Roshan Taneja – Acting Guru of Bollywood cinema best known for teaching ‘Method acting’

Roshan Taneja was a prominent acting guru of Indian cinema, who trained numerous talented and successful actors of Bollywood. Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Khan (1988), Om Puri (1974-76), Jaya Bachchan (1968-70), Madhuri Dixit (1984), Anil Kapoor (1976), Mithun Chakraborty (1972-74), Asrani and Shatrughan Sinha (1965-67) are some of the extremely talented and renowned Bollywood actors trained by Roshan Taneja. He also started an acting school, Roshan Taneja School of Acting, which trains numerous actors. The acting guru passed away on May 11, 2019, aged 87 and the whole Bollywood industry paid him tributes. He died in his sleep, after a prolonged illness. He was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

A pioneer of Method Acting, he trained countless A-grade Bollywood artists

A ‘pioneer of method acting’ in India, Roshan Taneja belonged to North West Frontier Province, now in Pakistan. Long before Partition, around 1940, the family had moved to Kanpur, where his father worked in a sugar mill. Roshan was 8 years old then. Though his father wanted him to get a secure job, he dreamt to become an actor.

Taneja received training in acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre at New York, and returned back to India. As a trainer he has been training students since 1960s. Initially he taught students at the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India in Pune till 1975. He started an acting school of his own in 1976 and named it as Roshan Taneja School of Acting, now a prominent acting school of the country. He owns more than 5 decades of experience in teaching method acting.

Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Jaya Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit and Aamir Khan among his most talented students

Some of the prominent ex-students are Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor (2005), Rani Mukerji (1996), Ajay Devgan (1985), Abhishek Bachchan (1999), Sanjay Dutt (1980), Om Puri, Juhi Chawla (1989), Madhuri Dixit, Govinda, Manisha Koirala (1989-90), Karishma Kapoor (1984), Sunny Deol (1981), Bobby Deol (1994), Tabu, Chandrachur Singh (1998), Emraan Hashmi (2000), Sharman Joshi (1997), Suniel Shetty, Tushar Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan (1990), Sonam Kapoor, Danny Denzongpa (1968-70), Neelam Kothari, Pooja Bhatt (1986), Pooja Bedi (1993) etc.

Rakesh Bedi, Anil Dhawan, Satish Shah (1974-76), Shakti Kapoor (1974-76), Vindu Dara Singh, Benjamin Gilani, Kiran Kumar, Jimmy Shergil (1994-95), Gulshan Grover (1976), Rohit Shetty, Subhash Ghai, Sanjay Kapoor (1984), Chankey Pandey (1987), Twinkle Khanna (1984) etc are a few more Bollywood artists who learnt under Roshan Taneja. Needless to say, he was the real guru of Bollywood. He trained numerous actors who went on to win National awards and other prominent awards including Filmfare. 

Roshan Taneja – Some interesting and less-known facts

Rakesh Bedi was among his last batch of students at FTII in 1975

1. He is known to be the ‘pioneer of method acting’ in India. He was the first man to introduce formal training in acting in India.

2. His teaching method was a mix of Konstantin Stanislavski and the New York school of acting.

3. After studying at Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, he returned to India with dreams to become an actor, but became a teaching guru. Initially he was not interested to take a teaching job. But fate didn’t help him.

4. He joined FTII in 1963, two years after it was founded, and worked with the prestigious acting school till 1975.

5. Among his most successful students of FTII, National award winners, Shabana Azmi (1971-73) and Naseeruddin Shah (1973) are among leading names. Rakesh Bedi was one among his last batch students at FTII.

6. Many of his students of Roshan Taneja School of Acting are big stars of present generation which include big names like Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala and Ranbir Kapoor.

7. In 2017 he released his autobiography at FTII campus.

8. His wife Mithika Taneja is a faculty at Roshan Taneja School of Acting since 1987. She is also a Diploma Holder in Cinema from the FTII, Pune.