LIGHTS, CAMERA…ACTION!

Mrinal Dhar, one of India’s top Creative Directors, held a method acting workshop or MDAM (Mrinal Dhar Acting Methodologies) as he calls it, at the M.L Auditorium, Alliance Francaise de Delhi on 26th June, 2015. Method acting is all about emotional intelligence, it’s about how long a person can feel whatever is inside them or goes around them and how far can one let it grow towards their audience in a very controlled manner.

People were handed out a sheet of paper to read it out loud as the first exercise

The primary focus of his workshop was to arouse the audience with a sense of Emotional Intelligence. Emotional Intelligence, one of the most profound cores of method acting is applicable and indispensible in all walks of life be it personal relationships, professional lives or recreational thought processes.

Mr. Dhar asked the audience to lean back and just memorize anything they could from their childhood

The workshop did not only pertain to professional actors; people from NGOs, corporate sectors and various other fields were invited to sit and experience a jovial experience with the director. When the workshop ended, auditions took place for an upcoming musical in November at Siri Fort Auditorium which will be directed by Mr. Dhar, and which according to him, will be the biggest event that he is creating.

Next, they were asked to write down those memories on a sheet of paper

The whole concept of the workshop dealt with the most important part of the mind; the emotional one. The aim was to let people know where the emotions come from, what happens when the emotional vacuum is there, how to fill one self with emotions again and why it is imperative to have all kinds of emotions fully and nothing less than that.

It was One World News that gave exclusive coverage to this event

Talking about the outputs and results that Mr. Dhar seeks to give his audience by the end of the workshop, he said, “I am sure that people are going to have a unique experience through this workshop because it is going to be beautiful purview of what we do; method acting per say is a sixth month course but even with only a day I believe there will be slightly changed attitudes.”

Happy faces filled the auditorium as everyone was having a lot of fun

“I particularly look forward to imparting it to women because I have seen women go through a lot in their lives because of various reasons and their strengths which could further blossom into a finer element of humanity is taken as a weakness and is destroyed. So this emotional intelligence will help women to further their strengths, blossom completely and become a very important part of humankind.”

People were handed out a sheet of paper to read it out loud as the first exercise

The kind of abilities that Mr. Dhar will be looking for in people will firstly include transparency; not in terms of honesty but emotional intelligence. They will also judge how comfortable a person is with their own emotions and be spontaneous actors.

Everyone was really involved in all the exercises that were taking place in the workshop

We also spoke to some people in the audience about the workshop.

Ankit Madan came along with his team of nine people from ‘Save the Girl’ NGO. He said, “Emotional intelligence is important for us to learn and adapt so that we can emotionally connect well with our donors and to get effective results with truest emotions.”

Mrinal Dhar, while interacting with his audience

Tamanna Maggo, a paramedic was there through recommendation by a friend. She said, “I am really looking forward to this workshop and I have specially taken an off for this. Although I don’t know much about it but I am sure I will be able to leave this auditorium with a bag full of method acting knowledge.”

Jai Hiranandani, who runs a theatre academy (Adaa) in Gurgaon, said, “I have come here to learn about emotional and social intelligence and how much of it can we inculcate in our acting and daily lives.”

Madhumita Vidyarathi, a homemaker cum lawyer cum theatre artist said, “I received a mail about this workshop and I was more than willing to attend it just to learn more because I do a bit of theatre.”

All went well and the method acting workshop bore fruitful experiences for both the people and the organizers that it was supposed to.