Mime in the time of memes
Mime Madhu gets talking about his humble beginnings, what clicked for him and his advice to upcoming artistes
Hyderabad: Arusam Madhusudan’s humble beginnings didn’t come in the way of his big dreams. Hailing from Hanamkonda in Warangal, he is currently known as ‘Mime Madhu’. Rings a bell? The artiste is doing the entire nation proud with his talent and already has a Nandi Award to his name. Right now, he is working in movies such as ‘Gaali Sampath’, ‘Aakashavani’ and ‘Chor Bazar’.
Talking about how it all started, Madhu says, “I used to be that enthusiastic kid who would climb on walls and chairs to watch shows happening in my village. Artistes from different places would come to perform in our village during festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi and Navaratri. I started practising mime seriously from schooling when one of my friends had asked me to watch his show. I had no clue about mime art, and later when I joined him for a show, people teased me about my weight. However, I eventually got recognition and began focusing on the art seriously.”
Madhu feels upcoming artistes need proper training and motivation to get the best out of them. That is exactly why he started www.indianmimeacademy.com . Through this, he has trained more than 2,000 students and also travelled all over Telangana to teach students in government schools. He provides free training for underprivileged kids who approach him with passion for mime.
Mime is presented in three forms – Pantomime (through speech), Pure mime (silent act) and Corporeal mime (place drama inside the moving human body). “P Nagabhushanam sir is the first artiste from Warangal who took mime as a profession. It is through him that I learnt the basics of the art. Later, I moved to Kolkata to gain more knowledge about the art,” shares Madhu.
Through all these years, he travelled to six-plus countries to perform, but he never expected he would take this as a profession. “I wanted to become a doctor, but coming from a lower income background, I couldn’t do it. I was a bright student, but somehow I always found comfort in art. I got a scholarship, junior fellowship, and later Chinna Jeeyar Swamy noticed my art and sent me to the US. I have done my internship with Tony Montanaro, who is one of the famous artistes in the field,” says Madhu.
On a parting note, he advises young mime enthusiasts, “Mime is acting through your body – you should know how to handle your body, and show emotions in the right way. I got trained in martial arts and Yoga to understand more about my mind and body.”
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.
Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .
