Mime is silence, but silence is not mime

Warangal: Having gained a rich knowledge through nearly three decades of learning, practice and performance, Mime Madhu, a mime artist of international repute, is now on a mission to disseminate the knowledge among the youngsters.
According to him, mime is silence, but silence is not mime.

He dismissed the notion that mime is only a comedy art form, saying ‘Mime is a serious art form which is both potent and accessible and which gracefully and forcefully conveys an intended story, message or feeling to an audience’.

‘Mime develops artiste’s ability to perfect entire body to speak like a mouth. It builds confidence, encourages communication, teaches body movements, moulds facial expressions and contributes to the overall growth of any individual’.

“That is the reason why I have chosen to conduct workshops across the State to teach the young generation the intricacies of mime. As part of the workshops, facial expressions, hand signals and body motions and other such related topic are going to be taught,” he informed.

Born as Arusam Madhusudhan in the historic city of Warangal, his passion for mime began when he was 12 year old. He saw his classmate Ankushavali performing and developed a yearning towards it. He was able to find a Guru P Nagabhushanam in Warangal and gained proficiency in mime.

Holding a Master of Performing Arts degree from Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Central University, Hyderabad, Madhu received advanced mime training from internationally renowned mime artiste Padmashri Niranjan Goswami, the Founder-Director of Indian Mime Theatre, Kolkata.

He also received instruction towards broadening of his mime language and creative horizons from American luminary Tony Montanaro, famous Butoh dancer and renowned body and movement trainer, Min Tanaka of Japan. Further to strengthen his mime repertoire, Madhu also learned ‘Kalaripayattu’ of Kerala, as well as Martial Art Tai-Chi from Ravi Varma.

“I wish to pass on all these treasure of knowledge I gained over the years to the youngsters and help them explore their own selves,” Madhu told The Hans India.The workshops titled ‘Utthhanam’ (Arising) are being conducted under the aegis of Indian Mime Academy, which he has established. He thanked Telangana departments of Language and Culture, and Tourism and its officials Mamidi Harikrishna and Burra Venkatesham for their active support in organising the workshop.

By James Edwin