* Learn acting in Lee Strasberg Institute, in India

Ranbir Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh went all the way to New York to get trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Now, wannabe actors in India will also be able to get the same training here itself. Last week, the acting institute announced that it is going to open branches in Mumbai and Hyderabad. The institute, which has trained Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe, Al Pacino, Julia Roberts, Angelina Jolie and many others, plans to open its branches in India by early 2010.

The CEO of Optimus Management Group, Ahmed A Ahsan, and Bollywood director Rahuul Rawail approached the institute with the idea of expanding its network to India and have spent the past six months in finalising the details.

The Strasberg Institute is known for the method of acting developed by Lee Strasberg. This method is highly inspired by the Russian director Constantin Stanislavski. His book, An Actor Prepares, deals with the psychology of acting.

Rawail will set up the institute in India and is currently going all out to offer the same quality of education at Indian branches.

"A few students of the National School of Drama have been already been selected to take classes at the institute. They will be sent for an intensive workshop in New York for three months. They will get an insight into the intricacies of the method. There will be a constant exchange of ideas between the teachers at American and Indian branches throughout the year," says Rawail.

Rawail and Ahsan started this initiative so that Indian actors, who cannot afford to go abroad, learn from the world class faculty at an affordable cost. The cost of the courses is yet to be finalised. "Initially, we want to make sure that deserving actors are able to do the course. Later, we will fix the course fee accordingly," reveals Rawail. The institute will provide an 18-month course and a few short term intensive courses throughout the year, including a course specifically for teenagers.

The institute presently has training centres only in New York and Los Angeles. This will be their first venture abroad. Founded in 1969 by Lee Strasberg and his wife, the institute is now managed by his son David Lee Strasberg, who in one of his blogs wrote, "This is an exciting step for us at Strasberg, where we have a chance to share my father's work with the vibrant and active creative community that calls Bollywood home."