The Culture Charts

Lights on, game face. Acting aficionado Ira Dubey tells us what her 2017 is looking like.

- Tanya Mehta

You might remember her as the quirky Pinky Bose in the hilarious 2010-chick flick Aisha, and most recently as Alia Bhatt’s bestie in Gauri Shinde’s Dear Zindagi. Ira Dubey has enlivened some interesting roles through her films, but the petite actor relentlessly charms on stage, “I live, breathe and dance theatre,” she says. Dubey was born into a family of thespians and began acting at the tender age of five; by age nine she was giving notes to actors, ushering at plays and distributing flyers, a true fledgling enamoured by the world of stagecraft.

After graduating from Yale, Dubey worked for the Theatre Action Group in Delhi, a company founded by her parents. Today she plays the lead in Wedding Album, a play that has been performed 300 times worldwide and stars in 9 Parts Desire, a one woman theatrical show among other gripping performances. We sat with her to dissect the fabric of the business and what it takes to be a fine performer.