Piyush Mishra (born 13 January 1963) is an Indian film
and theatre actor, music director, lyricist, singer, scriptwriter. Mishra grew
up in Gwalior, and went to graduate from National School of Drama, Delhi in
1986. Thereafter, he started his career in Hindi theatre in Delhi. Over the
next decade he established himself as an theatre director, actor, lyricist and
singer. He shifted to Mumbai in 2002, actor, lyricist and screenwriter, and
receiving acclaim for his acting in Maqbool (2003) and Gangs of
Wasseypur (2012).
As a film lyricist and singer, he is noted for
his songs "Arre Ruk Ja Re Bandeh" (Black Friday, 2004),
"Aarambh Hai Prachand" (Gulaal, 2009), "Ik Bagal" (Gangs
of Wasseypur - Part 2, 2012), and "Husna" (MTV Coke Studio,
2012).
Early life and background
He was born in
Gwalior to Pratap Kumar Sharma. He grew up as Priyakansha Sharma and was
adopted by his father's eldest sister Taradevi Mishra, who had no children. His
family too moved in to aunt's house to ease financial burden. His parents
admitted him to Carmel Convent School, Gwalior thinking that his education in a
convent will help him excel in academics but it was activities like singing,
painting and acting which appealed to him. Piyush later moved to Gwalior's JC
Mills Higher Secondary School. However, living in the authoritative household
of his aunt, developed a rebellious streak in him, which showed up in his first
poem, Zinda ho haan tum koi shak nahin (Yes you are alive; of this there
is no doubt), he wrote in class 8th. Later, while studying in class 10, he even
filed an affidavit in the district court and changed his name to one his choice
to Piyush Mishra.
Around this time, he began to be drawn to
theatre – it was at places like Kala Mandir and Rangshri Little Ballet Troupe
in Gwalior that his talent for the medium was first identified. In spite of the
appreciation he was beginning to receive in the theatre circles, his family
kept insisting to concentrate on his studies. He took the entrance test to the
National School of Drama, New Delhi in 1983, not with any particular desire to
study but to get out of Gwalior. Thereafter he moved to Delhi, and joined
National School of Drama, graduating in 1986. While at NSD, he got a chance to
compose his first music score for a student play, Mashreeki Hoor. His
acting breakthrough came in his second year at NSD, when German director, Fritz
Bennewitz (1926–95), directed him in the title role in Hamlet and
introduced him to acting technique.
Career
Theater and television
After his graduation from NSD in 1986, Piyush Mishra started his career
as a theatre actor in Delhi, and in 1990, helped start the theatre group Act
One, with founder-director NK Sharma and stage actors like Manoj Bajpai, Gajraj
Rao and Ashish Vidyarthi. In the following years he wrote and directed several
plays as a part of Act One Theatre Group, including the acclaimed play, Gagan
Damama Bajiyo (The Sky Resounds with the Call to Arms), based on freedom
fighter Bhagat Singh, which was first performed in 1994, and upon publishing,
sold its first edition in just seven days. In 1996 he joined Asmita Theatre
Group, and performed his popular one man shows An Evening with Piyush Mishra.
He wrote the lyrics for Asmita's popular plays. Piyush acted as Maniac
in operation three star (an adaptation of Dario Fo's play Accidental Death of
an Anarchist). Piyush is also known for his performance in Swadesh Deepak's Court
Martial as Surat Singh, first with Ranjeet Kapoor (1991) and later under
the direction of Arvind Gaur (1996).
By then, he had established himself as a theatre
director and directed Comedy of Terror play for Shriram Centre Repertory
Company, and also presented his solo act play at the National School of Drama's
Annual Theatre Festival, Bharat Rang Mahotsav in 1999. Mishra briefly moved to
Mumbai, as he acted in a television series, Rajdhani (1989), directed by
Tigmanshu Dhulia for Star TV, and Shyam Benegal's Bharat Ek Khoj (1988)
and horror TV serial Kile ka Rahasya (1989), though he returned to Delhi
thereafter.
Films
While Mishra was at the NSD, 1986, he was
considered for a role in the Sooraj Barjatya film Maine Pyar Kiya which
would go on to become a blockbuster, "presumably" that of Prem which
was played by Salman Khan. But for some reason, he did not make an effort.
Mishra made his debut as a film actor with Mani
Ratnam's Dil Se.. in 1998, he portrayed as C.B.I Investigation Officer.
though he continued to stay in Delhi to pursue theatre. His transition from
playwright to screen writer happened when he wrote the dialogues for Rajkumar
Santoshi's 2001 film The Legend of Bhagat Singh, which was inspired in
part by Mishra's critically acclaimed play on Bhagat Singh – Gagan Damama
Bajyo. It won him the Zee Cine Award for Best Dialogue (2003). Meanwhile he
moved to Mumbai in November 2002, where he went on to establish a career as a
film lyricist, screenwriter and as an actor. He started writing lyrics with the
film, Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar in 2002, and subsequently wrote for Black
Friday (2004), Aaja Nachle and Tashan.
Mishra won accolades for his performance as Kaka
in Vishal Bhardwaj's 2003 film Maqbool, an adaptation of William
Shakespeare's Macbeth. He wrote his own dialogues for his performance as Hafeez
(Huffy) Bhai in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007), and delivered them in poetry
style.
Mishra again appeared in Anurag Kashyap's 2009
movie Gulaal, a movie based on Indian youth, politics, caste-prejudice,
and other such social topics. He played Prithvi, the poet brother of Dukey Bana
(played by Kay Kay Menon), in the movie. He also wrote the lyrics for the songs
in the movie, and sung few of them as well and was also the music director of
the film. He has acted in Rockstar alongside Ranbir Kapoor and was known as the
'Image is everything...everything is Image' guy. He acted and wrote lyrics of
some songs for the movie Gangs of Wasseypur. His songs are very high on
poetic content and have received critical appreciation from all sections of
audiences and critics.
Personal Life
He
married Priya Narayanan in 1995, whom he met in 1992 while directing a play at
the School of Planning and Architecture. Presently he lives in Goregaon East,
Mumbai with his wife, who is an architect and two sons Josh and Jai.
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