acted in ‘Bone of Contention Housing CHS’ by FATStheArts (Faezeh Jalali) which opened at the Prithvi Festival. She is pursuing projects for screen.

Sanket Aggarwal

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  Sanket is an actor-theatremaker. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of Delhi.

  As an actor, Sanket did street and stage plays with his college’s theatre society, taking part in around 300+ street and 50+ stage performances spanning over 3 years.

  After graduating from Delhi University, he did television commercials for Ceat Tyres, along with a number of online advertisements for HP, Manforce, Brandfactory and Flipkart.

  Post DSM, he directed an adaptation of Woody Allen’s play ‘God’ and is working with Abhinav Grover in his play ‘Tughlaq’ which is to be performed at the Prithvi Theatre Festival.

  Sanket is now pursuing his acting career on screen as well as theatre in Mumbai.

Shimli Basu

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  Shimli Basu is an actor-singer who hails from Kolkata but is based out of Mumbai currently.

  Prior to DSM, she has been part of 12 plays and 3 student films. Currently, she is part of 3 running productions and is also involved as a Voice and Acting Trainer for school annual productions.

  Apart from exploring herself as an actor-singer-theatremaker, Shimli wishes to be a performance conservationist.

Shubham Chaudhary

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  Shubham Chaudhary has appeared in over 15 theatre productions in Delhi and Mumbai. He was part of Drama School Mumbai’s Rakth Kalyaan directed by Sunil Shanbag, Snapshots of a fervid sunrise directed by Mahesh Dattani.

  Shubham has worked in the Delhi University theatre circuit for 3 years. Also trained professionally in Chhau and Thangta, he has a keen intrest in martial arts. As an actor and director his work has been recognised by eminent professionals of the Delhi theatre circuit. Shubham studied Acting and Theatre making at Drama School Mumbai. A native of Ranikhet in Uttarakhand, Shubham now lives in Mumbai.

  After graduating from Drama School Mumbai he trained in Thangta in Manipur (Imphal) at the Huyen Kaling Thangta Association. He worked with Faezeh Jalali as a production incharge.

  His on-screen work is under development.

Vrinda Kacker

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  Vrinda Kacker is an actor and theatre maker from Delhi. She graduated from Delhi University with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature in 2018. She then completed PG Diploma course in Acting and Theatre Making from the Drama School Mumbai. Presently she works as an actor, designer, production assistant and assistant director in Mumbai.

  She has been working as a part of the production team with Akvarious Productions on their newly premiered project The Kite Runner for Aadyam’s 5th Season. She has also been performing with Dur Se Brothers in their production “Hello Farmaaish” at the Hindu Festival in Chennai and Hyderabad and also in Bangalore. She is currently performing with Patchworks Ensemble and is simultaneously working on a project as an assistant director for a project at Serendipity.

  Apart from making theatre and acting, Vrinda is professionally trained in Kathak from Kathak Kendra, New Delhi and often travels for the same with a troupe based in Delhi. She has also received professional training in ballet, jazz and modern dance.

Prajesh Kashyap

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  Prajesh Kashyap is an Actor, Writer and Musician. An alumni of ‘The Players’ (2015-18) the collegiate theatre group of Kirori Mal College (Delhi University) he graduated from The Drama School Mumbai with a Diploma in Acting and Theatre Making in the year 2018.

  Juggling between theatre gigs in Delhi and Mumbai, he is a vociferous writer and a passionate musician. Prajesh has been a part of several (writing for theatre) workshops like The Global Playwriting Literal Challenge- 29 Plays Later! (2020), Indian Ensemble’s Playwriting Workshop (2020) and Writers Lab Mumbai organized by G5A Mumbai and Soho Theatre, London (2021).

  He wrote and directed his first short film ‘Do Re Mi’ which screened at the Rainbow Literature Festival (2020). He currently writes about theatre with BreakaLeg!

Alumni 2017-18

Aswin Varrier

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  Aswin Varrier is an actor and technician with 7 years of training and experience in Theatre. After graduating from DSM he has worked with multiple festivals across the country, like International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK) and Serendipity Arts Festival Goa, in both managerial and curatorial capacities. He also has research experience under Prof Sreejith Ramanan, HOD of School of Drama, Thrissur in the field of contemporary actor training.

  Currently, Aswin is exploring the different careers that theatre has to offer, with multiple roles in multiple capacities. He is working as Production Manager for ‘Please Feel At Home’, directed by Anmol Vellani, for the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa. He is also the Assistant Director to Sharanya Ramprakash for ‘Nava’, a collaboration between Dramanon Bangalore and Aravani Arts Project, which is set to open the Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival 2019.
  He also works with Dramanon Bangalore as an actor and technician in their productions and corporate theatre workshops across the country.

  Aswin has also attended a 10 day Introduction to Puppetry workshop with Anurupa Roy. He is currently learning carnatic vocal music under the tutelage of Guru Shwetha Balan in Bangalore.

Faizal Shaikh

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  Faizal has been working as a theatre practitioner since 2014. Before joining DSM, he acted in a production of Badal Sircar’s Pagla Ghoda directed by batchmate Shivansh. He also assisted in productions of Those left behind Things, directed by Vikram Phukan and One Night Only, directed by Amey Mehta for AKVarious Productions. He was the stage manager for the 2016-17 DSM production Mule’s Foal. Since graduating from DSM, Faizal has worked as crew for ten productions. He operated sound for ILA and The Gentlemen’s Club aka TAPE and was the production manager for NOW Productions Photocopy, directed by Niketan Sharma. He has trained further with Deshik Vansadia and Patchworks Ensemble. Most recently he was the lead for a Facebook TVC, which will air soon.

Hariom Meena

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  After graduating from Drama School Mumbai, Hari interned at the Yakshgana Kendra, Udupi. He has acted in a Netflix Web-Series called Masaba Masaba directed by Sonam Nair. He acted SIMC(Pune) Students’ Film “DHAPPA”. Along with this, Hari has acted in some short films like ‘Don’t Breath’, ‘A Journey’. He actively looks for opportunities in cinema and Theatre.

Lakshvir Saran

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  Lakshvir has been a member of “The Players” theatre society of Kirori Mal College for three years. He was awarded ‘excellence in theatre’ for his contribution to collegiate theatre in Delhi University. He then furthered his education in theatre making and acting at the Drama School Mumbai.

