User:Dakshita deswal

Sangeeta gupta

BORN- 1 august 1968 (age 47)

Mandi, Gobindgarh, Punjab.

RESIDENCE- Mohali, Punjab.

NATIONALITY- Indian

EDUCATION- MA in Theatre and Television

MA in Political Science

B.Ed

ALMA MATER- Punjabi University, Patiala.

OCCUPATION- actor and director.

Sangeeta Gupta (born 1 august 1968) is an Indian theater actress and director, an actress in Punjabi cinema and a social activist. Till date she has worked in a number of Punjabi movies, more than 25 serials, 50 plays, has given more than 5000 stage performances and has directed around 35 plays. She is a founding member and director of the NGO,”ROOPAK KALA AND WELFARE SOCIETY” which is working since last 18 years.

EARLY LIFE AND BACKGROUND-

She was born on 1 August 1968 to Sh. Murari Lal and Smt. Raj Gupta in a small town of Punjab- Mandi, Gobindgarh. Her parents were school teachers. She always surprised them by her sharp mind and intelligence. She has a younger brother too, Atul Gupta, who is 4 yrs younger to her. Both of them have great singing skills which they received from their Dad, who used to sing in his college days and used to perform in youth fests as well. She had a grave interest in drama, mimicry and role play since childhood. She used to collect children from her neighborhood and perform drama with them, of which her parents were unaware. She has no one in her family in the professional field of art and culture.

Till 13 yrs of age she lived in Morinda, Ropar, Punjab and then her family shifted to Gobindgarh, Fatehpur Sahib, Punjab.

EDUCATION-

She did her schooling from Morinda, Punjab and MGG, Gobindgarh, Punjab. She got her BA degree from Jawaharlal Nehru Government College for Women, Mandi, Gobindgarh, Punjab. She won gold medal in histrionics in youth festival continuously for 3 years during her graduation days and had already worked in 3 serials by the time she got her graduation degree. She did MA in Theatre and Television, MA in Political Science and B.Ed from Punjabi university, Patiala. By this time she had decided to work in the field of drama all her life.

TEACHERS-

Her first teacher and mentor was Dr. Satish Verma. She met him during the shooting of a serial for which she was selected during youth fest. He guided her to join the theatre department in the Punjabi university to learn about and work in the field of theatre. She did a lot of work with him.

During this time she met another great teacher Balraj Pandit. She learned all the techniques of acting, speech work, about the body movements, etc. from him. He helped her in building a strong base in the very initial days of her career.

After passing out, she met her third guru, Dr. Atamjit, he taught her how to make a balance between theatre and life, to save money while working in the field of theatre and establish herself in this field. He is a philosopher, a mentor and a guide to her, who still guides her thorough the ups and downs of life. He is like a father to her as he took her father’s place after he passed away.

CAREER-

She had to struggle against a society which doesn’t allow women to come out of their small shells to get into the field chosen by her. And this wouldn’t have been possible without her consistent hard work, patience, determination and of course the brave fighter in her.

She was selected for her first serial by Surender Sharma while she was performing histrionics during youth festival.

And then there was no looking back for her.

WORKS-

She acted for two years in the Department of Indian theatre and Theatre & TV Department’s Repertory Company at Punjabi University, Patiala and then as a theatre teacher in Shivalik Public School.

She has a strong determination to spread the art of theatre, so she conducted workshops for Punjabi university faculty club, Punjabi University School, National school of Drama, Delhi, Rajinder Deva Orphanage, Patiala with the help of NZCC, Sarang lok, Mohali and various schools and colleges of Chandigarh and Mohali. She worked with Dr Satish Verma at Patiala, Kewal Dhaliwal, Niranjan Goswami at Calcutta and many more ideals of theatre. She also conducted workshops in various orphanages, old age homes, schools, colleges, etc.

