The Making of the Actor

It wasn’t an easy road for Piyush to become an actor. He describes his journey from his home in Gwalior to the National School of Drama (NSD) in Delhi in the 1980s as one still under the worst of circumstances.

“The Gwalior recalls, ‘I didn’t have a decent childhood; it was never easy for me. It was filled with ups and downs. The profession of acting was looked down upon by my family, and they weren’t even aware of the word art.’”

Today, he has over 30 plays and 40 movies under his belt. Recalling his NSD days, Piyush has one person in particular to whom he wants to express gratitude. “My mentor, German director Fritz Bennewitz,” he says, pointing toward the photo on the wall in his study. “He was my teacher at NSD, and we met in my second year when he cast me in Hamlet.”

However, a new set of obstacles awaited when he went to Mumbai. His predecessor at NSD, Naseeruddin Shah, called him in for a play. But Mishra got cold feet and couldn’t go through with it. For a theatre actor accustomed to larger-than-life plays, the struggle of starting from scratch in Mumbai was too much.

“In Mumbai at that time, there were no theatre groups, and neither was I part of any repertory company. Having gotten a taste of performing in huge plays, nothing seemed right in Mumbai.”

Back in Delhi, he joined the Act One Theatre Group, with whom he wrote and directed several plays. “While working with Act One, I put into execution whatever I had learned at NSD. From there onwards, my actual journey of acting began,” he adds.