Natakbazi, but at what cost? Theatre aspirants in Mumbai dive into the stage ka struggle

Someone on the Internet once said ldquoI donrsquot need a screen I need a world where we value a single live performance as much as we value a billion digital streamsrdquo While more and more people treat theatre like a CV upgrade into the film world there are a significant number of people who live and breathe for the stageFor an aspiring actor in Mumbai the word ldquostrugglerdquo usually conjures images of casting calls crowded auditions and years spent waiting for a Bollywood break But there is another kind of struggler mdash the ones who are navigating the cityrsquos artistic ecosystem They are theatre practitioners trying to build a career without knowing where the next job or pay cheque will come fromPehel is a fourday workshop for theatre newcomers held at Andheri WestA space run by Tamaasha Theatre mdash for intimate theatre music and contemporary dance mdash Studio Tamaasha enters its second year with their workshop Pehel It is a programme aimed towards helping newcomers in the city to understand the theatre scene of Mumbai ldquoIt takes you at least a year to figure out how to manoeuvre through this art space in the city which can be quite dauntingrdquo says Sarthak ChaskarJuggling multiple jobs the 23yearold is entering a burnt out phase Theatre is not something he does alongside another profession It is his profession Having started performing in school Chaskar has spent the last four to five years working professionally in Hindi theatre as a writer actor director and backstage practitioner He also works with children teaching and writing plays for them and is associated with Studio Tamaasha He says he does not work in any other medium and survives entirely through theatreNeelam SinghBut surviving and sustaining a theatre practice he points out are two different things ldquoI have been in theatre for seveneight years professionally so I know and have a few jobs here and thererdquo he says ldquoSome of the jobs I take up are simply for survival There is no other motivationrdquoThe work is not necessarily wellpaid nor is there a predictable income to plan around Saving he says is difficult While Chaskar is fortunate enough to be a Mumbai native and does not have to worry about rent many of his peers who have migrated to the city face an additional burden Theatrersquos geography itself can become expensive ldquoAreas such as Andheri and Versova where much of the theatre activity is concentrated are increasingly difficult to live in And expensiverdquo he saysPICSISTOCKThe exhaustion that takes a toll on onersquos mind and body is quite less spoken about It is the common practice of any hustling in the city after all Chaskar travels from Vikhroli to Chembur and Andheri for work taking on multiple gigs to keep himself afloat The more work he accepts to survive however the less time he has to createldquoI get burnt out quickly doing so many gigsrdquo he says He has been trying to write a play for the past two to three months but finds himself without the mental or emotional space to do it ldquoI feel like giving up on jobs but then surviving without these jobs becomes quite difficultrdquoNeelam Singhrsquos story captures the loneliness that can sit beneath the idea of ldquomaking itrdquo in theatre Three years ago Singh decided to pursue acting and moved from Assam to Mumbai to follow her heart ldquoWhere I am from it is quite difficult to choose an unconventional careerrdquoJuggling multiple jobs actordirector Sarthak Chaskar lives and breathes theatre but feels burnt out from the constant hustle PICSATEJ SHINDEFor two years she tried to find her way into Mumbairsquos theatre scene alone ldquoIt was quite overwhelming for me and impacted my mental health graduallyrdquo she says Workshops costing 30000 or 50000 for 10 days were beyond her means while the absence of guidance left her constantly questioning herself ldquoI was looking for guidance as I had started everything from scratch here and it was not accessible for merdquoThen came Pehel in 2025 She became part of its community eventually moving into production alongside acting She becomes emotional recalling what that support meant ldquoI felt like I had mentors in this line I had no onerdquo Having never had the privilege of attending a drama school she says ldquoYou can truly appreciate something when you have felt its absencerdquo After years of navigating the city alone she finally had people she could turn to And she is not alone in her experience There are still people in Mumbai who feel lost if not terrified of the constant hustle that haunts theatreRs 30kCost of many acting or theatre workshops in MumbailsquoTheatre is my homersquoActordirector Dilip Pandey points out the confusion a newbie faces when they are introduced to Mumbairsquos theatre sceneThe struggles in this art space is a reality that will never go awayrdquo says Dilip Pandey The 35yearold actordirector who moved to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh in 2004 to pursue theatre says the city can be particularly difficult for newcomers to navigate The struggle starts with figuring out where to even begin from ldquoIt is very difficult to figure out where to start from Especially in a new city You donrsquot have the facilities or community to know where to start fromrdquoPandey has since established himself as a theatre artiste and is currently playing lead roles in three productions But even with that stability he believes making a living exclusively through theatre remains difficult He teaches acting to celebrity children conducts workshops and has recently turned to social media as an additional source of