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Want to be Shah Rukh Khan?
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Summer camps for acting. Workshops to iron out the flaws. Schools of acting and their claims of grooming a `star to be'. Cine stars making an appearance at a function attended by aspirants. Delhi has it all this summer. RANA A. SIDDIQUI tells you what to find where in the world of budding actors... .
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WHEN PADMINI Kolhapure bid adieu to Bollywood to settle down to marital bliss a decade ago, she realised that she might soon be a forgotten soul in the glamour world that gave her recognition and pandered to her whims as a star. She never wanted to miss out on the joys of family life yet remain a part of the cine world. Initiating a school of acting was the best choice with a sound film background and mentors. Lata Mangeshkar was happy to learn that her niece was about to begin a school which would promote "singing also" and so was director-producer Nasir Husain for he had always admired her as a "gifted artiste" and believed that the combination of her talent and a well-structured course would bear fruitful results.
Enthused, Padmini took along her husband producer Tutu Sharma, brother-in-law Shakti Kapoor, Anil and Boney Kapoor and David Dhawan, to finally come out with `Padmini Kolhapure School of Acting' five years ago with courses in acting, modelling and grooming, film dancing and personality development. But she was not satisfied. She recalled her childhood days in films like "Ishq, Ishq, Ishq" and "Satyam Shivam Sundram', where sometimes she would feel hassled to remember long dialogues and express herself in a specific posture due to lack of proper guidance. She knew the youngsters need little grooming, as their approach towards acting is "very natural and not attempted" and that they often steal the show in films. Thought prevailed over her and she added a kids' workshop for children up to 13 years of age. All courses in her school range from three to four months with a fee structure of Rs 15,000 to 29,000. The acting course includes contents like body movement and miming, voice modulation, speech, dialogue delivery, play back and lip lynch, camera techniques and hosting talk shows, etc. Her modelling courses are more about poise, catwalk, nutrition, and fashion co-ordination and social skills. Personality development is all about how you should appear socially acceptable and in dancing you learn choreography and good synchronisation of face expression and dance. "I consider kids workshop one of the most successful courses these days for parents want their children to be more active. They think that in stead of wasting their time during summers, they should do something constructive," says Richa Wahi, Padmini's sister-in-law and Managing Director the school's Delhi-based chapter at Haus Khaz. "We have also recently conducted acting, summer workshops in Delhi and Haryana. The number of aspirants is overwhelming," she says enthusiastically.
Isn't the institute just a money-making machine for not many from other similar institutes have come out with flying colours? "No, in School Days and Ye aashiyane, two serials on ETV these days, all the cast include my students. One Mudit is coming in a film called `Paanch' -- Padmini's home production. Moreover, we just don't leave are students in the lurch after they complete the course. We send them to different agencies, producers and serial makers when they like to take fresh faces. We effectuate their meetings also," she informs.
Isn't the course expensive, just not for a common middle-class aspirant?
"No, for what they earn afterwards is much more than what they pay here. Moreover, for the kind of quality content we provide, the fee does not make a hole in your pocket," she argues.
Wahi is not the one who asserts that her institute provides best of acting courses, the Asian Academy of Film and Television - AAFT -- also claims to have groomed some 2400 men and women from 24 nations across the globe and is still grooming more.
The academy saw the formal release of AAFT's recently launched Hindi daily by the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Sushma Swaraj at Marwah Studios, at Noida. The release day witnessed a galaxy of who's who of cine and political world. Sridevi, Ajay Devgan, Anil Kapoor, Amar Singh and so on.
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