Sohrab Ardeshir studied method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, NYC. He has performed extensively in the US and in India, in theatre, films, commercials and radio play. His International film credits include Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway”, “The Letters” and “In the Spider’s Web”. In India, he has worked in several Bollywood films like “Mangal Panday”, “Fanaa”, “Socha Na Tha”. Two of his multiple-award-winning films have been “Little Zizou” and “Afterglow” (winner of the Indian National Award). His international (Off-Broadway) theatrical credits include “Private Lives”, “Anastasia”, “The Barretts of Wimpole Street” and “Cops”. He has performed extensively in India in plays like the long-running “Class of ‘84” (in its 12th year), “The God of Carnage”, “Art”, “One On One”, “Going Solo”, “I’m Not Bajirao”, “Clogged Arteries”, “Two Steps Behind”, “Noises Off” and “Chaos Theory”.
Sohrab has also done several BBC Radio Plays, including the award-winning “Q&A”, and has acted in over 70 commercials. He regularly dubs for commercials and films and lends his voice to educational software programs and recorded books. In his latest Indian play, ‘The Good Mourning’, he plays the character of Uncle Cyrus. The play premiered on the 23rd and 24th of August 2019 at Sophia Bhabha Auditorium & St. Andrews respectively. Regarding the same on his latest theatre performance, Sohrab exclusively spoke to IWMBuzz and shared a bit of insight on world & Indian theatre. When asked about the audience’s perception towards theatre inside and outside India, Sohrab was quoted as saying –
“People in the West tend to be more respectful towards theatre. There is a very high level of competition to get into it, and most actors spend years training and honing their skills. The infrastructure is also very advanced: you have to abide by the rules of the Actors’ Guild, vast amounts of funding is raised to mount a show, and many actors are ‘triple threats, excellent singers, dancers and actors. As far as English theatre goes in India, we are professional amateurs. Yet, with limited funding and resources, we often manage to pull off amazing feats! We have a small pool of appreciative theatre-goers, and to them I am truly grateful.”
Carrying forward from there, when asked about whether the importance of radio drama is gradually decreasing, Sohrab added –
“I have done over 10 BBC Radio plays, so I can only speak of their reach, which is primarily in the UK and Europe. From what the directors and producers tell me, there is a vast and very dedicated audience for these kinds of plays. Years ago, when we did “Q&A” (The original book on which the film “Slumdog Millionaire” was based), they apparently broke all records and had a listenership of several millions.“