Actors' Studio

Ms. Oorvazi Irani has a multifaceted career and wears many hats like that of an acting coach, an actor, a filmmaker, a film educationalist, an entrepreneur, and a film critic. She runs her own home production company SBI Impresario Pvt. Ltd which has been active in the Indian and international filed for more than four decades. Oorvazi Irani is a Graduate in Arts from Jai Hind College, Mumbai and further trained at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) & National Film Archives of India (NFAI) for teacher's training. In 2015, Ms. Irani successfully produced, directed and acted in her debut independent feature film "The Path of Zarathustra". The film was successfully released in PVR theatres in 5 Indian cities. She has been a pioneer in introducing The Michael Chekhov Acting Technique in India, a technique practiced internationally by Anthony Hopkins, Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman, Clint Eastwood, Johnny Depp, to name a few. Oorvazi has been in the teaching field for the past 14 years and her experience includes teaching at the Film and Television Institute of India, an International Baccalaureate school and is an International Baccalaureate Examiner. She is also a member of the Film Critics Circle of India and has been instrumental in writing books on cinema and been a jury for prestigious film festivals in India and abroad.

Mr. Arvind Pandey is an alumnus of NSD, New Delhi. Post his PG from NSD, he had done a research on 'Method Acting' under the aegis of NSD and subsequently studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute,USA. His association with Whistling Woods International began in 2006 as faculty in the acting department while it was headed by Mr. Naseeruddin Shah. His experience of acting in films, television and theatre spans across two decades. Mr. Pandey has taught acting at almost all top-ranking film and drama schools in the country. Besides acting and teaching he has also written, adapted screenplays and directed them.

Nivedita Bhargava has over 19 years of vast experience in the field of imparting Theatre Training and as a Media Professional. She is a graduate from the National School of Drama, New Delhi and has directed many plays throughout her remarkable career. Her accolades include fellowships and production grants from the Ministry of the Culture, Government of India in the field of Theatre. She is also trained in Indian Classical Vocal Music and has performed in Radio Concerts. She additionally spends her time taking workshops across the country in Theatre and Personality Advancement.As an actor, she has featured in the role of Rukmani Attai in the feature film Meenakshi Sundareshwar produced by Dharmatic, the digital content company by Dharma Productions on Netflix. She also has featured in the popular series "Sacred Games" on Netflix and Aarya Season 2 produced and directed by Ram Madhwani for Disney+ Hotstar. Apart from other projects, she also features in forthcoming projects of Mukta Arts and Yashraj Films.Her well known commercial theatre plays as a singer-actor include Ladies Sangeet, Bandish and Zoon for Aadyam Theatre, an Aditya Birla Initiative.

Ms. Bhardwaj is an alumnus from the National School of Drama and trained in dramatic arts. She is trained in various art forms like Koodiyattam (a traditional performing art form of Kerala), Kalaripayattu (a famous martial art form of India), Silambam (a log fighting art of south India), Devarattam (a folk-dance form of Tamilnadu) and Clowning among many others. As an artist, she has performed in various theatre festivals across the country. One of her acclaimed work incorporates working with R. Balakrishnan in Ki& Ka. Besides acting and teaching, she has also directed plays and conducted so many workshops including kids acting workshop. Sonali Bhardwaj has been awarded a Research Fellowship by the Ministry of Culture on Folk Games and Performances.

Mr. Bali started working in plays for INT (Indian National Theater) and has also worked with Marathi theater artists. He was a full-length play co-writer that was performed in the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA). Atul Bali has completed Advance Actors training under Mr. Barry John and has worked in experimental plays under the guidance of Pandit Satyadev Dubey. Through his years of journey, he gained experience in various fields like writing, acting, filmmaking, etc. Thereafter, he explored working in the industry behind the camera in various ad films, films with the likes of Rajkumar Hirani films, Vinod Chopra Films. His love for the art pulled him back towards acting after which he got trained to become a professional acting mentor and chose the path of spreading his knowledge. When not teaching he is busy writing and directing his own short films and his current experimental film is in the post-production stage. Atul has a strong knowledge of various acting methods and has been teaching for 9 years now. He believes that we all are students of life.

