Riken Ngomle becomes the first from the state to be appointed as assistant professor (acting) at the prestigious National School of Drama (NSD)

ITANAGAR: When it comes to theatre or drama artists from the state, Riken Ngomle has always been on the news as a torchbearer for future artists. Riken is an actor, director, actor trainer, martial artist, and choreographer, and one of the first from Arunachal Pradesh to graduate from the National School of Drama, New Delhi.

In a remarkable achievement, Riken Ngomle of Arunachal has become the first from the state to be appointed as assistant professor (acting) at the prestigious National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi.

Growing up in the small town of Likabali in Lower Siang, today he has dedicated himself to redefine theatre and change people’s perception about drama and acting, in his state.

 As John Lennon sings in his masterpiece, Beautiful Boy, that life is what happens while you are busy making other plans. Similarly, theatre happened to him by coincidence. While he was pursuing his masters of political science at Rajiv Gandhi Central University, Itanagar, he saw an advertisement of a 45-day NSD workshop and thought of giving a try as he was having his vacation. This was a life-changing decision for him. By the end of his workshop, he was certain that theatre was his soul food.  

He had earlier worked as an assistant professor in the theatre arts department of the University of Hyderabad for four years. He is a product of the NSD and pursued advanced training in acting at Studio Matejka, Grotowsky Institute, Poland, after graduating in acting from the NSD.

Ngomle did his schooling from the government higher secondary school in Likabali and graduated from DNG College, Itanagar.

His keen interest in making movies led to his working as the creative director and actor in the movie ‘1962: My Country Land’, which was premiered in Festival de Cannes in 2016. Being a physical theatre fanatic, he is a member of a Poland-based international physical theatre studio, Studio Matenka, Wroclaw, Poland and has collaborated in several short films in India and abroad.