Tollywood's Acting Guru

'Actors are not made, they are born' may be a thing of the past. In Tollywood , actors are made or at least refined. Kuchipudi dancer Aruna Bhikshu is the woman behind the groomed stars of the industry.Tollywood's acting guru as she is popularly referred to as has Junior NTR, Ram, Iliyana, Nitin, Nikhil, Poonam Kaur, Suhasini, Nehu, Venu, Parvati Melton et al., as her students.

Worked as a acting trainer for more than fifteen films, Aruna has groomed more than 25 actors. A Ph.D. in Kuchipudi Abhinaya from University of Hyderabad, Aruna reveals how Tollywood happened to her.

"I was from the first batch of Kuchipudi students who graduated fromUniversity of Hyderabad. In those days, I was asked by one of ourprofessors from Theatres department to play a role in a play called' Mrichakatikam'. I married Gnaneshwar Bhikshu who was a student in Theatres department there. Ever since, both of us have done so many theatre plays. My husband was the Principal of Madhu Film Institute, in the city.Ever since 1993, I used to train aspiring actors in acting methodologies. In the year 1995, director Gunasekhar approached me to train the 150 childartistes for the movie Balaramayanam which Junior NTR as a lead. Eversince the past 15 years, I have been training actors" says Aruna.

Though there are about a half a dozen acting Gurus in the industry, being awoman and a trained professional helped her she says. Aruna trains not onlyactors and lead characters, she is the directors choice to give orientation to child artistes, character artistes and just about anyone who is seen in the film.

"Director Gunasekhar will use 50 families in his upcoming film. I was asked to give them orientation. More than 1,000 families applied to be a part of thefilm and fifty families were short listed. There were people from all age groups. I played music, made them dance and play characters to shed their inhibitions. Their characters needed them to cry in the film. I told them to imagine themselves in the characters. Surprisingly, more than ten of them cried really." she explains.Aruna trains the actors for three months. She finished her bachelors degreein psychology from Osmania University too and says her insight topsychology helps her understand the stars and train them properly.

"I take an aptitude test to all the actors who come to me. I understand theirmentality , then give them personalised training accordingly. Non-verbal-communication, knowing and identifying emotions, playing differentcharacters are the three stages of training. There are a few of my actorstudents who call me in the late nights and ask me on how to go about thenext day's shooting, emotions, dialogue modulation film making. We makeshort films for the actors to familiarise them to acting and camera." Aruna says.

When asked her about who her favourite student amongst the lot, she playsit diplomatic,"I don't show any discrimination. Each one of them is different. I watch themovies of my students and give them feedback. The actors should not bejudged only by the box office success. There are so many factors that gointo the success of a movie apart from acting. All the students who havebeen trained by me have put in good efforts. Their directors come and watchthe progress regularly. If the director wants me to come on to the sets, I goand give my suggestions"

Currently, Music director Manisharma and leading producer M S Raju have enrolled their sons with her. Well when she taught 'acting' to so many stars,does she plan to do a role as well?

"I was asked by director Teja to act in ' Nuvvu Nenu ' which was ablockbuster. I could not as I was busy training actors for some film. Then they hired Telangana Shankuntala for the role. She became very popular after she played that role. I regret not taking it up. If there are offers in thefuture, I may take up" she laughs.

Aruna welcomes the influx of young and fresh faces in Tollywood. She saysthe industry is changing for good and the directors are seeing the need totrain their star cast before starting the project.

"The directors select some heroine from Mumbai and puts her up in the city.They spend money for their stay here just for training. That shows that thereis an increase in number of directors who realise the importance of trainingin film industry."Aruna who still continues to give her Kuchipudi dance performances is anexpert in all the Indian dance forms. She even inked a book titled 'Bharathiya Shastriya Nrutyalu' on the dance forms. She was a visitingprofessor for dance in University of Hyderabad ,has attended the workshopson dance forms all over the country.

" I attribute most of my success to my husband. He is the associate professorof Theatre department in the University of Hyderabad now. He doesn't findtime to train the actor students. However, we share knowledge, information and technology in film making. Though my family was a sceptical about my Tollywood projects, he encouraged me. He watches movies and explains the technicalities of the movie. My daughter Mahati cribs about it and asks us to allow her enjoy the movie without telling her the technicalities of movie making "she laughs

Aruna's Star Film maker Clients:
Sravanti Ravi Kishore
Gunasekhar
Shiva Nageswara Rao
Suresh Babu
Y V S Chowdhary
V N AdityaTeja