Find Nieil on Facebook

Dear Ratan

I finally did it. After putting it off for many years, I finally enrolled for an acting class, did my Level 1, and completed it. Then……Level 2. Looking back, enrolling myself to do the Level 2 was one of the craziest things I ever did. You warned us that it would be really tough, difficult to handle, and I still enrolled! I almost did not complete it. At the Level 2 workshop, at most times I would feel confronted by emotions that I always ran away from. I would feel overwhelmed and wouldn’t know how to deal with it. I felt ridiculous quite a few times because of the stuff we did at the workshop, but, the way you broke and pulled down the walls, that we spent years building around us, was unbelievable.

Whenever I saw an actor crying in a movie scene, I would often think, how can somebody cry just like that? That too in front of so many people? How are they able to do it? Is it easy? As we progressed in our Level 2 workshop, I got my answers. That I would cry in front of somebody else was something unthinkable for me, and yet I did, profusely. You taught us how, and I’ll never forget you saying, “It must come from an honest place”. And it did. In many ways it was ground breaking for me. It helped me find the confidence that I thought I did not have and helped me increase my belief in myself.

Thank you for being a friend, philosopher and guide. Thank you for not embarrassing me most of the time! Thank you for believing in me and helping me believe in myself. In my Level 1 feedback I called you a magician. Now, after finishing L2 and two seasons of The Strangers, I reiterate, “You are indeed a magician”.

Nieil Sancheti