Waiting in the wings

Theatre actor Juhi Babbar is on cloud nine. She'll be receiving the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Sangeet Natak Academy award for artists below the age of 35 years tonight. As she prepares to bring home the award, Juhi talks to CS:

On cloud nine
It feels fantastic. Frankly, it took two days for this news to sink in. I am planning to wear a traditional churidhar-kurta in gold for the awards ceremony. Artists work throughout their lives for this kind of honour, and I am lucky to get it at such a young age. There's very little money in art forms like classical dance, music, theatre, etc, people only pursue them for passion. Such awards keep us motivated.

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Life's a stage
My mom Nadira Babbar is the founder of the theatre group Ekjute. As a child, our house used to be nothing short of a rehearsal hall. I used to return from school and see Anupam (Kher) uncle, Satish (Kaushik) chacha and Alok (Nath) uncle reading and rehearsing their lines while I used to sit with my homework in one corner. Theatre is a way of life, and I am lucky to be born into it.u00a0

Curtain call
I had a choice between joining the National School of Drama or NIFT. I chose the latter as I also love fashion designing. Initially, I joined Ekjute as a costume designer and later as an actor, after clearing the workshop courses (laughs). Now I also look after the administrative work of the company. Presently, I am doing a lot of work with children in schools, workshops and slums. This award wouldn't have been possible without the support of the entire Ekjute family. Theatre is all about teamwork, and we don't have any stars in it!

Take on theatre
Sadly, I see little passion for theatre in children from metros. Unless we include drama as a subject in schools, we won't be able to encourage kids towards theatre. The government should also take some initiatives. In fact, there is more passion for theatre in smaller towns where kids don't have much exposure to media and entertainment. We have zillions of acting, singing and dancing schools in Mumbai, but the general level of training is very poor.