Mr. Salim Arif is an illustrious alumnus of National School of Drama, New Delhi. A well-known name in the field of Indian Theatre and Films, Salim Arif is currently the Head of Culture Studies at Whistling Woods International, Mumbai. He is also associated with Ladakh International Film Festival and Navi Mumbai Film Festival as Director, Cultural Affairs.Shyam Benegal's Bharat Ek Khoj, Gulzar's Mirza Ghalib, Dr. Chandraprakash Dwedi's Chanakya got him international recognition as a Period Film Designer of substance. Nirja Guleri's Chandrakanta, Ketan Mehta's Sardar Patel, Gulzar's Maachis & Hu-Tu-Tu, Govind Nihalani's Takshak and Anil Sharma's Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo are his other films as a Designer. He has been a consultant for period details in Anil Sharma's Gadar and Mani Ratnam's Guru.

Kenneth Desai has been teaching acting at Whistling Woods International since its inception in 2006 as a part of the original core team formed by Naseeruddin Shah. He has also been a visiting faculty at the FTII and the Stardust Academy.Kenneth Desai has an acting career spanning over four decades and he's been an acting coach for the last 15 years as well. He's an alumnus of St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, from where he graduated with a degree in English Literature and Psychology and the National School of Drama where he finished as class Valedictorian. He has been working on the Mumbai stage since 1980 and also across different mediums like film, OTT, television and as a voice artist. He teamed up with Whistling Woods International's alumnus Abhishek Jain for the acclaimed Gujarati film, Kevi Rite Jaish (2012) which earned him the award of Best Actor in a Supporting role, conferred by the Government of Gujarat. Other significant works of his include Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), Munnabhai M.B.B.S (2003), Mother Teresa of Calcutta (2003), Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), Raag Desh (2017) and Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020) to name a few. He has been part of international projects on stage and on screen and has worked in multiple languages. He's been associated with Naseeruddin Shah's theatre group Motley since 1981.

Born in a traditional family devoted to classical music, Amod Bhatt has received classical training from Smt. Nirmala Bhatt and theatre music training from eminent theatre and film personality Guru Shri B.V. Karanth. He has composed music for over 100 major productions in various languages and has worked with Internationally acclaimed directors such as, B.V. Karanth, Habib Tanvir, Fritz Bennewitz, John Martin, Sunil Shanbag, Salim Arif, Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Satish Kaushik, and Gulzar. He was also felicitated with 'Akademi Award' in 2014-15 for Theatre Music, by the President of India Sangeet Natak and has also received the Indian Telly Award for Best Music Direction for the series Upanishad Ganga, produced by Chinmay Mission. He has also composed music for numerous feature films, Ads, TV serials & music albums.Amod Bhatt has worked as a Music Head at Rangmandal, Bharat Bhavan. He has designed and conducted workshops for various actors & singers and has been a faculty for various University & Performing Arts Institution in India such as, National School of Drama (Delhi, Varanasi, Bengaluru), S N School of Drama (Hyderabad central University), Drama School (Mumbai), Academy of Theatre Arts- (University of Mumbai), Bhartendu Natya Academy (Lucknow), Kala Academy (Goa), and Madhya Pradesh School of Drama (Bhopal).