  Right after graduation he co-founded ‘LA productions’, his first couple of directions “A glass filled with Memories” and “Graduation Day” has already performed in theatre festivals across Delhi and Mumbai.

  Former core team member of Third Space collective he also managed an annual theatre festival in Delhi called ‘Of Stage’ and was formerly managing the annual theatre program of Heritage Xperimental School, Gurgaon. As an actor he has collaborated several times with the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.

  He acted in MAHISH which was recently performed at the Rangashankara Theatre Festival, Bangalore and the film ‘Soni’ which was awarded Oxfam Best Film at the MAMI film festival, Mumbai in 2018. He continues to work as a Director, Actor and a theatre entrepreneur in Mumbai

Lauren Robinson

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  Lauren first took to stage at an inter-college competition at St Stephens. Before joining DSM, Lauren worked as a research consultant with EVAL. With them she toured rural Bihar and Jharkhand to assess inquiry-driven learning tools with school children. She was also a drama facilitator for Mukti Manch, a verticle of Nritya Shakti Dance Studio. After graduating, she played the character Rihanna Mehra in the webseries Hasmukh for Netflix. She also played the role of the protagonist in the AJKMRC Production called Bijli Giri, which was recently screened at the Woodpecker International Film Festival. She is also part of the MXPlayer webseries Magic, set to release later this year. Lauren has performed in the productions A Fistful of Rupees, directed by Shiv Tandon and 07/07/07, directed by Faezeh Jalali. She has written, directed and co-devised two short performances, Room 29 and Rafoo. These were performed at festivals in Bangalore and Mumbai. In 2020, she was part of an international collaboration, Even Mists have Silver Linings – a play which addresses LGBTHQIA+ issues of identity and stigma in India. This project was supported by the US Consulate General Mumbai and the University of Florida, Lauren continues to work as an actor and creator while developing digital forms of teaching drama to young adults. Most recently, she joined the DSM team as a Research Assistant for the Global Faculty Programme.

  She was also the protagonist of a short film – An AJKMRC Production called ‘Bijli Giri’ where she plays the role of the protagonist.

Sanket Shanware

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  Sanket Shanware hails from New Delhi. He is an engineering graduate wherein he found the love for acting by doing Street plays. After freelancing as a stage actor in Delhi itself, he taught at GD GOENKA, Dwarka for a while and then came to DSM. Post DSM, he assisted Rasika Agashe on her stage play titled ‘Harus Marus’ as an intern under the Drama School Mumbai course.

  He also acted in – In Search of Dariya Sagar by Gerish Khemani and worked as an understudy with Sujay Saple for his short play titled ‘Sons of Soil’.Sanket is also a self-taught singer and percussionist. As a singer, he performed at the National School of Drama, Bengaluru and Gubbi Theatre, Gubbi with Mr. Amod Bhatt in his Rangsangeet performance.

  Sanket has acted in web series titled ‘Tumse na ho payega’ by Karl Katgara for Eros Now, ‘Scam 1992’ by Hansal Mehta and an international film titled ‘The White Tiger’, a Netflix production directed by Ramin Bahrani.

Shaunak Punde

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  Born in 1995, Shaunak Punde is an actor, freestyle percussionist and dubbing and voice artist born and brought up in Mumbai. He has been a practicing amateur theatre artist for 9 years. He has been formally trained in Acting & Theatre-Making from Drama School Mumbai (2017-18), primarily focused on speech & text, devising, body and movement.

  During Graduation from Drama School Mumbai he has acted in Mahesh Dattani directorial ‘Maati’. In 2018, under the guidance of Geetanjali Kulkarni, he was a part of an Educational Theatre programme “Goshtarang” that mainly focused on educating children in rural areas through performing plays from story books. In 2019, he donned on the hat of a director along with Kumar Chheda and Dharmaj Joshi for an Intercollegiate Mumbai University competition “Youth” representing Usha Pravin Gandhi College. Under his direction he roped in two state level Gold for “Dushkaal” and “Pustakanna Jevha Zaag yetye” and one state level Silver for “Visarjan”.

  Apart from theatre, Shaunak has also tried his hand at screen where he played a lead role in an MIT Graduation Short Film under a budding cinematographer Ankit Bhat and directed by Azam Karnik called “Borderline” of an army officer suffering from a cathartic dilemma.

  Shaunak has recently started exploring new avenues of dubbing and voiceover. He has Hindi dubbed for the renowned film, “The Grudge” and Voiceover for a short documentary of a mumbai based BMX rider, Annul Pale. He has attended a 4 day workshop on dubbing and voiceover conducted by Emeara Kamble.

  Shaunak is trying to get his technical skills in place, while simultaneously striving to put his foot in the entertainment industry.

Shivansh

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  Shivansh is an actor, theatre-maker, a light designer and a certified yoga instructor.

  After graduating from DSM, Shivansh did a valuable internship to understand light designing and operation. And since, he has designer/operated lights for around 10 plays. He also acted in a couple of plays, the most recent of which includes ‘A Farming Story’ directed by Faezeh Jalali. He has also acted in a daily called Salim Anarkali that featured on Colours TV.

  Shivansh runs his own theatre company called Tikul Theatre under under which he has directed Badal Sircar’s ‘Pagla Ghoda’. They also have frequent readings and explore classic and traditional plays there.

Shruti Arora Achesh

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  Shruti Arora is a graduate from Drama School Mumbai (2018 batch). She is a theatre practioner, actor, writer. She likes to work with children and conduct theatre workshops for them. She has written a play ‘Kirdar’ and directed it for The Short & Sweet Festival in 2011 (Delhi). She has worked as Company Manager with The Blind and The Elephant Theatre group handling entire production management and shows bookings. She is a freelance theatre artist and an independent filmmaker in Delhi for the past 8 years.

  During this time, she has worked with Helen O’ Grady Drama Academy (Delhi/NCR) as a Head Mentor and Production Head for their drama productions from 2015-2017. She has also worked with Khilona Theatre group from 2009 – 2013 as an actor performing with and for children.

  Shruti has worked for NDTV in the past as an assistant producer, and for Coca-Cola as a Project Head on their training modules for five years. She has volunteered my for NGOs like Aman Biradri, YWCA, Sangrakshika and Saureena Ashrey as a drama teacher. She is actively working with a Human Rights based NGO – Mission Bhartiyam, on their Indo-Pak Peace initiative ‘Aaghaz-e-Dosti’.

