B-town workshops are helping actors unlock great performances

What does it take for a smart and stylish Nitanshi Goel to turn into the demure and diffident Phool from Laapataa Ladies? Or for a veteran like Shabana Azmi to work on the right accent as the progressive and caring Jamini Chatterjee in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani? It’s the workshops they did before going on the floor to shoot for their respective films. Gone are the days when actors had little time to prepare for the characters they were playing. Remembering how things were in the 1990s, Karisma Kapoor recently said in an interview: “Sometimes we didn’t even know what scene we were shooting; it would just work out on set.” Today, workshops have become a part and parcel of prepping for a nuanced role and directors will go to great lengths to ensure that actors get enough time to get under the skin of the character.

Nitanshi Goel: I started my prep from the time of the auditions, when my mom and I watched many yesteryear films to observe the body language of the actresses. I learnt how to manage my ghoonghat so that it comes across as natural and believable. Once I got chosen, I learnt to make round rotis like the ones Phool made. There were dialect coaches to train the entire cast. I also focussed on perfecting my body language because Phool had no lines in a lot of scenes and I had to convey her emotions through my movements and my eyes. Kiran (Rao) ma'am was open to discussing the scenes with actors and the scene where Phool breaks down (after reuniting with her husband at the end) was initially not part of the script but when I described it to ma’am, she said she was thinking on the same lines and it was good to know we were on the same page.

WORKSHOPS HELP WORK OUT THE NUANCES OF CHARACTERS: Almost everyone we spoke to agrees that workshops go a long way in working out the intricate details of characters. For example, dialect or language coaches have become an integral part of these workshops, starting during the film’s pre-production phase. Husne Shabnam has trained actors for the Bengali characters in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani. She explains, “The dialect differs according to the characters’ upbringing and social status. Jamini (portrayed by Shabana) spent 30 years in Kolkata and the next 30 in Delhi. Her Bengali is different from Rani’s (played by Alia), who was born and raised in Delhi.” She adds that dialect coaching can start during pre-production, about two-three months before the film goes on the floors.

Director Milan Luthria says, "Sometimes I tell an actor to watch a particular movie the night before the shoot for reference. The director should not exhaust all his creativity in workshops. For example, during the shoot of Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, I didn’t let Emraan Hashmi and Ajay Devgn interact before the shoot. When they met on camera, the tension would be raw and real."

Physical transformation is also a part of workshops, says director Raja Krishna Menon. “For Pippa, Ishaan Khatter had to go through rigorous army training to get the body language right – the salute, the drill, hoot and the right army mess behaviour,” he reveals.

DIRECTORS DIFFER IN THEIR APPROACH TO WORKSHOPS: Directors differ on the way workshops can come in handy for actors. For example, director Sriram Raghavan had Ayushmann Khurrana undergo intensive training under an expert from a school for the visually challenged to prep for his role as a blind pianist in Andhadhun. “The expert was also present on set through our shoot. We pushed our schedule by a whole month to get Ayushmann’s performance right,” says Raghavan. It also depends on the trust between the director and actor. For directors like Milan Luthria, “workshops are a flexible process”. For The Dirty Picture, a part of his office was converted into a dance studio for Vidya Balan and Naseeruddin Shah to rehearse. Luthria adds, “Vidya likes a lot of preparation. She wanted to discuss minute details of the character. However, some actors like Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar don’t like too much prep”

Director Homi Adajania tells us that he doesn’t usually rehearse with actors. “My idea of a workshop keeps changing. I think the stupidest thing a director can do is to tell an actor how to act. It’s more about vibing with the actors to build strong trust. It makes it easier to direct each actor based on their personalities," he adds.

A free conversation with actors becomes a symbiotic process. So many ideas develop when you discuss different subjects freely. These ideas can later be incorporated into the film – Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, director Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”