For those who have inherent talent, acting offers infinite career possibilities. History is proof that some of our finest actors have made it big without attending any film school. But it’s also true that some finetuning in an institute help immensely for an actor. 

Having said that it’s foolish to jump into the bandwagon inspired by an actor’s successful career graph. So many acting aspirants don’t make it to films. Many factors depend on your success in this field. Before taking the plunge, it’s important to weigh in the pros and cons. Those who opt for Engineering and Medicine find jobs and very often it’s easier to predict where they will reach in their careers. But that’s not the same with actors as their future can be unpredictable. They have 3 options to choose from - cinema, theatre, and television. And with OTT gaining popularity, that’s also a great option for actors. 

Here goes a list of Institutes you can opt to learn more about the field. 

• National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi: 3-yr full-time Diploma Course in Dramatic Arts: Eligibility-Degree+ 6 Productions. 

NSD is a theatre training institute situated in New Delhi, India. It is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and became an independent school in 1975. Some of its notable alumni include Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Irrfan Khan, Nawazudin Siddique, Adil Hussain, Anupam Kher etc.

NSD Delhi application form is available online as well as offline. The steps to fill the online application form are mentioned below.

Step 1: Visit the official website of NSD Delhi at www.nsd.gov.in/delhi. 

Step 2: Click on 'New Admission' on the homepage and you will be redirected to a new page. 

• National School of Drama Bengaluru Centre: 1-yr Course in Acting: Degree + 4 productions. NSD Admission will be based on the skill of the candidates in written tests and workshops. The admission will be conducted by the National School of Drama which is located in Delhi. Candidates have to qualify written test (preliminary test) and the final workshop for taking admission.

• Film & TV Institute of India, Pune: 2-Year Post Graduate Diploma in Screen Acting; Any Degree. FTII is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India and is situated on the premises of the Prabhat Film Company in Pune. Since its beginning in 1960, FTII has become India's premier film and television institute, with its alumni becoming technicians, actors and directors in the film and television industry. The Institute offers three-year post-graduate diploma courses in film direction, editing, cinematography and audiography; two-year courses in acting and art direction; a one-and-a-half-year course in computer graphics and animation; a one-year course in feature film scriptwriting. One-year post-graduate certificate in direction, electronic cinematography, video editing and audiography are also part of the courses offered. Prominent FTII graduates include Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji N Karun, Balu Mahendra, KG George, Mani Kaul, Shabana Azmi, Smitha Patil etc. 

• Bharatendu Academy of Dramatic Arts, Lucknow: 3-year PG Diploma in Dramatic Arts. Named after Bharatendu Harishchandra, father of Hindi theatre. It offers a two-year full-time diploma course in theatre training. The institute today selects 20 candidates every year for its two-year intensive post-graduate diploma course with scholarships for the first 12 students. At the end of their course, the second-year students make a visit to the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune or Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata for the basic training for film and television. Nawazudin Siddique and Rajpal Yadav graduated from here. 

• School of Drama (Calicut University), Thrissur: 3-yr Bachelor of Theatre Arts, Master of Theatre Art. Now called School of Drama and Fine Arts, which started in 1977 by Prof. G Sankara Pillai offers Bachelor in Theatre Arts (BTA), Master in Theatre Arts (MTA), M Phill/PhD Integrated course etc. The courses in Drama are designed as practical oriented and residential. Writing, Acting, Children's theatre, Direction, Technical designs are the other major departments of play production. 

• KR Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science & Arts, Thekkumthala, Kottayam: 2-yr Diploma in Acting. The institute offers two-year full-time Post Graduate Diploma programmes in Script Writing & direction, Cinematography, Editing, Audiography, Animation and Visual Effects. Adoor Gopalakrishnan is the Chairperson. 

• University of Hyderabad: 3-yr Masters in Theatre Arts (EQ: Any Deg+Aptitude), PhD in Theatre Arts. The program examines the relation of the theatre to culture in major historical periods and focuses on different types of plays, significant playwrights, and other theatre artists, providing students with the opportunity to learn the techniques and skills of all aspects of theatre production.

• Bengaluru University: MA Drama.

• Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata: BA (Hons)/MA/MPhil/Ph.D.–Drama. 

• Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute: Named after the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray, the institute provides higher and professional education and technical expertise in the art and technique of filmmaking and television production. Established in 1995, the institute is an autonomous society funded by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. A member of CILECT (International Liaison Centre of Schools of Cinema and Television), SRFTI is one of the most prestigious film schools in India and ranks among the best film schools in the world, along with the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and the National School of Drama, New Delhi. It has the following departments in the Film Wing (Department of Direction & Screenplay Writing, Department of Sound Recording and Design, Department of Editing, Department of Cinematography, Department of Producing for Film & Television, and department of Animation Cinema). Some of the prominent Institute graduates include Amal Neerad, Khanu Behl and Tapas Nayak.