THE PASSION PROJECT : PART X | Raveesh Jaiswal
As far as I can retreat to retrieve into depths of my mature mind, there has always been this one obsessive idea that has propelled me through my professional life – “Why work doesn’t feel like work for some people?”. Some people seem to breeze through the weekdays, hardly waiting for the weekend to come and when it does, they simply carry on working, oblivious of the calendar constraints. Monday morning blues is not a relevant thing for them. They get up every day rejuvenated with a sense of excitement for the day ahead and what they are about to achieve. These are of course people who have found their passion in life that is now leading them purposefully in whatever they do. And yet, as we have these real-life examples strutting around, it seems like an almost-alien concept that doing something you love, professionally, is even a remote possibility. It’s just a myth they say, something out of a fantasy film they feel. “Nobody is that happy with their job”. But that is exactly the point. For these people, what they do isn’t a mere job, it is the joy of their existence. I have stumbled through life, trying to find that joy for myself. And while I still may be an amateur, I thought to seek out the experts who may help shed some light to find what we all are looking for. This series encapsulates those people who have not only found their passion but are living it. And I hope their stories will inspire you to live your purpose too.
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“All I am is what I am going after”
– Al Pacino
Typing Raveesh Jaiswal. Enter.
Founder & Director Bombay Theatre Company. 4 mutual connections.
Scrolling.
Civil engineer and an HR professional. Researched on corporate manpower models and regaled on television commercials. Brings knowledge of CEAT Tyres and Stage Theatre.
It was certainly the most intertwined LinkedIn profile that I had seen. Like a tree, branching and growing in different directions to create a vibrant life. I had first come to know about Raveesh through a post that popped up on my feed. One of our mutual connections had commented, ‘Congrats on this dream come true, Raveesh!’. Being a student of people pursuing their dreams, my digital ears pricked up. It was then that I had snooped my way into his LinkedIn profile to understand the passion that he had. A few calls and favors later I finally got to the man himself.
“Hello!”, he spoke with a sunny but sophisticated disposition as we connected over a call. I explained my endeavor and ended with a “So, that’s why I started writing and write about what I do.” But before we could jump into the interview, he interestingly turned the tables on me, “That’s great to know. So, when you are planning to go all out and pursue this full time?” I was dumbstruck and could just let out a sheepish laugh. “Ha-ha! Well, you know how it is. There is loan and rent and everything else that I have to think about. Plus, I am not even sure if I am ready for this. So, I just want to walk for some time in these shoes before I can run in them”, I blurted. To which, I heard a bemused Raveesh chuckle from the other end, “And there it is. That’s the story of my life too.”
“I grew up in Nagpur, as the only child to my parents”, he narrated, “It was almost like a township back then. A sense of history and a sign of hope hung in the air as the city matured with us. I was a hyperactive kid so was introduced to quite a many extra-curricular activities that helped me channel my energy. It was no surprise too, considering my father was an engineer who played hockey and my mother, a homemaker who played the violin. So, on the one hand, I was getting a professional certificate in Tabla and on the other hand, I was going to state level tournaments for Tennis. Amidst all this music was like my first introduction, a peak behind the curtain to the arts side. But the actual curtain raiser came was when I was in high school.”
“I remember it so vividly to this day. I used to go to a gym near my house late in the evenings. By the time I reached, after my school and classes, it used to be just me and this guy from Nainital. We barely spoke but I knew he was into Hindi theatre. Sometimes as I was working out on the ground floor, I could hear him rehearsing his lines on the floor above. One day I couldn’t stop myself and went up the stairs to his room. I turned around the corner and saw him – sheets of paper in hand, pacing up and down, performing his part with such vigor. Mesmerized, I asked him what he was doing. He told me and asked if I would like to help him prompt his lines. I agreed, he handed the script to me, and along with it the passion for theatre. From that day onwards, I was hooked. I used to wait half hour extra after our gym schedule to help him out. It was like entering a new world every day. You would never know whose shoes you would be wearing that day. It was like living in a dream. But then the thing about dreams is that you have to wake up. At the end of the day, you have to hang up your costume and go back to reality.”
Hailing from a middle-class family, Raveesh didn’t really have the financial wherewithal to back his fantasy world. So instead of flying off to America or any other country where he could study more about theatre, he chose to be casted into the character of an engineer for the time being. “Yes, there was a little despair that I couldn’t do what I loved right away. But despite it all, I really enjoyed my four years of college. I took up civil engineering that left me plenty of time to pursue my own activities. I joined a professional theatre group called Stagecraft. Pooja Banerjee, who is now a household name through her television serial work, introduced me to it. The company was being run by Vikash Khurana, brother of the eclectic actor Dr. Akash Khurana, who became my mentor down the lane. Under him, Stagecraft Theatre changed the landscape of English theatre in Nagpur. From Enid Blyton to Shakespeare to Kipling, we performed for the who’s who of the city. In those 4 years, I did 25 plays, 10 short plays and even directed a few. I got exposed to so much English and western literature. I understood the intricacies of the art and got inspired by experts like Naseeruddin Shah and Paresh Rawal. I even met my wife through this journey. It was the best time of my life and for everyone else there too, I am sure. I think that’s why nobody cared if the theatre group didn’t pay. We were all just so passionate about what we were doing.”
