"Format Training Gives Extra Boost of Courage "- Trisha Choudhury

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1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I think the questions below I have answered tells a lot about my journey, still to sum it up, I am Trisha Choudhury, bought up in a small yet very advanced in thoughts and education town called Duliajan, where life was small, limited, but very happy and warm and cozy. 

I lost my dad in 2012 and of course that changed a lot for Mez I was a stupid cribbing teenager pampered child all of a sudden turned forcefully into a mature and hardworking person, I am glad, but I still believe it didn’t have to happen this way, things became a little harder, somehow I left my hometown to study in Delhi, my course didn’t have many options in Assam. 

That time and all my relatives cursed me to leave my mom alone to go out and study, but my mom always said that u live your life or else your dad will always blame me, I too never wanted to compromise on education and career based on some stupid logic of some unwanted people. 

Anyway, moving on, the college was in Noida, so I had some opportunities to meet people, started working behind the stage and on stage for dance, and some magazines I used to work for, eventually, I found myself with an option to either stay in Delhi and continue living there or go to a new city and give my life a purpose and goal. 

The moment I left my comfort zone came to the city that churns you inside out before letting you live in it, I now have answers to so many questions. Had I not taken that step I know I would have done fine, but there is a difference for me between ( doing just fine) and ( living my life) one small decision which was a little hard and out of comfort zone, but it made me who I am today J thank god I chose to come to Mumbai, and I am and will always be thankful for this city for all it has given me till now and for much more to come. 


2. Did you ever think or dream of being an actor?

Yes, of course, I did, my entire childhood has been about acting in front of the mirrors, awards were the perfume bottles, like for so many others, but I am being honest, I was just being childish, I was told that it’s impossible for me to even live alone in a city forget about acting, but it’s the funniest and ironic I don’t know what to say, today I am doing exactly opposite of that. 

I have been staying away from home figuring out life since 2013 and so far my mom has not had a panic attack Touchwood so I must be doing fine by myself, plus you guys are asking me all this so that also makes me feel like maybe I am doing just fine. 

I am pursuing a career in acting, something I swear to god I felt was just a figment of my imagination, now either that’s life, and destiny or I am rebel or maybe both, but If u ask me, I will be honest with you yes I dreamt of being an actor but never in the wildest of my dreams did I ever for once imagined that I will be actually seeing myself on screen. 

The first time I saw myself I asked my friend, dude, you sure you saw me? And he had to send a screenshot from his phone I know my weakness, all of them, maybe accepting those and making them turn into my strength made it happen, for example, I am a little short I am 5ft 3 and you know the average height of an actress here is 5’7, that made me believe I am not good enough.

As I grew up, and due to my little background with my education in media, I realized, fuck height, fuck looks, I just want to act!! And what has acting to do with anything other than knowing to act, so I tried learning the craft, I am still, but ya since that realization things have turned upside down, and all my weakness seems like strength to me. 

The people seem to be accepting me nicely just the way I am, till date no casting person or you know past directors or anyone have told me I am a bad actress, they have said a lot of things, but never that I am a bad actress, and for me, that’s my success, I think beyond your beauty, and logic, lies your devotion to your art form and I guess that is the ultimate peaceful way of fighting your fight.


3. When did you first decide you wanted to pursue dancing and how did you start?

So, this is what my mother told Mez that I learned how to dance before walking, holding my dad's shoulder when he used to sit to play the tabla I started tapping my feet to the beats, so when I grew up, learned how to walk and talk like other normal humans. 

I fought with my mom to learn dancing over classical music since I am a Bengali, you know what I mean my mom's gonna kill me for this comment, anyway, so at the age of 6 I learned Bharatnatyam from Illa Mallika ma'am at Delhi public school, Duliajan, Assam, and oh my god was I bad, actually, not bad, very very very bad, but still, I kept trying, there was just something about this dance form no matter how much I was kept at the back of the stage. 

I still tried and tried one day, I came across some kathak classes and my mom and dad out me there, I met with my teacher Ratnawali Dasgupta, a kathak teacher, who changed my life for me, she introduced me to this beautiful dance form, Kathak, Katha aur Nitya ka Sangam, and that’s it, I found the life of my life, till today every time I take my kathak turns I feel a warm lump. 

In my throat, because only I know how many times my toes and feet have been scrapped out, infected, oozed blood, because that much I was bad and had to work on myself because I just didn’t wanna dance, I wanted to express myself through it, for me more than the dance steps, the expression matter, the emotion mattered, the feel of the music and the flow of my body movement has to match. 

My dance has to always have a story to tell, people watching me dance, should not just enjoy but feel emotions that I am feeling while dancing, and it was I don’t know how to say it, but impossible?? But touchwood I worked really really hard in understanding more than one dance form. 

Took to folk, several folk dances, went to those particular states to learn a little, some western styles like belly, contemporary, 20 years of training and it’s still going on, I am trying to finish up my Alankar in kathak. 

So never giving up on learning now has blessed me with an ability to not only self dance but to teach also, my mother helped me a lot, she is like this big strong pillar I have that has supported, protected, showed belief in me even when I had none, the only one always telling me while I was sharpening skills, that one day when u dance nobody will be able to judge you. 

They will be busy processing their emotions, and that meant the world to me, also a lot of life lessons I have learned through this art form, I am a little crazy I look for answers not from God but from the art form I worship, makes me feel weird sometimes but so far it has always worked. 

That itself gives me a sense of peace, plus I believe your art has its own way of rewarding you the amount of hard work you put in it, so dance for me has always been way more than just an art form I like, it’s like this second mother of mine nurturing me to adapt, learn, implement, have faith and courage. It's my god for me, so I don’t like messing around with it much, just learn and teach is all I love doing.


4. How can one approach their career and have the confidence and belief to become an actor?

I don’t think there is any particular answer to that, I believe it’s different for every individual, they go through their own journey, I have met people who never wanted to be even actors but are now super-duper famous in it and people who always wanted to be an actor but are not but they are something even bigger, so you never know where life takes you.

One thing I have learned in my life that I would like to share, which I hope helps a few of you to decide about your life, So, I always wanted to be an actor, yes, but in September 2012 I lost my dad to cancer and after that my life turned upside down. 

From a very badly pampered child who’s dad made her meals and bed In one night all off a sudden I had to grow up twice my age that was 18 after that never really thought I will give it a chance or honestly I didn’t even want to do it, because who will go through so much of pain of convincing family and oneself again and again, that I will make it or won’t do anything stupid oh god too much drama. 

So I just shut my dreams in a closet and hurried it somewhere, Took up mass comm because I felt that could at least let work in a production house as creative or AD or in advertising firms, closest I can get to, but then somehow and something or the other as mentioned above things led me to open my closet and not only spread wings but keep my claws ready to grab opportunities. 

Make the best of the best out of it, and stand like a mountain when the storm hits, calm and stable, so I believe any career can be achieved any goals can be fulfilled, god lights his biggest fire with smallest matchsticks he can find sometimes so you never know who you are until you actually try, 

I think, courage, confidence, faith, patience, hunger to always learn, and please please talk to your parents, I can not tell you, how much me having a mother who believes in me helps, oh my god it’s a blessing from heaven above. 

So please try to talk to your parents of some guidance figure because you will need it not for anything else, but to just restore the faith in you. And never make enemies or at least try that u don’t make any for petty reasons, belief me, the day I let go of some crappy people in my life. 

My life had a meaning and a purpose, it sounds like a small thing but the company you keep shapes you man, sometimes it does J and lastly please please be kind to yourself and love yourself, if you don’t nobody will value yourself, if you don’t nobody will take care of yourself, and self preserve so that you can act when it’s needed.


5. What piece of advice would you like to give to future and aspiring artists?

Hahaha I don’t think I am the right person for that, Still figuring out so many things, still have so much to do oh my god sometimes it gives me a panic attack, but then again I wake up and get ready and back at doing all the things I want to do. 

So yes, maybe this I will advise, also seeing the current situation around the world, I think each and every one of us has learned so much in the past few months about life and death and health vs wealth, that we all have evolved in our own way. 

I would just add one thing for all the teens who will become adults soon, especially the ones currently lamenting on a few apps being not there, that apps and likes and shares do not decide what you are capable of. 

Be a part of the real world, that’s a huge challenge but it’s rewarding, and one thought we must all by now have it embedded in us, is that life is always going to be about gaining and losing, whether opportunity or people we love or things we wanna do. 

Nothing in this world, nothing and no one is more important than you, so you tie your bun or you open your hair or you shave it off you must always stand after you fall, never fall asleep on the floor after falling, get up, bandage your wounds and fight for yourself, always.


