In the mid 1960s he became active in contemporary theatre and worked backstage with Indian theatre personalities such as B. V. Karanth, B. M. Shah, Dinesh Thakur, Virendra Sharma, M. S. Sathyu, Shama Zaidi, Om Shivpuri, Sudha Shivpuri and T.P. Jain.
In 1971 he graduated from St. Stephen's College, Delhi with B.A. (Hons.) in English.