ACTING AS A CAREER IN BOLLYWOOD -7  SAMAR JAI SINGH

This is in continuation with my previous Blog  (27/10/12) 

WHAT IT TAKES TO SUCCEED AS AN ACTOR IN BOLLYWOOD’’

‘’RELIGIOUSLY AND PERPETUALLY WORK  TOWARDS REFINING AND ENRICHING YOUR CRAFT’’

The one and the only ‘’ supreme God  head of all actors’’  CONSTANTIN STANISLAVSKY  who never proclaimed that he was ‘the acting guru’ or ‘a trainer of celebrities’ or even a ‘petty door to door service – diction tutor’,says:

‘’AN ACTOR IS DYNAMIC, ALWAYS CHANGING, EITHER IMPROVING OR DEGENERATING BUT NEVER STATIC’’.  So , the onus as an actor lies on you , your choice , your intention,  you want to grow as an actor or else eventually you will diminish.

This is our motto and philosophy at  the prestigious  ‘’ KREATING CHARAKTERS’’ . As a young actor who is trying to get a foot hold in this fiercely ruthless  Bollywood  acting career, one forgets that the most important aspect for a successful acting career is your hold over the CRAFT.

When a youngster prepares him /her  self for a career in Bollywood, starts meeting casting directors and coordinators,  a vicious cycle of auditions  and rejections starts . This instills lots of negativity  in him /her. Acting is an emotive  art,  thus actors are sensitive people , they get affected easily. Series of such rejections  in auditions make them depressed and dejected.

These moments   of dejection  and despair  don’t  even spare working,  established actors . There are times  when actors are out of job. Actors are vulnerable creatures surviving in utter discord , they are artistes , one side they have to be soft and sensitive,  on the  other side they need to be thick skinned and unaffected by the rejections  and non approval they are getting  from the Bollywood  casting  process.

It is essential  for an actor to keep his vulnerable self safe from the brunt he/she is receiving. Constantly work towards keeping your self imaginarily rich and fertile. Make reading a habit . Once Nadiraji (Ms  Nadira  Zaheer  Babbar)  had come to the Kreating Charakters for a convocation ceremony,  she suggested an actor should read every day for at least one hour, it could be a  novel , a play , a short  story or even a  news paper, but give yourself that one hour, which would contribute to the widening of your imagination and emotional horizon.

Work relentlessly on your voice, diction  and speech. Since last 23 years I have worked on my voice every single day. Make it apart of your daily routine. When you speak people should forget every thing else and just surrender their ears to you.

Learn different dialect (lingos). The regional flavor in the spoken languages  in Hindi is called ‘Lehja’. You should master different dialects , with a drop of hat you should be able to speak them. Need to develop a lot of control over pitch, should be able to hold and sustain different pitches at a stretch, practice different tempo and rhythm in  speech, should be able to adopt distorted voices, suppose you are playing a woman, an eunuch or an old man.

Work on the gait (  the way one walks). The other day I was reading Meryl  Streeps ‘ interview , how she prepared for her portrayal  of Margaret Thatcher, the former  British Prime Minister ,in the film ‘’THE IRON LADY’’. She mentioned first thing she did was to work on her walk, ‘’THE GAIT’’.

It is  very important to get the gait of the character right, In a master shot that character should be established by his/her walk.

Shah  Rukh Khans ‘approach was quite similar when he prepared for characters  in the films such as,  CHAK DE INDIA, RAB NE BANADI JODI, KABHI KHUSHI KABHI GHAM, MY NAME IS KHAN , to name a few.

Another very important element the actor needs to work on is his/her  FACE. One should be able to project and hold different expressions on the FACE. There are three parts of the face which are highly mobile EYES,LIPS and LOWER JAW. You have to work on different permutation and combination of these three and observe the range of expressions you can convey. Two actors who have mastered this craft are BOMAN IRANI  ( watch Munna Bhai series, 3 Idiots, Houseful-2,Well done Abba etc.) and Paresh Rawal  (‘’Sardar’’  Patel, Hera Pheri series, etc.) Of course there is no one better than Jim Carrey. Remember Amir Khan , the way he used his eyes in the climax of ‘3 idiots’. He bore a ‘Chinky’ look, logically was living in Ladak for a long time, thus open skies and hard sun made them ‘’Crinkle’’.

So, my dear young actors, devote your free time  to master the ‘’CRAFT OF ACTING’’, rather than getting negative about things when your hard work is not bearing fruits. Be patient and uncompromisingly work towards your Craft.

Work  on different permutations  , combinations of emotional  choices, voice play , dialect and accent, body language, gait and facial expressions.

My colleague at the famous KREATING CHARAKTERS, young well acclaimed, one of the most sought after trainer for customized script based  work shops in the Bollywood film industry, ROOPESH THAPLIYAL says

‘’ MAKE YOUR LIFE A WORK SHOP, KEEP OBSERVING  AND YOU WILL NEVER STOP GROWING AS AN ACTOR’’.

Third part of ‘’ WHAT   IT  TAKES TO SUCCEED AS AN ACTOR IN BOLLYWOOD ‘’

IMPORTANTS OF NET WORKING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR A LONG BOLLYWOOD CAREER

                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                   (on 10/11/12)

SAMAR JAI SINGH

KREATING CHARAKTERS                                              

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