Piyush Mishra

Mishra was born on 13 January 1962 in Gwalior to Kumar Sharma. He grew up as Priyakant Sharma and was adopted by his father's eldest sister Taradevi Mishra, who had no children. Later, his family moved into his aunt's house to ease financial burden. His parents admitted him to Carmel Convent School, Gwalior thinking that his education in a convent will help him excel in academics but it was activities like singing, painting and acting which appealed to him. Piyush later moved to Gwalior's JC Mills Higher Secondary School. However, living in the authoritative household of his aunt, developed a rebellious streak in him, which showed up in his first poem, Zinda ho haan tum koi shak nahin (Yes you are alive; of this there is no doubt), he wrote in class 8th. Later, while studying in class 10, he even filed an affidavit before the Gwalior district court and changed his name to one his choice to Piyush Mishra.

Around this time, he began to be drawn to theatre – it was at places like Kala Mandir and Rangshri Little Ballet Troupe in Gwalior that his talent for the medium was first identified. In spite of the appreciation he was beginning to receive in the theatre circles, his family kept insisting he concentrate on his studies. He took the entrance test to the National School of Drama, New Delhi in 1983, not with any particular desire to study but to get out of Gwalior. Thereafter he moved to Delhi, and joined National School of Drama, graduating in 1986. While at NSD, he got a chance to compose his first music score for a student play, Mashreeki Hoor. His acting breakthrough came in his second year at NSD, when German director, Fritz Bennewitz (1926–95), directed him in the title role in Hamlet and introduced him to acting technique. Piyush Mishra was introduced to communism by his friend N. K. Sharma in 1989 and he was a thorough Leftist worker for 20 years.