Professional trained instructors from the Shiamak Davar Dance Academy conduct classes for the students from the Actors' Studio. A specially designed program that forms a part of the school's regular curriculum, SHIAMAK Dance Education Program (SDE) reaches out to students empowering them with the power of the performing arts at the convenience of their school premises. Its objective is to offer every student, training, knowledge of fundamentals, styles, and techniques. It also helps students to de-stress and develop well-rounded personalities.Students are taught the various aspects of musical theatre and stage performance. They are empowered with technical knowledge, spatial awareness, and performance guidelines. The complete performing arts experience helps students overcome stage fright, become more confident, learn to work in teams and feel a great sense of achievement.The essence of the program is in dance expression, knowledge, and creativity; this goes beyond the periphery of dance movement. Using Jazz technique, Ballet exercises, Yoga Asanas, Dance Therapy activities, Theatre arts; each class has a well-defined syllabus for skillful progression to improve fitness levels, confidence, focus, concentration, team spirit, positive thinking, discipline, all round development, posture, and body language.

Rupesh Tillu is an actor, director and independent filmmaker, born in Mumbai India. He holds MFA in Physical Comedy from The National School of Dramatic Arts, Sweden. He has received several international theatre awards such as Outstanding Artist/Act - Stockholm Fringe Festival 2012, A Special Jury Award - Best of Prague Fringe Festival 2013 and many more. He played the title role of Boicheck in a feature film directed by national award winner Santosh Sivan. The film is a Hindi adaptation of Georg Buchner's Woyzeck. He played the character of 'Yorick' in a Hollywood production 'Ophelia', directed by Claire McCarthy, where he got an opportunity to do scenes with Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. He has also played the character of Ajay in the national and international award- winning feature film Ship of Theseus. His new work Har Och Nu is commissioned by Tyst Teater/Riksteatern (Swedish National Theatre), which premiered in March 2017 in Sweden, followed by a national tour.He has worked with several theatre companies such as Avikal Theatre Company (India), Urban Theatre Company (Sweden), Teater Slava (Sweden), Bananteatern (Sweden). He has done expeditions with Clowns without Borders to Moldova, Palestine, Israel, India, Jordan, Nepal, Bhutan and Egypt. He is a part of Dr�mst�lle - A clown trio, which toured nationally in all renowned theatres of Sweden in 2013, and since then the play has been touring in Europe's prestigious theatre festivals. His vocational training includes one-year Physical Theatre at Fhsk V�rdinge By. Professional Clown training with Clowns without Borders Sweden. He has also worked for UNESCO Centre for Peace, Frederick M.D, USA. His debut documentary feature film 'The Living Gods' is co-produced by the Swedish National Television which premiered on SVT- Kspecial in the autumn 2017. He is the founder and artistic director of Theatreact.

Tamara P Nedungadi is a Postgraduate in Sociology from Mumbai University. She had an exposure to cinema right from childhood as her father was an eminent Film critic. Her passion for the visual medium got an impetus when she did the Film Appreciation course of FTII in 1986.After her post-graduation, she joined renowned Film Editor Renu Saluja in 1990. Amongst the films she assisted Renu were films such as 'Sardar', 'Dharavi' and 'Maya Memsaab.' She decided to expand her horizons and became an assistant director to renowned filmmakers Ashutosh Gowarikar and Kundan Shah.In the Mid 1990's she started her independent career as an online editor (vision mixer) for multi camera TV Shows. Some of the shows she edited were 'Swabhimaan', 'Farz' and 'Nyay'. She got her first break as a Director for a TV show titled 'Waaris' in 1999. She then went on to direct many shows over the next 12 years. Some of the shows she directed were, 'Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi', 'Kittie Party', 'Remix'.Apart from her career as a Director and Editor, she is trained in Oddissi dance form under Guru Jhelum Paranjpe. She has performed in dance ballets and shows, choreographed by dancers like, Astad Deboo and Illeana Chirasti.She has also been part of Satyadev Dubey and Sunil Shanbag's plays like 'Andha Yug' and 'Pratibimb'. Her association with these stalwarts helped her understand Stagecraft and nuances of speech and performance.