Sikandar Khan

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  After graduating from DSM, Sikandar  interned with Hoshruba Repertory and later went onto wearing the hat of the manager for them. He participated in a theatre workshop with Tim Supple.

  Sikandar  has acted in a webseries called Bombay Dairies, directed by Nikhil Advani. He starred in Filhaal Ke Liye written by Benny Thomas John.

Suryansh Patel

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  Suryansh Patel is an actor, writer, and production manager from Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

  After graduating from Drama School Mumbai he acted in FATS TheArts’ play ‘A Farming Story’ (2018) directed by Faezeh Jalali. He has a keen interest in doing theatre with and for children. In 2018, under the guidance of Bengaluru-based Aruna Ganesh Ram, he devised a solo performance ‘Tiddalik The Frog’ based on a Australian folktale. Thereafter, he mentored a children’s play, an adaptation of the fairy tale ‘Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs’, which was performed by students of JBCN International School, Parel in 2019. He was the production manager for Visual Respiration’s play ‘Stand On The Street’ directed by Aruna Ganesh Ram for the shows performed at The Hindu Theatre Festival 2018 in Chennai. He assisted Yuki Ellias in Dur Se Brothers’s corporate performance at the Xynteo Exchange 2019 summit held at Nehru Centre, Mumbai in April, 2019.

  Apart from theatre, Suryansh likes to write about his life experiences and incidents which have shaped his being. One of his features, ‘Kaisa Vikas’, got published in the national Hindi lifestyle magazine ‘Aha! Zindagi’ in the May 2017 edition. He has also acted in a short film ‘Muh Dikhayi’ (2019), produced by Film and Television Institute of India, and in a YES BANK corporate film (2019). Suryansh finds his interest in storytelling of folk tales.

Tanvi Lehr Sonigra

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  Tanvi Lehr Sonigra is an actor and theatre-maker. She is an alumnus of the Drama School Mumbai. 

  Tanvi started her journey in theatre through various inter-collegiate festivals like Thespo, Adi Marzban, IPTA, Bhavai, and went on to acting in experimental plays like Margdarshan (by Manoj Shah – Ideas Unlimited), The EQ (by Amatya Goradia – AmyGo). 

  Soon after, she acted and puppeteered in a multilingual and devised play called Mujer with the UK based director, Trina Halder and acted in a dramatized reading of You Shall Give Me Grandsons, both at Thespo in association with the British Council. 

  After graduating from the Drama School Mumbai, Tanvi has been a part of various theatre productions, most recent of which are – ‘Hello Farmaish’ (by Yuki Ellias – Dur Se Brothers) and ‘A Farming Story’ (by Faezeh Jalali – FATS TheArts). She also performed in an interdisciplinary art show called ‘A Mad Tea Party’ (by Ragini Singh Khushwaha and Akshat Nigam – ArtNowThus).

  Tanvi participated in a physical theatre workshop called ‘Moksha – A Dance Retreat in Nature’ where she was mentored by well experienced and trained theatre and dance practitioners like Rob Hayden, Clementine Telesfort, Eleanore PB. This workshop paved way to her solo piece called ‘Rapunzel 2.0’ which she devised, directed and wrote. It was performed at ‘Inqueerables – A Queer Fest’ curated by Shobhna Kumar and Vikram Phukan. She travelled with another self created solo piece called ‘Ever Felt This Way?’ to Hoppipola Interdisciplinary Arts Festival at the Moksha Dance Space in Bangalore.

  Tanvi also modelled at the Lakme Fashion Week for a brand called The Pot Plant Clothing for their theme, ‘Performance Art meets Fashion’ where she put to use her training in physical theatre. 

  Currently, Tanvi is training in Capoeira from the ‘Centre for Capoeira India’ to further her capacity as a performer.

Vishnu G Varrier

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  Vishnu is an actor from Kerala. After his training at Drama School Mumbai, he acted in 2 feature films, been assistant director for 1 feature film and 2 theatre productions.

  Vishnu acted in a film titled Maidaan, directed by Mr. Amit Sharma. He also starred in Filhaal Ke Liye written by Benny Thomas John.

  Vishnu has worked as an assistant director for the Marathi film ‘Preetam’ and in a few theatre productions such as, ‘Hello Farmaish’ and ‘With Birbal, It’s Possible’ (Children’s theatre). Being a Malayali who stayed in a number of places, Vishnu enjoys being around people and exploring new cultures which has also shaped his outlook and equipped him to play culturally varying characters such as a Haryanvi woman.

  A decent reader, a wildlife lover and a sports enthusiast, gymnastics has been exciting him recently.

Alumni 2016-17

Abhishek Chauhan

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  After graduating from the DSM, Abhishek is looking forward to discovering and working on scripts of his choice in different roles and capacities. He has assisted on a web series and films.

  

Adarsh Gourav

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  Adarsh trained in Hindustani classical music for 10 years before moving to Bombay in 2007. After graduating from DSM, Adarsh directed Aiyo Raja for the Thespo Fringe. He was part of the production of Lucrece, directed by Paul Goodwin for the Centre Stage Festival held at Napa Experimental. He portrayed the protagonist, Dhruv Mathur in Rukh produced by Drishyam Fims. Since then he has sone on to act in several webseries and TVCs including, Die Trying written by and starring Kenny Sebastian (Amazon Prime), Leila directed by Deepa Mehta (Netflix), Hostel Dazem a TVF production (Amazon Prime) as well as a Tata Sky TVC with Mahesh Bhatt. He attended a 15-day Navarasa workshop conducted by G.Venu at his residence in Irinjalakuda, Kerala. Most recently, he [layed the protagonist, Balram Halwai in the Netflix Global Film, the White Tiger. It is the official adaptation of the Booker Award-winning novel by Aravind Adiga and is due for release in 2020. The film was directed by Ramin Bahrani and stars Priyanka Chopra and Rajkumar Rao in pivotal roles.

  

Chrisann Pereira

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  Chrisann made her stage debut in ‘Three Women’ and ‘Chitra and Chaitali’ both directed by Isheeta Ganguly and music composed by Pritam. She also, took on multiple characters in ‘Fistful of Rupees’ that won a Sultan Padamsee Award in 2018.