But the student situation was not perpetual and Raveesh soon had to plan what he wanted to do next. His passion for the stage pulled him to one side while his practicality pushed him to think realistically. “It was hard to make a decision that would set the course for the next 4-5 years. I really wanted to leap into acting but I was told to take a hard look before. It was Vikash sir who sat me down and made me understand the truth about theatre. He said to me, ‘Raveesh, theatre is a fulfilling but tiring profession. You have to build up your stamina before you can run that race. So don’t neglect your education. Study further or get a job. Earn well and establish yourself first. Then you can play your cards as you may. But remember, all this is just to get to a place where you don’t have to sacrifice other things for your love of theatre. Don’t let other things consume you that you ultimately sacrifice your passion.’ So, I did exactly that. I weighed my options, saw that I could either do master’s in project management or do a job for the time being while still keep that flame of acting alive. But I didn’t know a third completely different option was soon to come along.”
It was in his third year of undergraduate that Raveesh was told about Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) by his friend. Initially dismissing it, he anyway thought to give it a shot and found himself quite a fit at the school. Half of his interview of 20 mins, ended up being a conversation about theatre. Plus, the college was in Mumbai, the center stage for theatre. “It was like everything just aligned perfectly to lead me to that school. I did master’s in human resources and labor relations, again a detour from theatre but anyone who has studied at TISS knows that it is not like your regular B-school. I may not have done a media course there, but I still learnt plenty. I joined the school’s theatre group and also started looking outside for small commercials. There were classes and assignments and projects to do, but I still never left theatre like Vikash sir had said. It was college from 9 to 5 and then theatre from 6 to 9. There was no time to party or to relax but being on stage with my group was like a treat in itself. I never felt I was missing out on any joys.”
It was through this determination that Raveesh landed his first big break. Amazon, now the largest e-tailer of India, was relatively new back then and was looking for fresh faces to cast in their upcoming ad series. Raveesh auditioned for it and broke through the competition to win the part. “I was so surprised. There were people who had come from National School of Drama, people who had actually studied theatre and here I was – an MBA graduate who was picked for the part. It must have been so devastating from their point of view. That day I realized that choosing to have a backup degree was the right way, at least for me. Because while a manufacturing company may want only an engineer or a software company may want only a product manager, if you can get on that stage and act your heart out, you will get the part. It doesn’t matter who you are at that point, what matters is just your focus. And for someone who loses their focus, it can be brutal. That is why having this safety net is essential, I feel.”
It was not just then but several other circumstances where Raveesh’s pedigree has helped him navigated the struggles that come with the industry. His first time acting for a commercial screen, which did not have the continuity of a stage play, proved to be more difficult than he anticipated. After 16 takes, the cold-hearted crew’s bullying kept ringing in his ears. But once he was able to speak to the marketing head on the same plane given his MBA background, it changed the wind on the set immediately. People started respecting him and taking him seriously. “From there, I went on to do ads for Hindustan Unilever, Britannia and even one with Amitabh Bachchan for Kalyan Jewelers. But all these were on my terms because I had a well-paying job after TISS in my other pocket. I could afford to let go of jobs that I didn’t like or didn’t want to do. That is one of the best luxuries you can have in this field.”
This revelation though, of how a safety net could help sustain your passion even at the lowest points, was a recent one for Raveesh. “When I had just started doing the TV commercials, I had another friend who was also trying to get into cinema. Unlike me, he was all in. After his engineering degree, he knew right away this is what he was made for. He decided that he doesn’t want to do anything else but just pursue his love for acting. He is Kaustubh Kumar that we now see as a part of the ‘Family Man 2’ ensemble. For him, throwing himself into his passion worked. He had in fact asked me too back then – why don’t you quit everything and pursue acting full time. I didn’t have an answer then, but now I do. It’s because there are two ways you can go about achieving what you have set out to do – Either have a Plan A and Plan B or just have a Plan A. I am the former kind and Kaustubh is the latter kind. But there is no right or wrong here. It all depends on you and how much are you willing to sacrifice. I chose the first way because of what Vikash sir had told me. He had said, ‘Raveesh, the kind of talented human you are, I don’t want you to struggle. Because you don’t deserve this.’ So, I wanted to set a standard for myself. Be someone who doesn’t go through the usual struggle but uses his talent leaves a mark of his own. And I feel like finally, that is where I am heading to.”
At the close of 2019, in the wintry December, Raveesh’s dream finally took the center stage. He had established himself enough to give wings to his wishes. Thus, was born the Bombay Theatre Company. “I feel like all my experience has prepared me for this. My time at Stagecraft, writing and directing plays. My time at TISS learning about people management My time at my previous job, coordinating projects from scratch. They all have led me to a place where I am not just someone who has a passion for theatre but acumen for the business too. It has been a long journey and there were certainly days when I thought to myself what am I even doing but I had been just writing the different layers of my main character that is now ready to take the stage.” In less than two years since its conception, Bombay Theatre Company has already produced multiple plays, collaborated with writers across the globe, started a corporate theatre program and much more. “It’s just the start. And I know I still have a long way to go. Maybe I will reach my end goal, maybe I won’t. But I know that if I don’t do this, I will always have that vacuum inside me. Because I have walked long enough in these shoes to know that they are made for me. And now, I am ready to run. I am ready to fly.”
This is second in the series of The Passion Project. To know more about the author and the origination of this series, read here.
