'Big business' for Broadway in India: Indo-American actor

As Broadway marked its foray into India with "Beauty and the Beast", Indian-American actor Saim Hyder believes there is a "big business" for the format in the country.

"Indians love music, dance and theater all together as most Bollywood films reveal. Also in India, there is a very big business for such productions," Hyder told IANS in an interview.

"In local areas of India, there is already a form of this called 'jatra' which is very popular especially in villages and small towns during festivals like Diwali and Holi where thousands throng the public arena to watch plays come alive with song dance and theatre.

"So if the presentation and production can be as fantastic and large scale as a Broadway show, I feel Indians will love it," he added.

The New York-based actor, who has starred in a few off-Broadway productions and has also acted in films like "Patrons" and "Inferno? Paradiso", says he has enjoyed being in front of the camera.

"I have really enjoyed filming and being an actor in front of cameras. I studied film acting and camera work in New York Film Academy and have tried to use it to the best of my ability. Luckily, I have had amazing directors and fellow cast members," he said.

On the work front, Hyder is busy working on his sitcom.

"Currently I am working on my sitcom to be shown in a popular Indian-American channel where I will be the lead actor. It's taking most of my time as I am also a producer for it. We have a strong and passionate team of writers who are putting their time and talent in this production," he said.

The 28-year-old, who has also dabbled in theatre, said he would "love" to do more projects in that domain.

"I would love to do more theatre, dreaming of a day when I can be a part of a full on Broadway show. I especially trained in the Maggie Flanigan Studio, where I was intensively trained by amazing acting coaches in the Meisner Technique/cold read/film-TV acting/script analysis used in theater and also as an acting base for films," he said.

Hyder said that theatre keeps him "grounded" and gives him "patience and freedom".

"It also challenges me as an actor as there are no retakes helping me in my growth as an actor, which, by the way, I love," he added.

Would he like to work with mainstream Hindi cinema?

"Yes, I would love to. I have grown up on Indian movies and it will be a very proud moment for me if I am a part of Indian cinema. Plus my parents can go and easily watch my work in their local cinema house," he said.