Living Legend series –face to face, which  started last year at Bharat Rang Mahotsav, where eminent personality comes to interact with the students and audience, gets a grand start today with  legendary actor Nana Patekar and Scholar Dr Kapila Vatsyayan.

​​Nana Patekar shared his journey from stage to the big screen. Reaching half an hour before time, sitting amongst the students of NSD outside Abhimanch, NSD, Nana Patekar stated the ups and downs of his life that motivated him to reach the heights. “The beginning of any journey is struggling, be calm. If you are making mistakes, it is learning in disguise.”  Listening to the doubts and fears of new theatre talents, Nana Patekar shared some essential sources of his acting skills about theatre. Sharing his unfathomable attachments with the farmer families of Maharashtra, he stated, “I can read faces. They are expressionless at times.”

The interaction was very unconventional since he sat at the stairs, surrounded by the students, and shared many lighter moments. Audience got a chance to witness another side of Nana Patekar with lots of humour mixed with seriousness messages.

Confessing his love for the theatre, Nana Patekar stated “Theatre is special because there is so much new to do every day at stage. What you performed yesterday is gone, what you will perform next day will be something entirely new. You can wear a new blanket of emotions every day.”

Replying to a question whether he will return to theatre, Nana Patekar said,”I am working with the framers and that is theatre for me.”

Eminent scholar, author and researcher, Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan graced the second session of the Living Legend Series with her profound wisdom in the subject of classical dance forms. Starting the session by her deep rooted association with the Institution, she said “National School of Drama is established at historical soil and I am related to it since its inception.”

Stating the value of basic cognition about an art Dr. Vatsyayan said, “I was taught every art form from the beginning because it provides strong foundation to everything you do in that field.”  She expressed her gratitude towards her aficionado teachers by thanking them, “I give my heartfelt thanks to my teachers, for educating me and guiding me, I couldn’t have done anything without their instructions.”

Addressing the young art lovers, she stated “There is a need to have discipline from within one self, any art can be mastered if one is dedicated and disciplined. Anything which is a product of one’s dedicated practise can form an art.”

“Meet the director” a one to one interaction with the minds behind the stage is a platform where the audience chat with the play directors. Today’s director,

​​Mr. Ratan Thiyam, Chairman, National School of Drama, whose play ‘Macbeth’ was the inaugural performance of 18th Bharat Rang Mahotsav.

Enlightening about the theory of theatre, Mr. Thiyam focused about the process of constructing a production of theatre from conceiving the idea to presenting a scene at the stage.

“Thought process of an artist should be I am a performer and I want to share my thought with audience. The thought should be presented so strongly that it compels the audience to think about it as well,” added Mr Thiyam.