Theatre best medium to learn craft of acting: Saurabh Shukla

Mumbai: Actor Saurabh Shukla feels theatre is the best medium to learn acting and wants more people to get associated with it and popularise it. When asked what he thinks of today's actors, who pay a lot of attention to body building, looks and dancing skills, he says, "It's one's personal choice... what you think of art or acting is completely your choice. I am no one to judge other person's perspective. In my perspective if you are starting acting then theatre is the best medium to learn the craft of acting." There are only few actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Shukla, who dabble into both mainstream acting and theatre.

Shukla feels more people should associate with theatre to make it popular and enable its reach to a wider audience. "One can't force actors to come to theatre or watch plays, it's one's choice, it comes from within. For me, there was no planning. I could have utilised this time and done films but I chose to do theatre," the actor told PTI. "I am happy doing the number of films I am doing and I am satisfied with the kind and number of films I am doing. I had some time left, so I felt why not polish myself," he says. Shukla returned to theatre with "2 Tango 3 to Jive" because of his love and passion for the medium. The play is travelling to the US for its 100th show today.

"There is huge market for Indian plays in the US. But it is not easy to go there and put up a show, you need lot of planning. We have Indian population there and they become our main target audience. It's a good market to explore." The "Satya" actor would like to take the play to other popular places like Australia, South Africa as they are a big market, thanks to the Indians residing there. The urban Indian play tries to portray the perplexities of mid-life crisis, but in a comical way.

"He (the play's lead character) is feeling hollow and is desperately trying to do something that is not his plan of life, he wants to get into extra-marital affair and in the process he meets three women. "So when he meets them the extra-marital affair thing goes on the back seat and other things crop up, like the philosophies of these three women. "He is hit by new information and new angle of looking at life and gets confused, and that makes it funny," he says.

Shukla, who is known for his impeccable comic timing, feels the most serious issue should be expressed in a comical way for it to be communicated well. Since mid-life crisis is a universal problem, Shukla too has been a victim of it. "I had started questioning what have I done in life, what I have done so far, was it worth doing? It is a slightly disturbing period. I was discussing things with a friend and he said he is going through the same problem. We both realised we are going through mid-life crisis and we started laughing and it just passed away," he adds.