ACTING TIPS, FOR YOUR CAREER IN BOLLYWOOD -74 (THROUGH THIS I WISH TO SHARE MY INSIGHTS AS AN ACTOR/TRAINER WITH MY STUDENTS AND OTHER ACTING ASPIRANTS) From the location of “HEROPANTI”

“ACTOR UNNEES CHALEGA INSAAN BEES HONA CHAHIYE”

Late Shree Manmohan Desai.

The business of Film making is a peculiar business. It involves money and a lot of money. It is very rightly called ” Film Industry”. On one hand there are creative elements, and on the other the business elements. And there is a hidden ” tug of war ” between these two. Yes, in this drama the actor plays an important role. Through the actor the entire creative process is executed.

The actor needs to be very sensible and careful. The negative rumors about an actor, usually labels the actor as 1) Unprepared 2)Incompetent or 3) Difficult. The actor should be specifically cautious about being labeled “Difficult”. I personally have been at the receiving end due to this label.

Film making is a long tedious process. The actors are required to be with the crew and the rest of the cast for a long period of time. Its a creative process and the atmosphere needs to be conducive. In such a situation when an actor becomes “Difficult” the entire creative process receives a setback.

That’s why in the words of legendary Shree Manmohan Desai Saheb ” Actor unnees chalega….insaan bees hona chahiye” (One may be a lesser actor , but his/her conduct and behaviour should be centpercent)

This discipline and importance of right conduct and behaviour is inculcated in the actors of Mumbai’s Best Acting School “KREATING CHARAKTERS” -we groom actors.

(For previous Blogs/ Tips on “Acting Career In Bollywood”
Visit www.kreatingcharakters.in)

SAMAR JAI SINGH : Co-founder and Trainer @ Acting Institute in Mumbai
www.kreatingcharakters.in

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ACTING TIPS, FOR YOUR CAREER IN BOLLYWOOD – 73 (Through This I wish to share my insights as a trainer with my students and other acting aspirants)

FROM THE SET OF “HEROPANTI”

                                                                 ENTERING IN A SHOT ON A CUE.

While filming a scene, every action has a reason. It has to have a logic or should create its own logic. Good blocking (the movement of actors in a scene) adds to the meaning of the scene. Each action should be justified and be reasonable. One must question the movement or action and find a motivational factor.

It becomes very tricky for an actor to enter the frame in a running shot on the co-actors cue. Its all the more difficult when the co-actors back is towards the direction from where the actor is suppose to enter.

A couple of days ago on the location of ‘HEROPANTI’ (Tiger shroffs launch film) a comparatively inexperience actor got stuck in a shot. He was not able to figure out his cue to enter the shot. The co-actor on who’s cue he was suppose to enter was speaking very softly. The takes were not getting Okayed and the novice got panicked. Even started forgetting his dialogues. Then he was suggested to take his entry cue from co-actors gestures rather than dialogues.

In a situation like this, where you are not able to hear your co-actors dialogues, request your co-actor to add gesture while speaking or ask an asst-director to indicate you the moment you have to enter.

This camera technique is practiced by the actors during their course at India’s Top acting school, KREATING CHARAKTERS-we groom actors.

Whatever movement you are given by the director during a shot has to be legitimate…….credible……real……honest!!!

 

(For previous Blogs/ Tips on “Acting Career In Bollywood”
Visit www.kreatingcharakters.in)

Samar Jai Singh.
www.kreatingcharakters.in

ACTING AS A CAREER IN BOLLYWOOD 15 : SAMAR JAI SINGH

                                           LOVE FOR ACTORS “REPAYS”!!!

HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR A GENUINE ‘ACTING TEACHER’ TO ‘LOVE ACTORS’

Exactly an year ago on the teachers day, 5th September 2012, I was going through the most agonizing moment of my life as an acting teacher and as a parent of my beloved “KREATING CHARAKTERS”. The wicked, hydra headed, excessively conceited and ego centric door to door diction tutor had plotted to strangulate my little baby “KREATING CHARAKTERS”.
This was my state of mind then… 
“On this auspicious ‘Teachers Day’, I pledge to strive n strive hard to save my little baby “KREATING CHARAKTERS”, Which has churned so many brilliant students, for me these students are extension of my own self, with a heavy heart, I beg to the LORD, my well wishers, ‘My Staff ‘, my colleagues n last but not the least my beloved STUDENTS, to support me on my mission, Few ‘Ego Clashes’ have left my baby KC gasping for life…. Won’t let u pass away. Need support”
It has been an year since the deprived politician has played the politics in the premises of ‘Kreating Charakters’ to indoctrinate the innocent staff and teachers, showing them the window of better prospects and taking them away to leave “Kreating Charakters’’ stranded. 

VICTORY OF THE STUDENTS.
Despite of all these upheavals KREATING CHARAKTERS has come out victorious and rocksolid. Notches stronger then in presence of that self proclaimed acting teacher who has never acted in his entire career. Thus it is victory of the students who supported us throughout those treacherous times. I would specially mention the three batches who were undergoing their training at that time. Batch no.64 Batch no.65 and Batch no.66. They were a total 37 students and by gods’ grace not a single amongst them budged. They all trusted us, loved us and supported us.
All the student of batch no.64 (Sumit Ramola, Neha Kanwar, Rohit Kukreja, Dinesh Prajapati, Avinash Chauhan, Siddarth Agrawal, