Barry John has just launched a new venture, The Barry John Acting School in the heart of the entertainment industry, Mumbai. For over 30 years John had an acting school in Delhi and has now shifted to Mumbai to capitalize on the energy there and his excellent reputation in Mumbai.
Mr. John has taught many well-known actors including one of Bollywood’s superstars Shah Rukh Khan. Shah Rukh Khan, who studied with John in Delhi, once said that Barry John taught him everything he knows about acting. When asked in interview by Steven Baker if he agrees, John said. “I imagine that I had a profound impact on SRK’s formative years as an actor, which are vital in laying positive foundations, fostering aptitude and self-confidence. His training was more of a traditional apprenticeship than a formal schooling, and he brought to it his trademark energy, hard work, intelligence and humour. The credit for the phenomenally successful development and management of his career goes to the superstar himself.”
Irfan Khan and Manoj Bajpai both attended the launch ceremony of the school to wish their former teacher good luck. Raghuvir Yadav also attended and said, “You always feel that there is something more you have not yet learnt. I would love to go back to Barry.”
Shiney Ahuja and Kunal Kumar among others have also passed through the doors of Mr John’s acting school. In an interview by IndiaFM, John was asked why acting classes are needed he replied, “There are a lot of skills that we take for granted that actually need training to get them really sharp, crisp and to be good acting.”
The new school will have a greater focus on film and acting for the camera than for the stage. It will also include classes on the launching and building of careers for actors. At the launch Mr. John said that there would be, “A new integrated course for a combination of writers, directors, actors, and designers. Rarely in an education process do we get the chance to learn about each other’s work and combine our skills and ideas.”
It will be exciting to see the next young actress or actor that comes from The Barry John Acting School. Right now a young actor at the school could be honing the skills to become the next Shah Rukh Khan.
