"It was the 70s, and Delhi theatre was at its peak. Plays like Begum Ka Takiya and Mukhyamantri were being staged and names like Pankaj Kapoor were acting," says Pawan Malhotra, recalling that his acting career began on the stage. "I acted in a play called Father, and there was a line printed in a newspaper that said ‘Pawan Malhotra is impressive as an orderly’. I read it again and again for an entire week." Today, over three decades later, Delhi’s India International Centre’s Film Club is organising a retrospective on Malhotra’s 25-year journey in films from January 11 to 21.