Stage more difficult than screen, feels Pavan
Before making his acting debut on television with the series Nukkad (1986), actor Pavan Malhotra was a part of Delhi’s theatre circuit. In fact. the 58-year-old actor says that it’s theatre that made him a better actor, and helped him understand the minutest details about acting, such as voice modulation and so on.
“I was in college when I got attracted to acting. We used to go to National School of Drama to watch plays. Bas tabhi se, NSD ke plays dekhne ka chaska chadh gaya tha. Uske baad dheeere dheere plays mein kaam milne laga, aur kaafi time baad jake TV mein kaam mila (I was addicted to watching plays at NSD and eventually, I started getting work as an artist in plays and later got into TV and films,” says Pavan, adding, “But I learnt a lot about acting through theatre. Things like how to project the voice, how to work on voice modulation, importance of pauses — all such details I learnt from stage.”
The actor feels that stage plays are more difficult than cinema. “On stage, you have to maintain a consistency. It is a live thing and you have to play same the character, two three times a day, for 30-45 long days. It’s difficult,” he adds.
Pavan, however, feels that audience are harsher in their criticism towards cinema than plays. “There are a variety of reasons. Some will say that you used to films of one genre, why have you switched to a completely different genre. Or they will say we didn’t like this look in the film. In theatre, because the audiences are a bit varied, the criticism received isn’t that harsh,” explains Pavan.