Saurabh Shukla on going into theatre in defiance of his Indian family’s wishes, film roles, and being typecast
- Saurabh Shukla, who will be bringing his stage show Barff to Hong Kong in June, talks about being typecast for his large frame and still feeling 22 at 60
I come from a family of artists and my parents were both Hindustani classical musicians. My mother was the first female tabla (an Indian hand drum) player on the international stage.
I was born in 1963 in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, one of the biggest states in India. When I was two years old, my father got a job as a professor at Delhi University and we moved there. My mother also worked at the university.
Extended families, with cousins and uncles and aunts, are a big thing in India. But we were different for the times because we were a nuclear family. There was just my mum, dad and brother, who was 10 years older than me.
Our house was always full of people, mostly artists and musicians. There was a lot of music growing up. Almost too much of it, and because of that I never indulged in music. It was the most normal thing and I wanted to do something that was not so normal.
I grew up in a very secular environment. My friendships were not defined by caste or religion. I made friends with people depending on whether they were a good artist.
Budding writer
