We first saw him waking up people and insisting on having a cup of tea, his contention was ‘ election ke din aap agar vote nahin de rahe ho toh aap so rahe ho .' Then we saw him pondering about the need to donate blood for an awareness campaign for Thalassemia. But this is not all, he is also the romantic naughty friend who keeps teasing his friend nimbu in a lemon drink ad.
The list could just go on for actor Anand Tiwari who isn't just a ‘commercial guy.' During a break from commercials, Anand was seen in Kites , Udaan and then the simple middle-class guy in Aisha . His remarkable performance as Kapil Dev Dholakia in The President is Coming won him accolades from theatre lovers. “I have also acted in the The Coffinmaker and Emotional Attyachar . But I began my acting career with theatre, even though that was not my intention; I was an aspiring film-maker and even when I am acting I haven't let the film-maker in me die,” says Anand who was in town to perform for Motley's By George .
Anand says theatre happened to him accidently. Having being brought up in a place with a strong regional theatre influence in Mumbai, Anand found himself doing plays during various festivals. “Another reason why I found myself doing plays is because I come from the state board for education where extra-curricular activities also included doing dramas. After school I carried my acting to college. However, I never considered theatre as the big Bollywood ticket,” says Anand who has also done a Hollywood film called Fair Game starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn.
Anand considers theatre as a school in itself. “Honestly speaking,” Anand says, “Theatre helped me to live. I was an introvert once, theatre helped me to fight it. It also helped me with my English to a large extent.”
Anand isn't just an actor; before getting to ‘big theatre' groups he worked as a backstage assistant. Right now he is assisting Anurag Basu and “so I am going slow with my acting. My two plays, one with Rage and another with Motley are travelling to various places of India and that is keeping me occupied,” says Anand.
From nukkad drama to the college stage and then a backstage assistant how did Rage or Motley happen to Anand? “In theatre your talent travels word to mouth. Something like that happened to me as well and I was lucky enough to get associated with Rage and Motley.
Talking of Anand's role of a lamppost in the Worli sea link in Rage's monologue, he says, “the credit goes to the writer. I only spent enough time observing and rehearsing to establish the right connect with the audience.”
What about his experience of working with stalwarts of theatre? “I grew up watching them and never imagined I would work with them. It gives me a high. What binds most of us theatre actors is the love for cricket. We don't have post production parties, we raise a toast with a game of cricket,” laughs Anand Tiwari.