  On-Camera Chrisann plays Kavita in ‘Thinkistan’ and was in ‘Batla House’ directed by Nikhil Advani and ‘Tryst’ by Prashant Nair. She will also be seen in ‘Sadak 2’directed by Mahesh Bhatt. Alongside, Chrisann has been a professional dancer for over a decade, trained at the Shiamak Davar Institute of Performing Arts. She also stood as Head of Department in Speech and Drama at Vibgyor group of Schools.

  With a love for cinema, theatre, poetry and reading; she’s an old soul with a hunger to tell stories and tell them well.

  

Deepmala Khera

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  Deepmala Khera is an entrepreneur, an actor, a Self Science counsellor, a therapist, an educator, for neurotypicals and neurodiverse, She lets the each each category interflow and enrich the other. She also has studied in Duende School of Physical Theatre.

  She has acted in
  *Taming Of The Shrew Directed by Deshik Vansadia
  *Interconnectedness Of All Living Things by John Briton

  Assistant Director for
  *Charlie And The Chocolate factory directed by Timira
  *Where The Wild Things Are directed by Timira

  Dramaturge and Assistant Director
  *Those left behind things directed by Vikram Phukan

  Directed and deviced
  *Dear peer for MGIS
  *Education Upside down inside out for NIFT

  She has done bytes for TVF, Rednose Entertainment, Nirvana films and Emmay.

  She promotes an intimate encounter with art through her venture Artist In Residence.

  

Khushbu Baid

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  After graduating from The Drama School, Khushbu is working with various theatre groups in Hyderabad and intends to open a new theatre group titled ‘Sarkash’ in Hyderabad itself.

  

Kohmal Khanna

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  Kohmal Khanna is an actor, dancer and coach. After graduating from the Drama School Mumbai, she performed at the Kolkata Literary Festival and RECL Singapore, as Bimala in the play Three Women, written and directed by Isheeta Ganguly. Another production with which Kohmal has toured across all metro cities in India is “Sundays with chitra and chaitali”.

  Recently at an event the team performed with the guest of honor being Dr. Shashi Tharoor, who also took to twitter to express his appreciation for the play. She has been a part of multiple plays and has worked with various accredited directors.

  She is also a dancer who regularly trains in Kathak and Jazz. She is part of an ensemble production called ‘Rhinocerous’ directed by Gagan Dev Riar. She has performed in the play ‘This Is All There Is, When There Is All This’ a Company Theatre production directed by Sujay saple & Rachel D’Souza.

  She is also part of an ensemble piece done for supper theatre exclusively which is called ‘Love Truth Bombs’ directed by Priyanka Banerjee. It’s a Leogirl production.

  She is part of a corporate show for Jindal Steel works, for their anti-sexual harrasment programme and it is written and directed by Sujaya Bannerjee She is also an independent acting coach and has various projects to her credit as a facilitator.

Shruti Khandelwal

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Shruti Sunder

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  Shruti Sunder is working as an actor, director and theatre teacher. She runs her own theatre group पेशेवर मौजख़ोर / Peshevar MaujKhor in Delhi, which is a proud producer of plays like The Other Half, Ek Square Metre Khushi and Hum Main Vo. Aside from being a performer herself, she also juggles roles of being a designer, writer, puppeteer, and champion of the Hindi/Urdu language. Her brand of theatre has a unique voice which combines collaboration, collective activism, contemporary theatre and puppetry. In 2019, the play Ek Square Metre Khushi, had the honour of opening the first ever edition of the Shadipur Natak Utsav, a community curated theatre festival at the iconic Studio Safdar in Delhi. Besides, The Other Half was selected for performance at TARANG – Delhi International Queer Theatre and Film Festival 2019.

  

V. Vidyuth

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  Viduth regularly performs at Thespo. He is writing a TVC currently and also takes workshops for Teach For India classrooms.

  

Mahitha Ravilla

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  After graduating from DSM, Mahitha has been working as an actor, writer, spoken-word artist, and public speaking coach. As an actor Mahitha has had a role in Sacred Games to her credit, and has been part of several English language plays in Chennai. As a storyteller, she has performed at SPOKEN2020, with Kommune, Tape A Tale, and other spoken-word/storytelling organisations, at events in several cities across the country. She specialises in mythological stories, and real world narratives.

Alumni 2015-16

Dheer Hira

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  Dheer Hira works as an actor, writer & director. He is currently assisting Mahesh Dattani on a play, as well as acting in Adrak, a Hindi play. He is a part of Na Aage Haath Na Pichhe Pagaah, a poetry and dramatic reading initiative by playwright Ramu Ramanathan.

  

Gaurangi Dang

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  Since graduating from the DSM, Gaurangi is working with playwright Ramu Ramanathan. She is also acting in a play titled Crumpled: A Compilation of Imperfect Love Stories and is a part of Na Aage Haath Na Pichhe Pagaah, a poetry and dramatic initiative led by Ramu Ramanathan.

  

Kaustav Sinha

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  After the DSM, Kaustav has been on a roll. He has worked with Barefoot! Productions in an ensemble play. He also did a play called Still and Still Moving, along with Beyond Bollywood, a bollywood musical. Currently Kaustav is acting in two plays, Oddbird Theatre’s Futureproof, and 50 Words.

  He has also performed shows with Cueless Improv, the only improvisation group in Delhi. And has carried out workshops on ‘Theatre Aesthetics and Voice study’ for school children, in Delhi and Kolkata.

  

Niharika Lyra Dutt

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  Niharika started her theatre journey working with Yatrik, The Third Space Collective and Tadpole Repertory in Delhi. Recently, she was widely appreciated for her performance in the Prosit Roy and Avinash Arun directed Paatal Lok (2020) where she plays Sara Matthews, a young journalist. She also played Urmi in Music Teacher (2019), directed by Sarthak Dasgupta for Netflix. Her portrayal of Pearl in the webseries Pushpavalli on Amazon Prime Video created by Sumukhi Suresh and directed by Debbie Rao, also garnered many positive reviews. Apart from her career on screen, Niharika is part of many ongoing theatre productions. Some of these include Chuhal written and directed by Manav Kaul; 07/07/07 directed by Faezeh Jalali; Lullaby Stranger a Choral Theatre experience directed by Sujay Saple and conducted by Salome Rebello; and A Fistful of Rupees directed by Shiv Tandan. Niharica also devised and performed in the Black Box Okhla production For the Record directed by Nikhil Mehta which was later nominated for Best Play and Best Original Script at the 2020 META theatre awards.

