Chandigarh has talent, feels Nirmal Pandey

“Without doubts, Chandigarh has talent, and especially as beginners, these guys are much more aware than aspiring actors in other cities”, says Nirmal Pandey.
On his second visit in a month’s time, he says, “This city has become home for me. I keep coming back for one reason or the other. And this time, it is for the auditions of Gurkul Acting Academy that I am here,” says the actor, who has played diverse roles in movies like Bandit Queen, Desh Drohi, Yeh Koi to Hai and more.
Gurukul Acting Academy is searching for talented freshers with the aim to groom versatile aspirants into actors. “Based-in Mumbai’, the academy is holding auditions in the city to provide a platform to those who have ample talent but lack opportunity. We hope to churn out the best of talent through our years of practical experience in the field of acting. Every year thousands throng the National School of Drama but a part of the talented lot is left out due to lack of seats,” actor and faculty member, Nirmal Pandey, tells us there are 20 seats and that the faculty here is from National School of Drama and Delhi Gurukul Acting Academy.
“While, we have many aspirants from Punjab in the industry, this time we are expecting atleast two to three good actors from here. During the auditions, we have noticed that about 75 per cent of the aspirators are very aware, which is very significant,” he reels, this time moving on to the traits of a good actor — he needs to be passionate, aware, should be a good learner and above all should be a good human, Nirmal lists.
The actor feels that the youngsters are really serious about cinema. He says, “Gone are the days when parents stopped kids from joining movies, these days its parents who are promoting kids. And for youngsters, they know this is the only medium where they can achieve fame, money and power.”
“Yes, the desire for anything surely makes a man work hard for it, but other than that, talent and destiny play a great role. And these days one has to be multi-talented to be successful”, he adds.
That’s true, but destiny: does he believe in it? “Yes, I strongly believe in fate. I know so many actors who are much-much better than me, but circumstances have been such that they haven’t achieved much in life.” Back to the auditions, do all students who come for acting classes want to become lead heroes? “A movie is no more about a lead or second lead, but about an actor. And with the kind of movies we have these days, there is no one single character around whom the movie revolves, but around a good actor who can justify his role. And in the coming times, we would have talented actor bag the limelight than the hero of the movie. So, the concept of lead actor is not going to stay forever.”
About his future plans, the actor is quick to answer, “Apart from movies, I am doing television these days. I have a project called Seeta Geeta and another one with Balaji telefilms.” So, is television really paying better that cinema? “Yes, it is, but then, it keeps you busy 24/7,” he sums.