Mime a dozen: The art form gains popularity in India

That man used gestures and sign as language before arriving at corrigible words is much known. But it appears we're going back to silence.

Theatre festivals and even corporate training programmes are keeping the art of mime afloat. Its proponents recognise that drama through mime and pantomime (use of mask, shadow, dance and props), often mistaken for clowning, is more than playing dumb. Mime betters non-verbal cues, awakens micro expressions, heightens awareness of body movements and improves memory, creativity and precision of the performer.

Competing in silence

One indication of how popular the art form has become is Pune's annual mime competition, Maunaantar, started in 2013 by three media companies – Dreams 2 Reality, Wide Wings Media and Rangeet Talim. This year's edition, held on July 8-10, saw 20 groups participating.

Maauntaar founder Kushal Khot says stumbling upon these wordless plays at Pune's local theatre fests made them comprehend their reach. "Participants can indulge in pantomime or pure mime. But not actions that mean specific words, for instance, communicating a peacock through a mudra used in Bharatnatyam." Mouthing dialogues, speaking gibberish or using placards are strict no-nos. And 40 minutes is the deadline with stage set-up.

No limit for the size of the team and age limit.

Points are given for facial expressions and body movements along with set, lighting, music and makeup.

Renowned Marathi actor, writer and director Pradeep Vaidya, is the judge. Winners bag a trophy and Rs10,000, first runner up gets Rs7000, and second, Rs4000.

Hearing aid

Sachin Solanke with Shivshankar Gavadi, two deaf mime artists, began Being Deaf Mime in 2012 to mash dance and mime. They are now a group of six. While Solanke repairs electronic gadgets, Nilesh Naik and Rajesh Narvekar are BMC employees, Sushil Gupta works in the admin department of a five-star hotel, Gavadi drives an auto-rickshaw and Vinod Karkar is a chef.

After performances in Goa, Coimbatore and Mumbai, the group has put up Blind, a play for Maunaantar 2016, portraying the plight of the deaf through comedy and satire. "We want to open a school to empower the deaf with this life skill. And participate at an international level," says Solanke.

Marking an anniversary

Underprivileged children from Mumbai-based Akanksha, put up a mime act when the organisation turned 25 this March. They mimed a working day at school, right from being woken up to when the school bell signals the end of day.

New voice for social causes

Under construction on a two-acre plot near Hyderabad airport is a mime school, an initiative by Andhra's 39-year-old Arusam Madhusan or Mime Madhu, who runs the Indian Mime Academy. Floored by Madhusan's recent performances in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, an Australian who owns this land is pumping another two crore to build the edifice.

"Mime is the thread weaving the flowers in the garment of theatre. My style combines Natyashastra's yoga and dance with European mime, Kalaripayattu, Tai chi and Butoh dancing," says Madhusan, the first Ustad Bismillah Khan awardee.

Madhusan's academy enables corporate employees to always exude the right vibe. Recently, he was approached by a company to sensitise employees towards their LGBT colleagues. The play had Madhusan transitioning into a woman out of choice that proved an eye-opener. He has also mimed about AIDS, domestic violence and the Kargil War.

Thanks to Guwahati's Moinul Haque and his Mime Academy, Northeast India witnessed a mime act in 1991, for the first time ever. This Sangeet Akademi awardee highlights social issues through mime plays with his 20-member troupe: Hunger – a Christian, Hindu and Muslim locked in a room till realisation dawns that hunger knows no religion and America America – son deposits parents in an old age home for the love of America. "There's also Intrusion, of how Bangladesh might invade Assam and 'eat' its original culture," says Haque, a visiting faculty at Madhya Pradesh School of Drama and National School of Drama.

Haque reserves humour only for his solos: encountering quirky characters on a morning walk, a love story between first and second storey inhabitants and a boxing champion who can't find his teeth after a fight.

An hour of silence

Chennai based Shravath Ramani, who formed Mactrics to participate in IIT Madras' Saranng college fest in 2009 can name six more mime groups in the city by collegians.

Since 2003, Mactrics' annual mime theatre festival invites schools, colleges and corporates. "It's not a competition. We give them tickets to sell which in turn funds their production." Lack of sponsors has pushed the festival to October this year.

Miming one-hour performances on any theme is their speciality.

"We've staged plays from Macbeth to the Mahabharata," says Ramani, 28, whose troupe has five permanent and 120 temporary actors. They've also put mime into the curriculum of 18 schools in Chennai and four in Coimbatore. For school annual days, we put up a mime play or a mime segment inbetween the play," he says recollecting a mime play on India's freedom struggle that enlisted 256 students. Currently they are shortening writer Kalki Krishnamurthy's Ponniyin Selvan tome of a novel to an hour-long mime play this December.

Studying mime

India's first one year postgraduate diploma course in mime began on July 4 in Kolkata. Promoter of mukhabhinaya (silent acting) and Padma Shri awardee Niranjan Goswami, who runs Indian Mime Theatre company, has designed this residency course. It's based on Natyashastra's technique of bhava (body language) and anubhava (reasons behind the body language). "We've also taken from Vishnudharmottara Purana to study mime through postures of sculptures. Mime makes facial muscles flexible and the eye movement, more impactful. This will prepare students for TV and film." says Goswami.

The first batch has 15 students from Bangladesh, Nepal and south India staying the Mime Institute. For just Rs5,000 as monthly fee, they can avail of a workshop, auditorium, classrooms, dormitory, kitchen, library and classes from 6am to 8pm.

An annual theatre festival is also what the Indian Mime Theatre company's being organising every March since 1998, and year-long workshops for actors and teachers.

In Mumbai, the British Council will conduct its first mime workshop for kids on July 24 under speech and drama trainer Anuradha Rohra, whose workshops include a lot of exercises. Asking children, for instance, to emote use only their limbs or enacting a scene of a fly being discovered in the soup at a plush restaurant. "Some children are afraid of being inarticulate or shy to answer questions in class. When I make them put on a mask, these kids suddenly become confident because they don't feel judged," says the 34-year-old.

There's homework too: worksheets with dos and don'ts and group activities that kids can perform with friends and parents.