Anjan Srivastav

Anjan Srivastav
Born	June 2, 1948 (age 63) Kolkata
Occupation	actor
Years active	1976-present
Spouse	Mrs. Rekha Srivastav

Anjan Srivatsav (also Aanjjan Srivatav) (born June 2, 1948) is an Indian film, television and stage actor, associated with Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) in Mumbai of which he remained Vice-President for several years. Outside theatre, he is best known as a character actor in Marathi and Hindi films, most notably, Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! and Mississippi Masala, and Bollywood films like Gol Maal, Bemisal, Khuda Gawah, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Pukar. On television he made his mark as the quintessential "common man" in the TV series Wagle Ki Duniya(Wagle's World) (1988–90) and Wagle Ki Nayi Duniya, where he played the lead role, apart from Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984) and Nukkad.Over the 25 years, he has also acted in about 30 plays like, many of them jubilee hits, including Bakri, Moteram Ka Satyagrah, Shatranj Ke Mohre, Ek Aur Dronacharya, Chakkar Pe Chakkar.

Early life

Born and brought up in Calcutta (now Kolkata), into a family from Uttar Pradesh and his father was a respected banker with Allahabad Bank. Anjan did his B.Com. and LLB from Calcutta University, it was here that he started taking part in local Hindi theatre groups in 1968, and did plays for All India Radio. Meanwhile he also did a small role in the film Chameli Mem Shaeb. Soon he acted with noted groups on the city like Kala Bhavan, Sangeet Kala Mandir and Adakar and acted appeared in a few Bengali films.

Career

As per his fathers wishes he joined the Allahabad Bank, and continued acting in plays on the side. It was only after the death on his sister in 1976 that his father relented and allowed him get transferred to Bombay (now Mumbai) to pursue his acting career further.

Upon arrival he immediately joined Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and worked in its several productions, and remained with it ever since, after staying its General Secretary of IPTA for a while, he went on to become the Vice-President. He also worked with Prithvi Theatre in the city.

Theatre led to film roles like in Kundan Shah's Saza-E-Maut, Hrishikesh Mukherjee's comedy classic, Gol Maal (1979) and JP Dutta's Ghulami (1985). Now he moved in Television with Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi and went on act in notable TV series like Manoranjan, 'Tamas' by Govind Nihlani, Nukkad and Katha Sagar, finally in 1987, he received the lead in comedy series, Wagle Ki Duniya based on R.K. Laxman's common man, which brought him his place in the limelight. He also acted in Shyam Benegal's epic series, Discovery of India.

He often plays skeptical bureaucratic roles and sometimes the conventional narrow minded father character. He has acted in over 127 Hindi films including as Shah Rukh Khan's father in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, head hockey official, Mr. Tripathi in Chak De! India, and in other films like Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman and No Entryand many other masterpiece characters in various films He has being regarded as an excellent portrayer of character. In 2005, he played the lead inM.S. Sathyu's production, Raat written by Javed Siddiqui and based on Ariel Dorfman's acclaimed play Death and the Maiden.

All through his acting career, he remained a bank employee from where he later retired in 2001.

Personal life

Anjan Srivastav is married, and a father of twins, a boy and a girl and an 18 year daughter younger to the twin. His elder daughter, though a school teacher by profession, is also an active theatre actor and member with IPTA Mumbai. His son, though not very active, in the world of theatre but has been a passionate seeker in the world of acting & directing and has also worked in several advertisements. He works with a pioneer Advertising Agency, Ogilvy & Mather Pvt Ltd. Anjan's younger daughter is currently pursuing Arts. Anjan is recognized as a very reputed actor in the Film Industry, and he has sacrificed a plethora of things for the industry. It is said that, he has always being in the very spirit of acting, whenever approached, and can play any kind of role in an immaculate manner.