Sahil Satish Vaid is an Indian voice actor and who is known for his screen film roles in Bittoo Boss (2012), Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), Bank Chor (2017), Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017), Dil Bechara (2020) and Coolie No. 1 (2020). Sahil has starred in a number of plays over the past 25 years. He started his career with school theatre, professionally acting for stage since 1997. He made his Bollywood debut in 2012 with Bittoo Boss. Early in his career, Sahil was recognised for portraying a variety of roles in the first online standup comedy show Jay Hind!. He then rose to prominence after starring in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), where his character Poplu was much appreciated.

Ankit Varshneya studied Computer Engineering from Army Institute of Technology, Pune but decided to pursue his passion by taking up Lee Strasberg's method of acting for two years from Rob Reece at Whistling Woods International. He has played the lead in feature films as Mithyam, Kaansya, and Alien and short films like Scared To Be Alone, Unmothered, Shunyata, Check In, Rab Da Vaasta, Amidst Dark, and Savita and acted in the Theatre play Manto Mantra (2012- 14) and performed all over India. Ankit Varshneya also featured in various Public Service Ads, YouTube series, and Television series.

Ashok Kumar studied Acting at the National School of Drama, Delhi. Founder of Actoghraphers, theatre organization active in India, he has been involved in the productions of plays and conducting workshops from 2014 till 2020. He conducted numerous Performance Oriented Workshops and also wrote the play Mirage. He has been the associate director for plays such as King Lear and Romeo and Juliet in the National School of Drama, while he also taught Physical Theatre. He also acted in Bose: Dead or Alive, a web series on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. He has done extensive research on different acting styles and schools of thought during and after graduating from the National School of Drama. Ashok has also taught and practiced 'Konstantin Stanislavski', 'Stella Adler', 'Lee Strasberg' techniques of acting. His international collaborations include, co-directing the play Tum Kaun at the NAPA International Theater festival, participated and performed in the Asian Theatre Festival conducted in Beijing, China in 2012, and performed as an actor and Assistant Director of the play Raddi Bazaar at the NAPA International Theater festival conducted in Karachi, Pakistan.

Aru Verma is a trained professional actor with acting experience of over 15 years, he started his life in theatre and has been working in the Indian Television and Film Industry from the last 10 years.He is an alumnus of Whistling Woods International and graduated top of his class in 2010, trained under veteran Indian actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Benjamin Gilani and Kenneth Desai. He has an Acting Diploma - 2 years Understudy to Rob Reece (member of Actors Studio, LA for 3 years Understudy to Shernaz Pater (veteran Indian Actor) for 1 year Understudy to Salim Arif (veteran Indian Director and Production Designer) for 1 year. He has trained for 3 years in professional theatre under Arvind Gaur (prominent Indian Theatre director and Social Activist) in the theatre society known as Asmita Theatre Group.He is the first Plus size Model for India and the Brand Ambassador for ALL (future Group Clothing Brand)
He has also been part of more than 40 television commercials including the following brands KFC, AIRTEL (4) VODAFONE (3), MAKEMYTRIP.COM, SABTV PROMO, SONY SPORTS PROMO, CADBURY'S ECLAIR, ETC. His latest work experience in a principle role is in Dil To Happy Hai Ji (2019) for Star Plus Network in Indian Television. Supporting role in ITTRAT - TV SERIES (2019) KULFI KUMAR BAJEWALA - TV SERIES (2019) JAB HARRY MET SEJAL - FILM (2017) BEFIKRE - FILM (2016) WEDDING PULLAV - FILM (2015) BEZUBAN ISHQ - FILM (2015) BEGUSARAI - TV SERIES (2015) 2 STATES - FILM (2014), ETC.

Anil Charanjeett, an alumnus of Whistling Woods International, Actors' Studio, is an Indian film actor, who predominantly performed in the Hindi Film Industry. Anil has acted in several movies such as PK, Raees, Singh Is Bling, Hasee Toh Phasee, Shershaah, Sooryavanshi, Mubarakan, Golmaal Again, and more and made an appearance in the song "Main Badhiya Tu Bhi Badhiya" from the movie Sanju the biopic of actor Sanjay Dutt.