income ldquoIf you expect yourself to sustain yourself via only theatre then that is difficultrdquo he saysldquoIf you have to start your own group it is quite important to be established alreadyrdquo he says Funding can also mean negotiating creative choices while the venue itself can determine whether a production gets noticed ldquoThere is a lot of theatre politics in Mumbairdquo he says adding that these struggles persist because there is no structured system guiding practitioners through themYet Pandey remains committed to the form ldquoTheatre is an actorrsquos mediumrdquo he says ldquoI love being on the stage It feels like home as if I am playing in my own backyardrdquo For him ldquoevery man is an actor Theatre just brings it outrdquolsquoNewcomers have no communityrsquoSunil Shanbag cofounder of Studio Tamaasha explains why workshops like Pehel are necessary to foster theatre talentThe absence of a formal entry point is one of the biggest hurdles for newcomers says Sunil Shanbag cofounder of Studio Tamaasha ldquoYou get messages or you get calls from young theatre actors asking lsquohow does one get into the theatre scenersquordquo he says The question is hard one to answer ldquoThere is no system in place You donrsquot know where to go how to meet somebody What do you do how do you get in where do things happenrdquoSunil ShanbagUnlike film and television where ldquoauditions happen on a regular basisrdquo and casting directors provide a more organised route theatre has no equivalent structure ldquoThere are casting directors Therersquos training for a more organised system in that sense But itrsquos not there in the theatre at allrdquo Shanbag says For those arriving in Mumbai the lack of an existing network can make the struggle even more isolatingldquoOften young people when they come to the city have no community at all to fall back onrdquo Then comes survival ldquoIt is very hard to make a living unless you get involved in a commercial productionrdquo he says ldquoIt depends on what kind of theatre you do But having said that generally making a living from theatre is precarious as far as I seerdquoShanbag also points to the difficulty of finding affordable housing particularly for working and middleclass newcomers ldquoThe money that you have to spend to just get a space a roof over your head cannot be earned just by theatre unfortunately There are informal workshops everywhere but no formal structured guidancerdquo Strengthening support system is crucial if the next generation is expected to stayldquoWe have to address the challenges of living and working in the theatre in Mumbai and Pehel addresses thatrdquo Shanbag ends Pehel will be held from September 21 to 24 this yearlsquoTheatre runs on unpaid labour and passionrsquoTheatre artiste Teena Khanal who has worked on big productions says artistes often maintain a dual existence managing more than one job at a timeTeena Khanal who has worked on productions including Bade Sheher Ke Log and Ramayana says sustaining a serious theatre career requires artistes to live between passion and practicality ldquoFinancially theatre alone does not pay billsrdquo she saysTeena KhanalArtistes often maintain ldquoa dual existencerdquo mdash taking on screen auditions and other creative and production work to support their stage careers ldquoWe do commercial work to afford the luxury of doing serious theatrerdquo she adds While the community can offer support Khanal believes the institutional gaps are stark ldquoThe harsh truth is that the entire industry runs on the unpaid labour and passion of its artistesrdquoAnd that passion she warns cannot indefinitely override basic survival ldquoPassion has an expiration date when basic survival becomes too heavy When we are constantly stressed about rent groceries and medical emergencies the mental bandwidth for our craft and creative vulnerability just fades away I have watched gifted actors and technicians quietly walk away It breaks our heart because they didnrsquot lose their talentrdquolsquoTheatre has no union for itrsquoCofounder of Harkat Studios Karan Talwar explains how big institutions that are quite exclusive should take a stance for theatre artistes and techniciansKaran Talwar cofounder of Harkat Studios sees the problem less as a complete absence of theatre workshops and more as a lack of structure and collective support around themldquoThere are a lot of theatre workshops acting workshops that are announced every dayrdquo he says But the gaps become clearer beyond acting ldquoIf yoursquore talking about technical works they are completely negligiblerdquo he says contributing to ldquoa constant crisis in theatre of finding experienced techniciansrdquo Harkat Studios is a film production company that is also Mumbairsquos goto space for alternative theatre poetry and even open mic nightsKaran TalwarWhat Mumbairsquos theatre scene lacks Talwar argues is a communityled body that can establish basic working conditions ldquoTheatre somehow just operates in these very small quiet silos which makes it more difficult for young people to access people resources and all of thatrdquo Unlike acting ldquotheatre does not have a proper associationrdquo There is also ldquono minimum wage set for lighting production etcrdquo Harkat conducts some workshops informally he says but ldquowe are not able to institutionalise them because they are not sustainablerdquoThe problem extends to institutional spaces ldquoThese are all closeddoor spaces It is very hard to get into those networksrdquo Talwar says A stronger community body that could bring practitioners together and set basic working conditions he believes could ldquoopen out a lot for the world of theatrerdquo