Neshma Academy of Acting and Voice Acting (Naava) has spent five years turning aspiring voices into industry voices. Naava is celebrating its fifth anniversary after training more than 700 students across India in acting, voice acting and dubbing, with many graduates now lending their voices to films, series and animation projects.
Founded on 14 July 2021 by veteran voice artist and theatre personality Neshma Chemburkar (Mantri), the academy builds on a family legacy that began in the 1970s with the Neshma theatre group, established by her parents, Nitin Mantri and Sulbha Mantri, in Mumbai.
Chemburkar, who began dubbing at the age of four, has voiced several iconic characters, including Black Widow across the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Judy Hopps in Zootopia, Misty and May in Pokémon, young Queen Elizabeth in Netflix’s The Crown, and the Hindi voices of Victoria Beckham and Tyra Banks in a Netflix documentary series.
Over the past five years, Naava has conducted 60 workshops across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Raipur and Jhunjhunu, alongside 30 advanced course batches covering voice acting, modulated voice singing and acting.
From classroom to credits
The academy’s students have already begun making their mark on professional productions. Naava alumni voiced characters in Netflix’s Hindi animated original Kurukshetra, where Chemburkar voiced Draupadi, alongside students Sushmita, Payal and others. Students also featured in Pogo’s Omi Number 1, sharing credits with their mentor.
Several Naava students were selected for the Voice Box workshop, organised by Netflix and NFDC, completing the programme with distinction. Students Payal and Resham also won the Wam Competition organised by Waves India.
The academy also made a strong showing at India Voice Fest 2025, where four students won the Voice Talent Hunt across Hindi, English and Marathi categories, while Karen D’Souza secured the Audiobook Award in the professional category. Additional nominations followed across animation dubbing, commercials and regional language categories.
Naava’s alumni now work in professional studios across Mumbai and Delhi, while several others operate from home studios across India and Abu Dhabi.
Industry voices applaud
“I remember the day Chemburkar became a voice artist. She was just four years old. We were dubbing a Marathi film, and a young child actor couldn’t land his lines after take after take. Her mother suggested we try her, since she was already working alongside us as a child artist. We put her in front of the mic, and in her very first take, she delivered the entire line flawlessly. Everyone in that studio was stunned. That’s the artist Naava was built by,” expressed senior writer, director, and editor in the Hindi and Marathi film and television industry Vivek Deshpande.
“Naava turns five, mercurial and magical. May you both grow from strength to strength, and may you keep imparting your wisdom and your knowledge of voicing to all the aspiring voice artists who come in touch with you, and may all of them be as astounding as you are,” stated one of India’s leading voice artists and the Hindi voice of Goku across the Dragon Ball franchise, and the official Hindi voice of Virat Kohli and Mahesh Babu, Ankur Jhaveri.
“Congratulations on completing five years of Naava. Not only are you a fantastic voice artist and a dear friend, but through Naava, you’ve cultivated a beautiful community of voice acting students, and this speaks so much about your passion for the craft,” shared India Voice Fest founder and one of India’s most heard commercial voice artists Darpan Mehta.
“What’s lovely about this journey is that Chemburkar didn’t just grow herself; she carried everyone around with her. Naava rocks,” mentioned the Hindi voice of Hattori in Ninja Hattori, Doraemon, and Joyce Byers in the Hindi dub of Stranger Things and close friend of Chemburkar’s Meghana Erande Joshi.
“Every milestone is made possible by people who choose to believe in your dream before the world sees it,” said Chemburkar. “Five years in, what makes me proudest isn’t just the numbers. It is watching our students go on to work on national platforms, win recognition for their craft, and carry forward the name that was given to me. Here’s to discovering many more voices, together.”
Five years on, Naava isn’t just teaching people how to find their voice, it is helping shape the voices that audiences across India are already hearing.
