Delhi and NSD have a lot of contribution in shaping me as an actor: Pankaj Kapur

Actor Pankaj Kapur, known for his performances in films such as Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho! (1984), Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1990), and Maqbool, talks about his days in Delhi’s National School of Drama, and the future of theatre.

Three-time National Award-winning actor and theatre personality, Pankaj Kapur, left the audience in a spell with his play, Dopehri that took place recently in the Capital and Gurgaon. The play is a dramatic retelling of a novella the actor — known for his performances in films such as Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho! (1984), Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1990), and more recently, Maqbool (2003) — wrote 20 years ago.

Actor Pankaj Kapur staged Dopheri, a play in the Capital and Gurgaon.

A National School of Drama alumnus, the actor believes that the institution is largely responsible for shaping him as a performer. “I was 19 years old when I joined NSD. The city (Delhi), Ebrahim Alkazi — the director of the institute, and the staff at that time had a lot of contribution in shaping me as an actor. Those three years of my life, I was at my most impressionable because I was exposed to the right stuff, and it helped me create a base.”

Besides film, he has also known for his stellar stage presence. When he took to stage recently for Dopheri, it was after two decades that he returned to the theatre. Talking about how the theatre scene has changed in the intervening years, Kapur says, “I believe that the number of people going to watch plays has increased in all these years. But we haven’t had a historical continuation of theatre in the sense of a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. We don’t have that kind of a tradition. But we can reach up to that mark. I have seen an improvement. There should be more institutes and people, and we have to be more conducive to theatre conditions.”

Kapoor, who is grandfather to actor Shahid Kapoor’s daughter Misha, says he’d prefer kids grew away from the limelight. He says, “Children should be kept as normal as possible. At a very young age, they are not even aware of the happenings around them. You need to do whatever you can to grow them normally. But it depends on an individual’s choice. Different parents have different approach towards it.”

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