She acted in many Punjabi films- Aa Gaye Munde UK De, Kabadi Ik Mohabat, Murg-e-hazam,Sab Farhe Jaange, Gurchet Vich America, Titu MBA, etc. Till date she has worked in more than 25 serials of different tv channels, some of them are lakeeran, moh bhang, Sanshey, Apna Apna  Dayera,etc. She acted in “Jija ji NRI”, a play staged all over Canada and in Dramatic Recital of Play “Mungu Comrade” in Nairobi, Kenya in May 2014. She even did advertisements for Radio Channels of Canada. She worked in about 50 plays on All India Radio, Jalandhar and compered programs like Aaj Sham, Yuv Vani, Nari Lok.

She has acted in more than 50 plays and western classics like Khamosh adalat jari hai, Lehron ke raj hans, Ashadh ka ek din, Aadhe adhure, Inspector General, Mine Hostess, The miser, Devi, Sat begane, Loha kut,Main taan ik sarangi haan,Panchnad da paani,Khali plot, Sati, Firangian din ooh, Maa, etc., has given more than 5000 stage performances and has directed more than 35 plays some of them are Firangian di nooh, Ab hamari hai baari, Mull di tinvi, Maut di tissi, Galat aurat, Gulbano etc. She directed plays for children too- Ek kahani panchtantra, Suno kahani, Kissa-e-workshop, Khudgarz insaan, Tagore ki kahani ghar vapsi, Mein chup nahin rahungi, Mujhe chand chahiye, etc.

She did street plays for social causes like AIDS Awareness, Ram Janam Bhoomi, Hinsa parmo dharm, Kanjak, Toya, literacy, environment, female feticide,etc.After coming to Chandigarh she worked in 25 slums for 3 years. She is the founder member and director of NGO “Roopak Kala & Welfare Society”which is working from last 18 years.

She believes that theatre doesn’t mean just presenting drama but motivating and teaching people the way of living life. Social activism is very closely related to her work. She believes in giving back to the society as much as possible. She is running a campaign “Save the Girl Child” in villages of Mohali District since May 2008, covered 275 villages of Mohali district under this campaign till now and running “Lok Chetna Muhim” against drugs in villages of Mohali District since March 2011. She has also performed 500 street plays for spreading awareness among the people about HIV/AIDS and drug de-addiction and did 125 street plays in Chandigarh in just a month for telling people about their moral responsibility towards their own country under the banner “Love your country”. She has also worked for the development of Punjabi language. She dubbed 4 cartoon serials for PTC Channel and various Hollywood movies in Punjabi and also started an Awareness campaign through street plays in tri-city in June 2014, she has also dramatized and animated Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s Sakhiyaan.

She has always fought against the wrongs while supporting the rights even if it left her all alone. She works with children as well as adults. While working with the young generation she tries to show them the right path to achieve their life goals, be focused and grow into a better person, a better human, and a better citizen. For fulfilling this purpose she has been working in colleges of Chandigarh and preparing students for the Youth Festival since past 18 years.

AWARDS AND HONORS-

Best supporting actress in northern India from Punjabi Academy, Delhi in 1994.

Gold Medal in National Theatre Festival in 2006 for Play “Zindgi”.

Bronze Medal in National Theatre Festival in 2009 for Play “Aakhir Kyun”.

Honored by Punjab Arts Council on International Women’s Day in 2012

Honored by Inner wheel club of Panchkula in March 2013.

Honored by Punjab Sangeet Natak Academy in March 2014.

Honored by State Bank Of India in March 2014.

Honored by Lok Virasat Manch, Kharar on 8th march 2016.

Honored by Punjab Arts Council on 8 March 2016.

Received Neerja Bahnot Award on 8th march 2016 presented to her by Vijay Dev, Advisor to Administration, UT, Chandigarh.

Honoured by WWIC, Mohali  in march 2016.

EXTERNAL LINKS-

https://paash.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/an-arty-affair/1/142246.html

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/dennis-wants-chhole-bhature/

http://www.tcgcircle.org/2013/08/the-1984-project-part-2/

http://www.theatrefortheatre.com/actor/harwinder-singh-sainty-saini

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TJHw-Myx8ae