Designed to enable thousands of aspiring actors, theatre-makers, and storytellers across the country to make their creative dreams a reality. 

India is full of talented people inclined toward acting and storytelling, but they don’t know where to start, as a result of various barriers of entry. Geography, language, economic and socio-cultural differences pose real barriers for most when it comes to getting access to high quality theatre education.

The Ekalavya Online School of Drama aims to transcend these obstacles, and give individuals who seek these opportunities, a space to learn, hone their natural talent, and boost their self-confidence, while teaching them to act, and setting the stage for a career in the film and theatre industry. 

As online education goes mainstream, the DSM has embraced this medium and designed never before imagined online training modules in acting. Courses that are not just “gyan” for passive consumption, but require active participation, performing tasks to camera, with a strong focus on learning-by-doing.

Ekalavya is created by core team members from DSMs highly experienced faculty; theatre actors, directors and teachers, many of whom are national award winners.  Since 2008, DSM faculty have created courses that boosted the careers of actors like Ranveer Singh, Kalki Kochlien, Richa Chaddha, Swara Bhaskar, Kunal Kapoor, Gulshan Devaiah, Vicky Kaushal, amongst others. Since 2013, the formal full-time courses at DSM have forged alumni like Roshan Mathew (Choked), Adarsh Gaurav (White Tiger), Srishti Srivastava (Gulabo Sitabo, Gully Boy) and many others in film, TV, OTT and theater. ‘Ekalavya’, derived from the famous character from Indian Mythology, taps into the power of self-driven learning, and the pursuit of excellence.

The Ekalavya Online School of Drama offers preparatory courses in Character Study, Monologue, Expressive Voice, Expressive Body, Script Analysis, Storytelling, Acting for Camera, the Art of Auditioning, among others. In essence, it forms the fundamental textbook for theatre and acting.

Driven by our key mission, we are making the first course “Breaking Open Characters” available free of cost to anyone who wants to step into the world of drama from the comfort of their homes.

This exciting lineup of online courses are designed to be easy to grasp, experiential, active and task-oriented. They build engagement, curiosity and reward at each step of the learning journey and most importantly, encourage and cultivate these qualities in every student’s approach to learning.  

Theatre and Film aspirants from every city, town and village, will be empowered to pursue their goals with the same high quality training experiences previously available only to those who could take the risky and costly step of moving to major cities for formal training. Through the Ekalavya Online School of Drama, the Drama School Mumbai promises to provide thousands of fresh new talents from across the country, the opportunity to start on the path to a mainstream career in film and theatre, and through each of them, discover new voices and new stories that will add to the narrative of our nation.

Quotes and insights also available at press event on 25th at 11am from

Swara Bhaskar, Richa Chaddha, Kunal Kapoor and others.

 Jehan Manekshaw, Co-founder, Ekalavya

“Art and Culture is an essential part of nation-building, it grows us, in our minds, hearts and souls. Theatre is especially powerful for this growth, as individuals, as society, as a nation. By learning drama we build skills of confidence, collaboration, and communication, we gain qualities of empathy, compassion, and self-expression. We learn to work better with each other. Participating in drama is important for this mission.  With Ekalavya, we will give lakhs of Indians access to this transformative experience, to be better human beings, working together, to build a better society. It will also make you a better actor.”

Swara Bhaskar, Actor“I have been following Drama School Mumbai’s work for many years now, including participating in multiple workshops which made a huge difference in my own growth when I was training as an actor. The DSM team has always provided great learning with faculty having such rich experience. It’s wonderful that they are now bringing that level of care and attention to Ekalavya, so that 1000s of aspiring actors who cannot come to Mumbai now get a chance to experience this invaluable training first hand in an affordable manner online.”