  

Nitika Arora

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  After graduating from the DSM, Nitika has been journeying on a very unique path. She is an important part of a theatre group, Darwesh, that explores historical reenactments in the spaces in which they happened. She was a part of Ravula, which looks at the mythological figure Ravan.

  Nitika is part of a  project, Shahjahan’s Daughters, which is a heritage walk in the tomb of Roshanara Begum. The walk/play gives an insight into Emperor Shah Jahan’s court through dialogue between his daughters Jahanara Begum and Roshanara Begum and storytelling.  

  

Rushab Kamdar

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  Rushab is from Mumbai; studied science in college; worked professionally as an event manager, web designer, assistant producer and a dancer. He is currently a theatre actor. He practices in Hindi, English, Gujarati and Marathi.

  After graduating from the Dsm he has worked as an actor with Vikram Phukan, Rasika Aghashe, Manoj shah, Ashish Joshi, Yalgaar, Sujay Saple, Kanupriya Pandit, Atul Kumar, Jaroslaw Siejkowski, Mahesh dattani, Yuki ellias, Satchit puranik, Reshma shetty and Equinox films; has directed a play for the Playpen performing arts.

  Apart from acting, he likes to travel across places, cultures and traditions; and he also repeatedly makes efforts to learn a new language.

Sagar Bhoir

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  Sagar Bhoir comes from a town called Wada in Maharashtra.

  Post his training at the DSM, he performed in Goshtarang (a children’s storytelling project that aims at taking theatre to local village schools) with Geetanjali Kulkarni’s venture Tarapa. Most recently, he has been working on the production ‘Deewar’ under prominent theatre director Sunil Shanbag.

  He is also working with Clown Without Borders, Sweden in their current production ‘Shakuntalam – A Clown Trio’ under the direction of Rupesh Tilu and continues to make theatre with his colleagues from the Drama School Mumbai.

Sanket Kadam

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  Sanket Kadam is an actor. He has graduated in computer engineering and have a post-graduate diploma in acting and theater-making from the Drama School Mumbai.

  As an actor, he has been part of many plays like Bahot Bada Sawaal Written by Mohan Rakesh and Directed by Shashi Chaturvedi; This Is All There Is When There Is All This by The Company Theatre, directed by Sujay Saple and Salome Rebello; Detective 9-2-11 directed by Atul Kumar. He has also worked on corporate shows with Future Group India and Citibank, a few short films, and ads.

  He has pursued physical theatre and attended a lot of acting workshops as well. He is pursuing screen work and has been honing his craft and skills on as many level as possible.

  He has been doing scene work with Artist’s Collective and learnig new skills. My hobbies are reading, watching films, physical training and swimming.

Shreeram Chaudhari

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  After graduating from DSM, Shreeram went on to train at Goshtarang under Geetanjali Kulkarni’s QUEST initiative. With Goshtarang, Shreeram toured schools across rural Maharashtra performing stories for young learners. He then went on to train in Yakshagana and collaborate with fellow alumni to devise the play Krishn Snadhaan. Shreeram acted with director Shibu Sable on a short film called Karm. Currently, he works with Clowns Without Borders, Sweden and is touring with Rednose Entertainment’s Shakuntalam – A clown trio, directed by Rupesh Tillu.

Shubhankar Sunil Tawde

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  Shubhankar graduated from the DSM in 2016. Since then he has made quite a mark for himself in the Marathi film and television industry. He played the lead character on the TV serial ‘Freshers’ on Zee Yuva, along with other cameos in the past few years.

  He is now awaiting his debut film as lead actor ‘Kaagar’ directed by National Award winner, Makarand Mane.

  Shubhankar has also worked in several Hindi and Marathi plays and continues to stay active within the theatre industry.

Trinetra Tiwari

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  Trinetra tiwari is a theatre Actor/ Writer/Director. He graduated from Delhi University and trained in acting and theatre making from the Drama School Mumbai. He started his theatre journey by doing folk plays in Rajasthan. He is now working in Mumbai for the past 3 years.

  He has worked as an actor under the direction of Aniruddha Khutwad, Atul Kumar, Sujay Saple, Amey Mehta, Sheena Khalid, Abhinav Grover.

  He has also written and performed small pieces like ‘Mridula’ and ‘Pehli Shaadi’. He has written and co-directed ‘Ulatbaansi’ and co directed ‘Adrak’. He has been associated with children’s theatre.

Vaishnavi Ratna Prashant

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  Vaishnavi started a Theatre Company, named BeTaal with Abhinav Grover, another alumnus of the DSM, after graduating from the school.

  Under Betaal, they have done plays – Paanchvaali, Chenda, Rushomon, Krishna Sandhan and Raamji Aayenge. Out of which Paanchvali and Chenda were selected and performed at Thespo18 and Krishna Sandhan was performed at Prithvi theatre.

  Their recent work Tughlaq by Girish Karnad got selected for The Prithvi theatre festival and MCC’s Rangmahotsav festival, Pune.

  In her theatre experience, she has acted in Ripples, In Search of Dariya Sagar (which won best playwright at The Hindu Theatre festival) by Gerish Khemani. Vaishnavi also starred in Girls Hostel, a Marathi horror serial, which premiered on Zee Yuva.

  She also starred in Bunmaska, a Marathi TV series on Zee Yuva. She was a part of Hindi plays like Jhalkari directed by Neha Singh and Dohri Zindagi directed by Gurleen judge.

  She was the Stage Manager for Rakt Kalyan (Taledand, play by Girish Karnard) directed by Sunil Shanbag for DSM’s annual production. She has acted in Choked by Anurag Kashyap and played a small part in Ghost Stories again directed by Anurag Kashyap, a Netflix show.

Vivaan Parashar

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  After graduating from the DSM, Vivaan worked in a play titled OPEN, and now he is acting in NCPA’s The Little Prince.

  Vivaan wrote, directed and performed two solo acts – Duniya Bhi Kamaal Karti Hai and Rohan – mentored by director Sunil Shanbag. He is currently working as Stage Manager for Motley’s play Riding Madly in All Directions, starring Naseeruddin Shah.

