Film

Akhilendra Mishra has been part of many successful and critically acclaimed films. There are many National Award-winning films to his credit, including Sarfarosh, Antardwand, The Legend of Bhagat Singh & Do Dooni Chaar. He was also the part of Academy Award nominated film Lagaan. He has always been selective about his roles and choice of films. He always paid attention to the importance of his character and how it affects the overall story of the film. He never makes a choice based on the length of the role offered to him.  He always leaves an impact by his performance whether it’s a small role or a big role.

Akhilendra Mishra always makes it a point to make the character alive on the celluloid. Therefore, he’s more popular among his fans by the name of characters he has played and not by his original name.

Television

Akhilendra Mishra started his television carrier with very small roles in Kabeer, Bharat Ek Khoj and Udaan (Doordarshan) in the late 80’s. He became famous and a household name with Chandrakanta in which he played the character of Kroor Singh (YAKKU). This mega serial was aired on Doordarshan in 1994.

Theatre

“Actor is nothing without spirituality!” Akhilendra Mishra experiences spirituality in every act of an actor. Without spirituality he finds nothing in an act. According to him, theatre is a spiritual journey. He emphasizes and recommends that every actor should do back-stage work in theatre.

Akhilendra Mishra started amateur theatre from his native village Koluhuan, Siwan in Bihar. His first play as a child artist was “Gauna Ke Raat” (Bhojpuri). Thereafter, he did many Hindi plays and started theatre with Amateur Dramatic Association at Chhapra, Bihar.

His first play at Chhapra was “Ek Tha Gadha Urff Aladad Khan” written by Sharad Joshi and directed by Dr. Rasik Bihari Verma. This journey continued and soon after his graduation with B. Sc. (Hons.) in Physics, Akhilendra Mishra joined IPTA (Indian People’s Theatre Association) and Ek Jut Theatre Group, Mumbai.

Akhilendra Mishra started professional theater and realized the importance of back-stage work in theater which nurtures an actor with every craft of acting. When an actor performs a role in a play, he only thinks and lives with his own character. On the other hand, when an actor does back-stage in a play, he witnesses all the rehearsals and thinks about all the characters and live with them.

With this process after 24 hours he attends second rehearsal, then after next 24 hours attends the 3^rd rehearsal and so on. This exercise continues for 30-50 days, till the 1^st performance of the play is staged.

Akhilendra Mishra has grown-up as an actor with this process. He started with back-stage, then crowd scenes, leading to one-liner, then to smaller roles, bigger roles and finally to lead roles. Being a complete product of theatre, Akhilendra Mishra is an example for young and aspiring actors.

Awards & Achievements