Anupam Kher has just completed a hush-hush week-long visit to Australia which was outwardly for the express purpose of staging his traveling play Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai. But behind the scenes there were some serious tie-ups between his company and the Australian government. These include the opening of yet another branch of his acting school, Actor Prepares, this time in Sydney at the famous Fox Studios. Speaking from Sydney, Anupam said, "Yes, we're opening one more branch of my school here in Sydney. It feels good because my dream was to take my skills outside our country." In addition to the acting school, Anupam has another major plan for Sydney. "I'm starting global acting awards. It will be called Thespis, named after the world's first actor who was from Greece (hence the term 'thespian'). And the awards will not be a Bollywood award. It will honour debut acting skills from all over the world. So, any debut performance from any part of the world will be eligible. The Thespis will be like the Oscar. When the award is announced, the emcee will say, 'And the Thespis goes to…' The first Thespis awards ceremony will be held in Sydney at the end of the year. Then the awards will travel to other parts of the world every year." Anupam is dreaming big dreams for Australia. "We're going in for major tie-ups in Australia, besides my first awards function, I'll also be the first ambassador for the Indian International Film Festival. My company will also be collaborating with Australia on various movie productions." But it's the global acting awards that Anupam is most exciting about. "After my acting schools it was always the idea of global awards that honoured new acting talent that grabbed my fancy. Because once you produce worthy acting talent from a school you need to recognize and honour that talent for it to grow." ... read more »