  Vivaan also acted in a recently released Marathi film titled Manjha, and has recently bagged the lead role in an untitled, under production web film.

  

Alumni 2014-15

Aakash Prabhakar

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  Aakash Prabhakar runs a theatre and a film production company of his own by the name of Here And Now. His recent theatre production credits include Visiting Mr. Green, a play that travelled to 54 countries before India with MK Raina where he plays Ross Gardiner.   It is written and directed by Jeff Baron which opened in NCPA Experimental and eventually toured to Bengaluru and Ahemdabad eventually, Cock – by Mike Bartlett which opened in Alliance Francis in Chennai and Bull -By Mike Bartlett which opened in Mumbai and ended up doing 15 shows within a year. It was directed by an Australian Award-winning Theatre director Glenn Hayden. He began professionally directing and producing plays from 2015.   Since then, he has Produced, Directed, and Acted in Crumpled- A Compilation Of Imperfect Love Stories and The Drum Roll- Tales of Friendship and Love with a Twist. Both these plays were performed in different intimate spaces around the country. Crumpled did about 50 shows in a year in Mumbai, Chennai, and Ahmedabad. One of those short stories “The American Dream” that he wrote and acted in won the Best Scriptwriter and Best Actor award at the Short+Sweet Theatre Festival Chennai. The drum roll too played in different venues across the country.   He has been a part of several other plays with different Theatre Groups and Companies. Orphans ( by Rahul Rai), Taboo Talks, Confessions, Absolute, Marriageology (by Sunil Shanbag), Romeo and Juliet, This is all there is when there is all this by The Company Theatre and many more. He also attended a short term film making course in Nyfa, New York. He has acted in a bunch of short films, tv shows, films and music videos in the last 5 years. Some of them being “Shut up” which was produced by Sikhya Productions, The Connection By Quint Media,Videos by Terribly Tiny Tales being some of them. His latest independent feature film “Freddies Piano” produced by an American Film Production Company Silcrun Inc in collaboration with Stray Factory Entertainment a Chennai based firm which is in the post-production stage currently. Aakash also worked with a start-up called Castiko Inc as a creative director where he managed alternative art space in Mumbai. Even though it was short, it enjoyed an impactful spell.

  

Abhinav Grover

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  After graduating from DSM in 2015, Abhinav Grover has worked with Sunil Shanbag, Vikram Kapadia and Mahesh Dattani from Mumbai, Paul Goodwin from the UK and Renato Rocha from Brazil. He also spent two and a half years learning Yakshagana under Guruji Sanjeev Suvarna.

  He has been awarded the Tendulkar-Dubey theatre fellowship for the year 2019. He runs the theatre company ‘BeTaal’ with another DSM alumna, Vaishnavi RP where they made a ‘Raamji Aayenge’ an intertextual play combining Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Ramayana’s Kishkindha Kaand.

  He is currently working as a professional theatre actor, writer and director in Mumbai.

Himani Pant

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  Himani, after graduating from the DSM, worked with Theatre Professionals for their Young People’s Theatre Programme. She worked as an instructor in Delhi for the programme. She currently teaches drama at a reputed educational institution in Gurgaon.

  Himani has also worked on various plays in different capacities, with the most notable being Faezeh Jalali’s 07/07/07. She was a part of the ensemble that won the META Award for the Best Ensemble for the play.

  

Ishan Khanna

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  Having done several things in theatre, both on-stage and off, Ishaan has had the opportunity to work with big theatre names like Sanjna Kapoor for Junoon.

  He has also been the casting director for a film called ‘Dirty Heroes’ starting Arunoday Singh, Atul Kulkarni, Rajesh Sharma and many others under the banner of Talking Frames Production.

  Currently, he is a part of the cast of this film and has also assisted the directorial team by conducting acting workshops for the secondary cast of the film.

  

Kaizad S. Gandhi

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  Kaizad S Gandhi is a versatile actor and theatre maker with substantial acting experience in Hindi as well as English, both on stage and in front of the camera. His own speaking accent is neutral in both languages; he has a good ear and is able to copy various regional and international accents. He has a naturally deep voice, but with a range, that lends itself easily to voice-over work. He has a BA degree in Psychology from Ambedkar University, Delhi. The DSM experience was critical in helping him understand his potential and deepen his interest in the performing arts, including direction.

  Since DSM, Kaizad has played a range of characters that have helped to enhance his consciousness of the variety, depth, and resilience of the human spirit. Among the roles he has done are: Deepak in Mahesh Dattani’s cine-play version of ’30 Days in September’ (Hindi), Larry in Patrick Marber’s ‘Closer’, Creon in ‘Project Antigone’, Amit Ray in ‘A Poem of an Ending’, based on Tagore’s Shesher Kobita (English), and Krishna in ‘CheckMate’ (Weekend Productions entry in IFP 50 Hours Film Challenge 2019).

  He has completed the NSD Theatre Director workshop (2018) and the SRC Theatre Director’s Training Programme (2017). He directed ‘Muthbhed’ a one-act play (produced in Delhi, Dehradun, Pauri, and Sahibabad) and 2 full-length plays, ‘Panne ki Anguthi’ and ‘Chamatkaar’ (Delhi).

  Keenly interested in all the processes connected to performance, Kaizad has worked behind the scenes as a production manager for Mahesh Dattani’s cine-play version of ‘Big Fat City’ and for ‘Fired by Hamlet’ under Ashwath Bhatt.

  Currently Kaizad is a member of the LTG Repertory, Delhi.

Karan Puri

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  Karan Puri is an actor. He has shot a Malayalam movie ‘Varthamanam’ with National Award winning director Siddharth Siva. He is a part of Four More Shots Season 2.

  Apart from this, he has shot for over 25 national ad campaigns for brands including Britannia, Indian Terrain, Tata, etc.

Kartavya Sharma

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  Kartavya Anthwaal Sharma is an actor, a part time jester and a drumming enthusiast. He is a graduate of the Drama School Mumbai and has dabbled with red nose clowning.

  He has acted in plays like Shikhandi, Lihaaf, Drum Roll and has acted in a feature film called Aithe 2.0 and in advertisements for brands like Airtel, Power Shoes, etc.

