I am not a religious person, but KMC is my place of worship: Gandharv Dewan
On a recent trip to Delhi, the Gulmohar actor made a quick stop at his alma mater to revisit his good old college days at Delhi University.
College days form an integral part of most of our lives, for the people we meet there, the learnings and lessons remain by our side forever. Taking a walk down memory lane, in the corridors of his alma mater — Kirori Mal College (KMC), Delhi University — Gandharv Dewan reminisces about the good old days. An English (Hons) graduate of the 2011 batch, the actor, recently seen in the film Gulmohar alongside actors Sharmila Tagore, Simran Bagga and Manoj Bajpayee, greeted his professors, visited the auditorium and relished a plate of dal makhani-chawal seated on the iconic ‘Players Stairs’, as he would back in the day.
The best theatre society in the business
The 32-year-old has films such as The Zoya Factor (2019) and Shiddat (2021) to his credit, but it was in KMC where he found his niche. “I had very poor marks,” recalls Dewan, who applied through the extra-curricular activities (ECA) quota. “Every college I went to for auditioning through theatre, the societies there would say, ‘We are the second-best of DU’. There was so much curiosity in my mind about the best one. And that was The Players,” he says about his college’s theatre society. “KMC might not be a posh college, but what’s incredible is the value given to cultural activities. It is my place of worship,” he gushes.
48 hours and a ‘kabadkhana’
Talking about his tryst with theatre in college, Dewan mentions the auditorium was his “happy space”. He goes on to recall a time he didn’t step out for two days straight: “I remember being in the auditorium for 48 hours, teen natak ban rahe the. There’s a kind of junoon (passion) here, which is uncommon. Back in the day, the auditorium was not fancy. But, there was determination.” In his final year, the actor mentions how his team organised a fest called Kabadkhana to direct authorities’ attention towards the state of affairs at the auditorium. “It was in shambles. In fact, I was a part of the last batch that had the opportunity to use the stage and perform in the auditorium,” he shares.
A bond for life
Dewan, who visited the to-be revamped auditorium, fondly remembers late filmmaker-actor Satish Kaushik, a graduate of the 1974 batch,as a “torchbearer” who helped touch base with big names in cinema. He goes on to add that the love for their college is prevalent even outside of campus. “I remember meeting Divyenndu (actor, also a KMC alumnus) on set once in Mumbai. He is a big name, but was so kind to me, because he is a senior. There is camaraderie. And a lot of the credit for this goes to the orientation we got here. Our wealth is this legacy. The alumni community is also so close-knit. That’s rare,” he signs off.
Author tweets @KritiKambiri
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