Atul Raj Pandey is a student of Mass Communication from School of Communication, Manipal University. He interpreted words of others in order to bring a script to life and got a lead role for “Crime Patrol”, one of the most active tv series based on the true crime stories all over India. Atul has also acted in one more popular show of Sony Entertainment that is “Mann Mein Vishwaas Hai”.
Let us know his journey being a great actor.
1. Tell us about your education. Where do you come from?
My early education started from my village primary school. First decade of my life, I spent in a village which got electrified 2 years ago. For secondary education I moved to Patna. Since I come from a remote village of Bihar but I can proudly say that our village is culturally very rich. Every year on the eve of Dussehra there is a three day fair organised by villagers followed by three consecutive play on each day at night on the plot of Ramayana or Mahabharat. A kind of an epic theatre is displayed every year. The production, pre-production, direction, stage devising everything is done by villagers. Hence, from childhood, I was exposed to plays and Drama.
2. What are the changes in your personality, hair, body weight etc. etc. that you have done to prepare for a role?
Till now I did minimal changes in my body for the role on stage play but I can go to any extent to fit into the role. The most difficult role for me was playing a 70-year-old man’s character and working on different layers of that particular character on stage. It was a bit challenge for me but somehow I pulled it well and got a lot of appreciation from the crowd.
3. Who is your biggest inspiration?
My mom is the biggest inspiration of my life. With her help & support, I finally decided to pursue mass communication as a graduation degree because that is close to the TV or Film industry. Before that I moved to Pune and started my professional theatre as a backstage crew. I with our team used to perform mime on the streets of Pune for promotion of our theatre group as well as our upcoming play.
4. How did you bag the lead role in Crime Patrol?
Luckily, I got very good theatre enthusiasts group which helped pushed my dreams little further. Our group won multiple college fest in street plays as well as stage play. I performed at IIM Bangalore, IIT Mumbai, Ravindra kalakshetra Bangalore, NCPA Nariman Point. Meanwhile, I went through the auditions for a show called Mann mein vishwaas hai. It is an episode which comes on Sony television. I did two episodes with them. After that in Vacation between semester break, through their contact, I went to Mumbai and started working as an assistant director for crime patrol. Meanwhile I auditioned for a role for an upcoming episode, thankfully got selected and got a chance to play one of the lead role.
5. Is that the biggest audience you have performed in front of?
I performed in front of a 1500 audience in Bangalore which was one of the best feelings ever. That clapping still can be heard in my ears. On the other hand while acting on camera for the national television I have to face multiple cameras and stake of all the people. Basically crew member on sets are dependent on my one take. This becomes one of the hell of experience and pressure of performing in front of these technologies and working with experienced people itself is a big thing for a beginner artist like me.
6. You’re also a Yakshagana Dancer, from when did it all start?
My inclination is towards culture & art. I believe, every art form gives you a unique thing to your body as an actor or a performer. These are the reasons which brought me closer to Yakshagana. Udupi Kendra is the main learning hub for that and being in Manipal I don’t want to miss this opportunity to learn this art form which is famous throughout the globe. At this stage I cannot say that I have learned this art but I am still learning as it has lot of depth parallel. I also got trained in Mixed Martial Art(MMA) and Muay Thai from falcon fitness, Manipal.
7. Any further projects you are offered for?
After working and meeting umpteen number of people from the industry, I am getting the offer from many other serials as well as the cameo role for the big screen. But I have a pressure from my parents to complete my degree and that will take almost 5 months more to wrap up. I would love to do character roles in the future.
Also published on Medium.
