Irshad Panjatan (born 7 September 1931) is an Indian actor and veteran
mime artist, based in Berlin, who introduced the art form to India
during the 1960s. He started his career as stage actor, acted in few
Bollywood films, and later received acclaim as mime artist. He toured
through West-Asian and European countries in 1971, which led him to
Berlin, where he settled down. Over the years he has even acted in a
few Hollywood and German films, Manitou's Shoe (2001), Free Rainer
(2007), God is No Soprano (2003) and Iron Sky (2012).Panjatan was born
in Hyderabad, where he grew up with seven siblings, including his
elder brother, Dr. Abid Hussain (1926 2012), who later became an
economist, civil servant and diplomat.Panjatan started his career as
an aviation engineer, however he left the city for Delhi in 1950 to
pursue his passion for theatre and acting. He trained in Kathakali
under Raghavan Nair and later under Narendra Sharma, a disciple of
Uday Shankar. He started his career as an actor with the Hindustani
Theatre, the theatre group of Begum Qudsia Zaidi. In 1957, he enacted
a night theft scene in play Charudatta, in which he used no dialogues.
However, a review of Marg magazine, called it "..very good Pantomime",
this intrigued him and ventured into learning the art form. Soon, he
happened to see a local mime artist perform on the streets of Delhi,
and in the next hour he learned all that he could from him, and
started practicing and improvising on his own.He performed his first
mime play in 1962 in Delhi, thus introducing mime to India in the
1960s, which earned him wide acclaimed. Hindustani Theatre closed and
he began to focus mainly on mime, though he also acted in a few
Bollywood films during this period, including K.A. Abbas's Saat
Hindustani (1969), wherein he played a role of a Portuguese spy.
mime artist, based in Berlin, who introduced the art form to India
during the 1960s. He started his career as stage actor, acted in few
Bollywood films, and later received acclaim as mime artist. He toured
through West-Asian and European countries in 1971, which led him to
Berlin, where he settled down. Over the years he has even acted in a
few Hollywood and German films, Manitou's Shoe (2001), Free Rainer
(2007), God is No Soprano (2003) and Iron Sky (2012).Panjatan was born
in Hyderabad, where he grew up with seven siblings, including his
elder brother, Dr. Abid Hussain (1926 2012), who later became an
economist, civil servant and diplomat.Panjatan started his career as
an aviation engineer, however he left the city for Delhi in 1950 to
pursue his passion for theatre and acting. He trained in Kathakali
under Raghavan Nair and later under Narendra Sharma, a disciple of
Uday Shankar. He started his career as an actor with the Hindustani
Theatre, the theatre group of Begum Qudsia Zaidi. In 1957, he enacted
a night theft scene in play Charudatta, in which he used no dialogues.
However, a review of Marg magazine, called it "..very good Pantomime",
this intrigued him and ventured into learning the art form. Soon, he
happened to see a local mime artist perform on the streets of Delhi,
and in the next hour he learned all that he could from him, and
started practicing and improvising on his own.He performed his first
mime play in 1962 in Delhi, thus introducing mime to India in the
1960s, which earned him wide acclaimed. Hindustani Theatre closed and
he began to focus mainly on mime, though he also acted in a few
Bollywood films during this period, including K.A. Abbas's Saat
Hindustani (1969), wherein he played a role of a Portuguese spy.
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