Kathmandu An eminent personality of Indian mime, Niranjan Goswami has dedicated his life to Mukabhinaya — acting without words. He has been doing it since 1966 — “making people shed tears, laugh and think about his/her life” through mime. However, had he not received scholarships to study mime from the Department of Culture, Government of India, Goswami says he wouldn’t be what he is today — performing mime all around the world. He holds a postgraduate in Drama with specialisation in Direction and Acting from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. “It was coincidence and fate” that he got the scholarship and since then Goswami has dedicated his life to acting on stage through mime. Goswami was attracted to mime since his schooldays in Kolkata. “Different Russian cultural teams used to stage mimes in my  school,” recalls Goswami, 68, who also got to watch Bengali mime artiste Jogesh Datta’s performance when he was in the eighth grade. And the scholarship to pursue higher studies in theatre paved the path for him to live his childhood dream. A mime artiste, director, producer, writer and teacher, Goswami defines mime as “a theatre technique where an artiste’s action, character, and emotions among others are expressed through gestures, facial expressions and body movements. The actors express oneself without using any words. In this poetic world of gestures, one can listen to the sound of silence. It is a non-verbal communication”. He adds, “Mukabhinaya, what we usually call it (mime), is acting without words. It uses imaginary objects. The imaginary should be made real with gestures and acting. Otherwise the audience can’t feel it. It is also an effective medium of mass communication.” Sharing his nearly five-decade long experience in the world of mime, Goswami points out that “the body and mind of an artiste should be fit” for one to be a good mime artiste. “You have to have concentration and make good use of your five senses while on stage.” Your face will speak in mime, but your heart should be involved in it. The lights and sequence should go together to make an overall communication. Gestures and clarity of expressions must be mastered for a better mime performance, as per Goswami. It is where training comes into play. “Training helps artistes polish their acting,” says Goswami, who is also a trainer and has been conducting a five-day mime theatre workshop for Nepali theatre artistes. One of the features of mime performance is that the audience also play an active role in it — they are given opportunities to narrate their stories which the artistes have to enact on stage. “For a trained artiste, enacting audience’s story is very easy” as they have already practised many such stories during the training sessions. He has been using this theatrical experience not only to train others but in his own plays he directed and performed — The Dowry Death, Key to Happiness and A girl from Golden Village among others. In 1976, Goswami founded the Indian Mime Theatre and since then the group has been producing both theme and story based mime plays. Goswami teaches mime in theatre departments of different universities in India. But when he started acting, there were no mime artistes in India. “These days there are many people interested in mime and learning it,” he compares. The other change — mime has become commercialised. “Back then I never asked how much would I earn from mime” as it was more of an art form for him. “On the contrary,  people these days are finding ways to make money from mime.” Goswami feels an artiste is responsible to deliver morals and lessons of a mime to his/her audience, rather than concentrating on making money only. To perform a productive mime, Goswami suggests the need for artistes to work on the content and form of the play. “You need to express what the idea is and also pay attention to its presentation. They should be aware about when the mime can go bad — it is when the mime speaks (when the actors can’t display right expression). Some people don’t know where to stop,” he adds. Audience are a significant part of any art form, including mime. “If you act wholeheartedly, you will make people shed tears, laugh and think about his/her life with your performance. The audience for us are our gods,” opines Goswami. And he suggests, “One type of audience always praises your every work, another type always criticises, and the other one keeps a balance between these two. The audience who points out your weaknesses and strength is the real critic. You shouldn’t avoid their suggestions.” Nonetheless, you should also reach out to people and tell them about your work, only then will they come to you, as per Goswami, who views, “Be it via email, Facebook, WhatsApp or any other means of publicity, you need to tell people about your work.” The recipient of the Padma Shri Award (2009) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2002), along with his team is all set to showcase his mime mastery in the Capital through Umbrella of Niru Gonsai.  “An artiste expects claps after his/her performance and I hope the Nepali audience will clap for my performance,” laughs Goswami. The play narrates the story of a man who has lost his umbrella and shows its importance in the life of common people. The play will be staged at Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel on July 30 at 2:00 pm; and at Army Officer’s Club Sundhara on July 31 at 5:00 pm. The entry is free.