From stage to the screen

From a detective criss-crossing the city to a fight for Hyderabadi cuisine, Hyderabad is finding prominence in Bollywood scripts these days. And along with the city, local artistes are also coming in the limelight.

Of course, shoots have always been happening in the city but it’s only now that the visibility of Hyderabadi actors has increased with the increase in the need of the correct dialect and professionalism that is present in these actors because of their theatre background.

Most of these local artistes have a sound background in theatre. Explaining how this helps, Vinay Varma, actor and director from Sutradhar theatre group, says, “Most actors who want to join films opt for the stage first to get their learning process right. And it is seen that actors who’ve performed on stage are at ease before the camera and don’t waste too many takes.”

This is the primary reason why filmmakers approach theatre personalities for auditions for various roles. There have also been instances when actors have been sent by filmmakers to theatre professionals in the city so that not only do they get the acting right but also other nuances of the job like diction etc.

“They know that in Hyderabad they have an option to get actors who are fluent in Hindi and are proficient in the field of theatre. We get a lot of requests for training in not just theatre but also film acting. That is why we have a workshop for theatre and another for film acting. The film acting workshop is a serious one where we take those who are considering acting as their career,” says Rathna Sekhar Reddy, the founder of Samahaara theatre group, who gets at least two-three requests per week for his film acting course.

Budgeting also seems to be a reason for opting for local talent. Another theatre professional, Vaishali Bisht, explains, “Of course, budget is an issue. The filmmakers are also going for convenience. Instead of getting actors from Mumbai, they are signing actors from the city. And for these actors, it’s more about getting a chance right here in their own city. ”

Convenience or not, this is good news for the actors in the city: “Our endeavour has been to outsource actors from Hyderabad and I have personally struggled to see that this happens; and the time seems to have arrived although there is still  much more to do. Hindi filmmakers planning their films in Hyderabad have started to rely on our homegrown talent, and that is a huge achievement for this city,” says Vinay Varma.