I am V. Balakrishnan, an alumnus of Sri Ram Centre for Performing Arts and the prestigious National School of Drama, New Delhi (1998). I was later awarded the Charles Wallace Scholarship to attend the International Residency for Young Directors hosted by the Royal Court Theatre, London. I have taught over two thousand students in the past decade. As an actor I have acted in over 150 plays since I started my career in 1994.
THEATRE NISHA
Theatre Nisha was founded in 2000 with the aim of producing scripts that reflect social issues, however, not in the sense of preaching a sacrosanct resolution, but as a medium of speaking the truth. Over the past 16 years, we have created a niche audience for ourselves and dealt with genres ranging from Indian mythology to ‘in-yer-face’.
We believe that theatre is a way of life that lends to creativity, self-expression and exploration, and to this effect have worked with several schools, colleges and corporate organizations.
A brief account of our accomplishments include:
Produced over 100 plays in English, Tamil and Hindi as a repertoire
Designed and directed over 70 plays for schools and colleges
Conducted workshops for national and transnational corporates
Trained professional actors for the screen and stage
Performed at national, regional, and international theatre festivals: Edinburgh Fringe Festival, NSD’s Bharat Rang Mahotasav, The Hindu
MetroPlus Theatre Festival, Stage Rite Theatre Festival, IPTA Theatre Festival, Darpana Sunday to Sunday Theatre Festival, Purusai Theatre Festival, Short and Sweet Festival (Chennai), Ranga Shankara’s Samprati Theatre Festival, Deccan Herald Theatre Festival, Prakriti Foundation’s Poetry Festival, Prakriti Foundation’s Hamara Shakespeare Festival, Hyderabad Children’s Theatre Festival, AHA! International Children’s Theatre Festival etc.
Q. 1 Was it always your dream to become an Actor?
No I wanted to be an archeologist, then an architect and finally an actor
Q.2 Was it an easy decision to start your own Theatre group?
No it was by default , when I was not getting roles , like vishwamitra I decided to create my own opportunities
Q.3 What/who inspired you to take up this field?
Shyam Benegal’s Discovery of India, Amar Chitra Katha, Peter Brooks Mahabharata
Q.4 On your way to becoming a brand, did you face any hurdles/difficulties? Please tell us about your journey a bit elaborately.
I don’t know if I am a brand, we are known to perform honest work, my journey has been a simple one with a singular objective, do plays regularly and keep working on oneself. I worked with the royal court theatre London, and Tuida the performance group in South Korea, and these international experiences helped me to grow as a theatre person and as a human being.
Q.5 Reaching this point in your career, are you happy?
I am a bouquet of all emotions
Q.6 Do you believe in dreams? If you were to motivate people to believe in their dreams, what would you like to tell them?
Stop dreaming and start working, action before thought.