6. Is format training required or can one train themselves purely on the basis of talent?

I have a background in dance, since the age of 6, So when I started off, I started learning Bharatnatyam, I was not only bad, I was the worst in the lot, like so bad that I think I had no hand-eye coordination whatsoever, but I just loved the way I felt when I dance. 

So kept going on, now, there was a little training but it didn’t help much that time, then one day I came across kathak dance classes, and that’s it, this dance form Kathak and my teacher, Ratnawali Dasgupta changes my life for me J my ma’am trained me, my mom helped me get my expressiveness. 

That’s was hidden somewhere in my soul put in the open through my eyes and there I was, winning awards after awards, representing the school, state what not, touchwood since that day never looked back in my dance. 

Same in acting, though it’s a huge and vast craft and there can never ever be I believe at least one way of acting or one style of training it is an endless process of learning to learn and learning a hell lot, every single day in every small scene you will shoot I believe you will learn a new thing about your craft, how your perform.  

So when it comes to this huge vast and beautiful craft called acting, I think learning never stops, so of course, I think being open to critics, not from every person, but maybe the one director whom you really believe in, always helps, and acting classes, well, I think if you have no experience at all whatsoever on how to be in front of the camera or something you must try.  

But please don’t go by how huge or big it is in terms of business, go but the faculty who will teach u, talk to them, know your teacher please, only then will you find the right one, and believe there are amazing teachers somehow even today, I teach a few select students and the one thing I always tell them is nobody can make u a talented person. 

Yes, if you have it in you, maybe a little amount of format training does help, but we must make sure we are not getting scammed, because at the end of the day nowadays so many social forums are there everybody and anybody is an actor or model or dancer or I don’t know so many things. 

so now you have to select who are you, where you actually want to stand amidst all this huge crowd, I don’t think one should have only particular teacher or way if training, training yourself on your own sometimes is the best way to go or listening to that one person who you can trust that will surely take the best in you out. 

One thing I will say, that you can not force talent in you maybe, but even if you are talented you really need to keep checking where u stand in every two to three years or else comfort zone will make u stagnant and then you know you feel you are no longer good whereas you are just not polishing yourself. So yeah, the right amount of format training I feel helps, gives u an extra boost of courage and how can that be ever bad for anyone.


7. What is your mantra of success?

I need balance, I believe in it, I have grown up seeing my mother, a superwoman who maintained an amazing balance between her career, family and when I say family I am not saying me and my dad, a family of 6 sisters and 4 brothers whom she almost single-handedly took care of, yet she had this fierce. 

Actually, she still has, this fierce energy in her that comes from both work and family love she gets, so I want that, I know it’s going to be the most difficult job due to my career in acting but challenges are all that keeps us human from not giving up, so I take it as a challenge or whatever but for me, success always means maintaining a perfect balance. 

Even in dance from where I derive half my teachings of nature and love, that u will fall if u don’t maintain the balance of both sides of your body right and left, so all this has somewhat motivated me to maintain a good balance in my passion of work in acting and dance and I also need my family and my friends right beside me every time I raise a toast or else it’s not a success for me, it’s a compromised life.

Also, I believe that if you’re unhappy it does show in your script choices, haha, so no man, I ain’t gonna be the one spreading tears, I want to make people laugh touch their heart and soul, spreading laughter love in humanity.


8. Who is your favorite Actor and dancer and why?

I have a hell lot of favorite actors and dancers, I can not name one for sure, but for now, will name Indian actors only or else the list is never gonna end, Irfan Khan, Tapsee Pannu, Vidya Balan is simply loved, I just love her, Madhuri Dixit, for me the best dancer in the world are my gurus, Illa Mallika ma'am, Ratnawali Dasgupta, Gauri Chakravarty, and I think also Nirupama and Rajendra, oh my god I just find them amazing.

NOTE- I am mentioning a few names that I would love if you could put up, people like them make it easy for dreamers like me to survive that why it’s important to mention them, My mom, Protima Choudhury, my living God and inspiration, the woman who showed me who is an actual real strong confident independent woman and not the fairy tale confident woman, the real one.

My best friend Kunal Khosla, this guy single-handedly not only keeps me on my foot but has pulled me across times I had given up

My bother who’s not from blood, but from the soul, Nabarun Paul, though like any sibling he is useless he is one engineer who believes in my art and me more than I do.


- Trisha Choudhary, Actor

- Interviewed by Kedar Lalwani

- Edited by Shilpy Sharan