Mandira Bahl

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  Mandira has been taken a very different route since graduating from the DSM. She taught at a school for special children and directed a play for their annual function.

  Mandira went on to do an advanced course in photography and photoshop from Mumbai before moving to Delhi. In Delhi, she trained under a senior photographer and built her portfolio of photography and writing. She is now in New York doing a Master’s in Photojournalism. She has worked with NDTV Goodtimes, ART India, Prithvi Theatre and BNHS (Bombay Natural History Society) in various capacities.

  

Niketan Sharma

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  Niketan has started his own production house called NOW Productions. Under NOW Productions, Niketan recently premiered Adrak, a play he wrote and directed and acts in as well.

  He has also worked on learning new skills by attending workshops in Acting for Camera, conducted by the FTII alumni and has thereafter assisted them in conducting further workshops.

  He has worked as an actor with Australian director, Glenn Hayden in a performance-based workshop at Thespo. He has worked on a short films and has written and directed short videos for Zee Television and a phone application called Gorb.

  

Nikhil Murali

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  Nikhil Murali has been active in theatre in Delhi and Mumbai for the last 12 years and has performed in award-winning plays such as Shikhandi, 777, 12 Angry Jurors and A Farming Story. He has worked with Feisal Alkazi and Arvind Gaur in Delhi and Sunil Shanbag, Faezeh Jalali, Nadir Khan and Rajat Kapoor in Mumbai. During his time at the Drama School Mumbai, he learnt under instructors such as Faezeh Jalali, Neeraj Kabi, Sunil Shanbag and Mahesh Dattani.

  Nikhil has also explored traditional acting/dance forms such Kudiyattam and Yakshagana and has trained in the martial art form Kalaripayuttu.

Roshan Joseph Mathew

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  Roshan Mathew is a film and stage actor, best known for his work in Malayalam films. He made his debut in the 2016 movie “Puthiya Niyamam” directed by A. K. Sajan, in which he played the antagonist. He shot to popularity with his portrayal of Gautham Roy, a musician with a major identity crisis in Ganesh Raj’s “Aanandam” (2016).

  His performance in Anjali Menon’s “Koode” (2018) was widely appreciated and garnered him positive reviews. Roshan will next be seen in Geetu Mohandas’s “Moothon” In addition to his film career, Roshan has appeared in numerous theatre productions based in Mumbai and Chennai.

  Some of his prominent productions have been The Glass Menagerie directed by Rajit Kapoor, 07/07/07 directed by Faezeh Jalali. He has also directed an original play in Kochi called A Very Normal Family with a new team of artists based in the city.

Shivam Dev Singh

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  Shivam did a play called Open Cast under the banner of Indian Ensemble and Mimansha Theatre (backstage and acting respectively) after graduating from the DSM.

  He also worked with Vivek Vijaya Kumran for Kuttyattam, a form of Sanskrit theatre indigenous to Kerala. Shivam owns and runs a YouTube channel called The Aiwehi Talkies, which touches upon current topics, films. Shivam and his channel have also developed a Web Series titled Shit It’s Engineering, a comedy take on engineering students’ life, and a short film titled Kaizad. He conducted a theatre workshop in Pondicherry with Aryan Mouch. Shivam also worked as an actor in an ad for Ola Cabs. He also did a yet unreleased web series titled Ayyo Drama.

  Shivam has recently started his own advertising company called Aiwehi Media and Advertising Pvt Ltd.

  

Shristi Shrivastav

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  Shristi Shrivastav has been flying high since graduating from the DSM. She acted in Faezeh Jalali’s 07/07/07, by FATS TheArts. The play won the Best Ensemble Award at the META Awards. She rose to popularity after featuring in multiple videos for the Girliyapa series by TVF. Which led to her acting in the film OK Jaanu, a Dharma Production, based on the Tamil film OK Kanmani.

  Shristi has also been the understudy for Moonfool, a devised performance piece by Shapeshift Collective.

  

Alumni 2013-14

Archana Patel

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  Archana is a theatre practitioner and a seasoned HR professional. She runs her own corporate theatre company called Potli Studios. Archana’s work with Potli uses a multidisciplinary approach to engage with corporate companies and address various HR related activation and sensitisation drives. Archana is also a founder member of The Meat Puppet Company, that was formed soon after she graduated from the Drama School Mumbai, with fellow batchmates Samridhi Dewan and Saudamini Kalra.

  The Meat Puppet Company has staged 3 highly acclaimed productions thus far & has performed its work internationally too. As an actor, Archana can be spotted performing on stage, Films, TV, Radio, and Web-series.

  When Archana is not facilitating a workshop or rehearsing for a show, she invests her time in social causes – especially those relating environment, animals & women.

Ashish Pore

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  Ashish is currently discovering his own practice and working within the industry.

  

Chirag Lobo

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  Post the DSM, Chirag has been very active on the theatre scene. He has been working with four stage productions. Namely Ripples by The Blind and the Elephant Theatre Group, The Elephant Journey, and Love 2.0 with Anvarat Theatre Group. He has also worked on the online platform with production houses like Cinema4, TVF (The Viral Fever), and Jamic Films. He also plays multiple characters in Crumpled: A Compilation of Imperfect Love Stories directed by an ex-student of the DSM, Aakash Prabhakar.

  Chirag is at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama furthering his education in the craft through the school’s MA in Acting.

  

Gaurav Karmakar

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  After graduating from the DSM, Gaurav assisted faculty Deepal Doshi, in his theatre workshop ‘Culmination, Performance, Preparation’ at the Mumbai University, for students of the MA in Theatre Arts.

  He worked on Dharamjudh for 4 months, a play produced by theatre group Rammat. He is also associated with another start-up theatre group, “The Theatre Bees”.

  Gaurav is looking forward to discovering and working on scripts of his choosing in different roles and capacities.

  

Harish Kulkarni

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  After graduating from the DSM, Harish founded Natakbaaz, a theatre group and production house, with batchmate Sambhaji Sasane. Under the Natakbaaz banner, Harish conducted theater workshops for Tata Trust, PNG’s CSR initiative as well as for the NGO Nari Samta Manch.

  He has trained MKCL’s grassroot teachers in drama and regularly directs plays for Akshar Nandan School. Harish has worked in the Marathi films Ek Hajarachi Note, Bandishala and Ghe Dabbal as well as Marathi teleseries Vikas Sarthi and Krantigatha.

