India, Feb. 20 -- When filmmaker Shoojit Sircar reflected on how he once felt scared to even enter the gates of National School of Drama (NSD), his thoughts resonated with many lovers of theatrics. The reverence for the drama school is such. Recalling his time when he was an ad filmmaker and much more, Shoojit spoke his heart out during his recent visit to Mandi House for a conversation with NSD director Chittaranjan Tripathy, at the session titled Sarcaar Yahan Wahan at the ongoing Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2026. Excerpts:

"Himmat nahin hoti thi ki main NSD ke gate se andar aaun. This I'm talking about early 2000s and late 90s... Aaj main jab walk karke yahan aaya toh mujhe laga ki zindagi mein kuchh achieve kiya hai jo yahan (stage) tak pah...