Teacher's Day Special: Bollywood Actors And Their Gurus Who Mentored Them To Reach Incredible Milestones

Some of the greatest acting teachers including Ebrahim Alkazi, Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg and Konstantin Stanislavsky empowered their famous pupils to accomplish exactly this. Alkazi's students include film and theatre stalwarts like  Vijaya Mehta, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, and Rohini Hattangadi and he is still remembered for transforming the National School of Drama (NSD) into a training ground for future icons. This Teacher's Day, we curate stories to reveal how many well-known film and theatre actors serendipitously met the right teacher at the right time and the profound impact this relationship had on their personal and professional journey.   

The two have worked together for close to a decade on the immensely popular teleplay 'Sir Sir Sarla'. The Makarand Deshpande directorial also has him playing the lead role of a beloved professor opposite Aahana Kumra who plays Sarla, a young woman who has deep feelings for him but is steered by him towards a safer choice.

Rajkummar Rao had a very humble beginning as an actor and is grateful to acclaimed director, writer, and producer Hansal Mehta who offered him meaty roles early in his career in films like  'Shahid,' 'CityLights,' 'Aligarh,' and 'Omerta.' 

From gatecrashing a wedding together to shoot a pivotal scene in the sleeper hit 'Vicky Donor’ to working in the quirky comedy 'Gulabo Sitabo' with Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurrana and Shoojit Sircar have achieved a lot collaboratively in the Hindi film industry. 

Seema Pahwa is a seasoned theatre professional, a multi-faceted actor and director who was recently in news not just for her powerful performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Gangubai Kathiawadi' but also for her directorial chops in Zee Theatre's literary anthology 'Koi Baat Chale.'