  He has been part of various web series, Magic, directed by Nikhil Rao, Bombay Hospital, director Nikhal Advani and Mumbhai for ALT Balaji. Harish conducts workshops with schools and NGOs, too. His long-term dream is to start a theatre school for children at the grassroot level.

  

Manraj Singh

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  Manraj has taken the theatre skills he acquired at The Drama School into the world of television and film, very successfully. He has acted in a TV series for Sony Pal, multiple ads and a web series.

  He has also been part of an independent film made in Bangalore. He plans to keep acting in films and television and continues to audition actively.

  

Mikhail Sen

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  Mikhail is an actor, director, and theatre-maker. After graduating from the DSM, he continued his training at Drama Centre, London and The Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute, Moscow.

  As an actor, he has been a part of several international productions, often in the lead role. These include the Bollywood musical ‘Taj Express’ and the production ‘Four Play’.

  He has worked with several well-known directors including Greg Doran, Chris Holt, Toby Gough, Derek Bond, Alyque Padamsee, Mahesh Dattani and Kussum Haider.

  As a facilitator, he has conducted workshops for corporates, teachers and young people. He has also taught theatre at different colleges and schools in Bangalore and New Delhi.

  His body of work as an actor has involved collaborative productions with International companies like the Royal Court (U.K) and MoonFool Theatre (U.K). Recent credits include: Troilus and Cressida (RSC), Blood (Royal Court), 3 Sleeps (FatLip Films), Taj Express (U.S tour / Sadler’s Wells) Mikhail has recently been in Troilus and Cressida at the Royal Shakespeare Company directed by Gregory Doran.

Prashansa Sharma

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  Prashansa Sharma is an actor, writer, co-founder & creative producer at ‘Daku Productions’- a boutique film production house in Mumbai. Post the DSM, she trained in film-acting at The Prague Film School. In Mumbai, Prashansa has been acting in various web-series & independent films.

  Her upcoming work includes ‘Mirzapur 2’ by Amazon Prime, ‘Your Honour’ by Voot, ‘Four More Shots’ by Pritish Nandy Productions.

Rahul Valmiki

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  Post the DSM, Rahul wrote and performed a piece called ‘What’s in a Name?’, mentored by eminent playwright, Mahesh Dattani, whom he also assisted on his movie ‘Hasmukh Sahab ki Wasiha’. He directed his first professional play “The Date(d)”.

  Venturing into education, Rahul was a faculty intern at Actor Training Programme, conducted in Mumbai by SDDS Education of Australia in collaboration with University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of Arts.  

  

Sambhaji Sasane

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  Originally a Computer Science Post-Graduate from Kolhapur, Sambhaji found his calling in storytelling through films & theatre. He was the recipient of a Scholarship from the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh which enabled him to pursue the course  at The Drama School Mumbai.

  Sambhaji has worked on plays in Marathi, Hindi, English as well as Kannada. He has worked with groups like Indian Ensemble for their play, Muktidham, directed by Abhishek Majumdar and also formed a theatre group called Natakbaaz, with fellow batchman Harish Kulkarni. Sambhaji performed the group’s first solo play, Hodi (Ship).

  Sambhaji was a part of the play Tartuffe, written by Moliere & Directed by Daniel Goldman, where he played the part of Tartuffe, which was performed across India. He has also been part of corporate shows for Meat Puppet Company & Birla Sun Life Insurance Company (BSLI).

  He has been a part of a TV series on Zee Yuva, worked as the lead in a Marathi Feature Film named Wagherya, directed by Sameer Asha Patil, screened at Mumbai Film Festival by MAMI, an international film festival held in Mumbai. He has worked in an Independent Hindi Feature Love & Shukla, directed by Siddharth Jatla. He has also been a part of independent Mauka Mauka series of Ads which ran during the cricket World Cup. He has worked on independent Ad films for KBC (Kaun Banega Crorepati) and TATA Motors.

  

Samridhi Dewan

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  After graduating from DSM, Samridhi went on to perform in several plays with various theatre companies including Dur Se Brothers, Patchworks Ensemble, The Shakespeare Company and The Shapeshift Collective.

  She played the role of Pam in the official Indian adaptation of BBC’s ‘The Office,’ released on Hotstar. Samridhi also played the protagonist in The Zoom Studios’ ‘Imperfect’. She was seen in Anurag Basu’s ‘Stories by Rabindranath Tagore’ on Epic Channel and Netflix.

  Along with batchmates Archana Patel and Saudamini Kalra, Samridhi founded the ‘Meat Puppet Company’. MPT has performed across India and Dubai and are currently working on their 2nd production.

Saudamini Kalra

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  Saudamini co-founded Meat Puppet Company with two batch mates. Meat Puppet Company performed several shows for corporate houses around India, and even toured internationally with their production ‘Whole Sum Parts’.

  Additionally, Saudamini has been a part of various productions with The Drama School Mumbai, Naya Pata Collective, Thespo, Dice Media, Endemol India, NCPA, Mumbai Theatre Guide, Kotak, Glenmark Pharma, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, and Taj Inner Circle.

  Currently she is studying and training further at L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, France.

  

Tanvee Ravi

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  Tanvee Ravi graduated from DSM and spent a year with Clown without Borders. She was featured in an MFINE advertisement earlier this year.

  She was also on Virgin Radio 104.4FM in Dubai in Jaan – E- Jigar and featured on Emirates News in Dubai. She has received the “Best Ensemble” Mahindra Excellence Award 2016 for the play ‘07/07/07’.

Tushar Mathew

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  Tushar Mathew is theatre-maker, performer, and teaching artist. Not having lived in any one place in the world for more than five years taught him that telling good stories is a powerful way to make connections. After graduating from Drama School Mumbai, Tushar went on to complete an MFA in Ensemble Based Physical Theatre from the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre.

  He worked as an Instructor and Marketing Director at Dell’Arte and co-founded the Otherland Theatre Ensemble in 2018, creating and performing two original shows: “Eli and The Bear” which toured to the California Institute of the Arts, and “Forgive us, Gustavito!”, which won “Best of Fringe” at the Charm City Fringe Festival in Baltimore.

  Tushar is currently based in Bengaluru where he continues to develop his solo show “A Good Neighbour.” For more information visit: www.tusharmathew.com