Valentine Fernandes is an alumnus from Bhavans College Mumbai, trained NCC cadet, a 'C' Certificate Holder, and has also done theatres. He has performed across India, in the famous plays name Code Mantra and Bharat Bhagya Vidhata. He also worked as an actor in the TV series name Diya Aur Bati Hum and in a film named I.M.A Gujju. Beside teaching & acting he also focuses on fitness and is a known athlete who has won many medals in Athletics. When it comes to work, he is very disciplined as he has maintained that discipline in his personality itself. Apart from this, he loves to indulge is the sport, cricket.

Dipika Pandey is a trained Kalaripayattu martial artist, actor and Salsa dancer. She has been performing, training, and teaching for many years now. Her mentors in physical and psychophysical theatre have been Abani Biswas (founder and director of Theatre house, Shantiniketan) and John Britton (director of Duende school of arts), to name a few. As an artist, she aims to incorporate the understanding and awareness of the performer's body into storytelling. She has directed a few movements based plays as well. Her last project as a Kalaripayattu and movement artist was a collaborative production of the US consulate and University of Florida.

Vandana Trivedi is a Wellness coach and owner of YOGVAN FOR HEALTH & HAPPINESS ®, an organization that is committed to extending holistic health and happiness. She was initiated into Yoga at a very early age at The Yoga Institute, which is more than a century old, and in the very heart of Mumbai. Her mentors Dr Jaydeva and Hansa Jaydeva Yogendra are her inspiration to offer Classical Yoga as a lifestyle rather than just a form of exercise. It is this education that is being extended to the students at Whistling Woods International.Now for more than two decades, Vandana has been teaching & spreading the goodness of Yoga through versatile platforms, workshops and retreats and has had the opportunity to see lives being transformed in amazing ways. She has taught people of all ages, backgrounds, and to people from all over the world.She regularly conducts workshops for expecting and aspiring parents through her programme called Enlightened Pregnancy and Parenthood which helps parents to nurture their child's inherent genius, vision, and intuition with help of holistic, scientific and traditional approach.Vandana was on the panel of Yoga examiners of TQcert, an organisation which certifies Yoga teachers-to-be. She has majored in MA Philosophy and has also released 2 Yoga DVD's, 'YOGVAN for EVERYONE' and 'YOGVAN for PRENATAL CARE.'

Zachary Coffin is an American performer, filmmaker and trainer who has worked in nearly 40 countries - and lived on four continents - including in India for over a decade.Zack has combined his global executive experience and award-winning storytelling skills to help his clients and students both grow and improve.As a trainer and consultant, Zack has developed and conducted 150 workshops for clients ranging from Nobel Prize-winning NGOs to the central banks of three G7 countries, and from the smallest of startups and to the largest companies in the world. At consultancy firm KPMG, Zack was promoted every year and became the youngest Global Product Leader ever in the firm - reporting directly into the Office of the Chairman. He advised clients across sectors in governance, strategy, business development, knowledge management, organizational development and innovation, and has been the keynote speaker at conferences, written thought leadership white papers, and been cited in newspapers worldwide.As an actor, Zack has performed in over 100 film, TV, commercial and theatre productions in India and the West. Formally, Zack trained at the Stella Adler Acting Studio in New York, and studied under the Oscar-nominated actress Nina Foch in Los Angeles. He also trained at three film schools in the U.S. - studying screenwriting at Columbia University and film production at NYU's Sight & Sound Summer program, then moving to Los Angeles to focus on directing for three years at University of Southern California, where he won the Television Academy's prestigious internship in directing and worked on an Emmy-winning TV series in Hollywood. He graduated with an MFA in Film Production (Writing/Directing) from USC's School of Cinematic Arts, and with a BA, magna cum laude, from Columbia University.