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One moment she mesmerises audiences with her sterling performance in M. K Raina’s much acclaimed play Buhe Baariyan. With effortless `E9lan, she fits into the part of a mother in many a Punjabi film. Anchor of several television shows, this associate professor of fine arts is as comfortable pouring her feelings on the canvas as emoting on stage. So, which is the real Neeta Mohindra? Of course, the Amritsar-based versatile actor and painter admits to being an actor first. For, the visual artist in her has often taken a hiatus to let the performer blossom. Indeed, she turned an actor much before the affair with paint and brush came about. Actually, her entry into the realm of arc lights had begun under the tutelage of theatre thespian, the late Harpal Tiwana. Recalls Neeta, who earned a diploma in acting from his institute, the Punjab Kala Manch, "Besides the course, I learnt many significant lessons from his wife Neena Tiwana, whom I would follow like a lamb and whose every word that I dutifully jotted down was like a gospel truth for me." However, today this actor of over 100 plays and recipient of honours like the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Sapatrishi Award, and Best Actor Award by the Punjabi Akademi feels, "But at that point, I guess, I was too young to absorb all the finer nuances of theatre and my real journey began with M. K. Raina." Raina, incidentally, was introduced to Neeta the painter first and it was only during the staging of her play Abhisarika that he discovered her tremendous acting potential. Soon he cast her in the telefilm based on Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle and later in the play Tum Sadat Hasan Manto Ho. Till date, she is working with her mentor and is busy doing shows of Raina’s directorial venture Chanda Mama Dur Ke scripted by her and is a solo performance. "Solos", she asserts, "are as much a team effort as any other play, yet are far more challenging than working with co-actors." With her love and talent for acting manifesting rather early in life, why did she choose to arm herself with a degree in fine arts? Neeta says, "See those were the days when theatre was not an acceptable vocation. I was allowed to do theatre only if I did well in academics." Thus, while academic performance hung over her head like a Damocles sword both television and cinema were out of bounds. Today, having played a stellar part in a dozen- odd movies like Ek Noor and Dil Apna Punjabi, she asserts, "Sure enough the joy of working in theatre with directors like British director Andrew Purvin and Sanskrit theatre legend Kavalam Pannikar is unparalleled. And in movies, especially Punjabi films, there may be little room for experimentation, yet cinema’s reach is tremendous." Thus often she wonders, "I have devoted my entire life to theatre and perhaps not reached out to even all of Amritsar. Yet with movies even people from overseas have noticed my work. Now I have decided that I will act in at least two movies every year." Yet another promise she has made to herself is — creation of a multimedia presentation. All her life, even otherwise her twin passions theatre and painting have interacted on each other. While her canvas has been peopled with characters of her plays, her paintings have often formed the backdrop in theatre. Today, however, she feels that the boundaries between varied art forms are blurring. In fact, this lesson was driven home with greater force when as one of the 25 women participants from around the world she got a chance to be at a workshop in Germany. She adds, "Gone are the days of compartmentalisation. Now art is not about this or that form albeit about a concept." Thus, the woman who wears many caps with natural ease is all set to surprise the art world soon. In personal life, she may have chosen to remain single, but in the realm of arts she certainly believes in the marriage of various disciplines.
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