Ankur Khanna

Ankur Khanna, has had a fair stint of 10 years in the film industry since the time he made his debut in the internationally acclaimed English film “Amu”. However, all his 12 odd films in English Hindi and Bengali have been more or less in the domain of art films, made for a niche audience, or for being shown in international festivals. Looking at the background of Ankur, this does not look too surprising, as this Punjabi lad who grew up in Kolkata, had got sucked into the typically Bengali milieu, with its tradition of theatre and culture. In fact, he was quite well known for his elocution and stage acting skills right from his St. James School days. He attributes his initial mentoring to the son of the legendary theatre personality Badal Sarkar, who happened to be one of Ankur’s teachers in school. Encouraged to take part in the British Council organised one-act play contests in those days, Ankur was part of his school team which went on to win 12 of the contests, out of a total 17.

This theatre streak continued when he shifted base to Delhi for his graduation and Masters, taking regular part in English as well as Bengali plays. The real breakthrough, however, into mainstream Hindi cinema, came for Ankur, when none other than Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah is an experimental actor and asso >> Read More... handpicked him for “Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota” (YHTKH), obviously impressed by his theatre background and acting skills. From the theatre point of view, his association with Naseer became very fruitful for Ankur, and he himself admits that his own acting has been molded subsequently in a very large manner through the feedback he has been receiving from Naseer. Although his role was noticed in “YHTKH”, he does not seem too enamored of commercial cinema and is looking more keenly forward to a slightly off-beat film titled “Postcards” where he features with Soha Ali Khan Soha Ali Khan was born into a royal family. She is >> Read More... , and another unconventionally themed one, tentatively titled “Kabootar”, where he is one of the four anti-heroes. Besides this, fuelling his burning passion for theatre are the plays he has planned to do with ‘Motley’, Naseeruddin Shah’s theatre troupe.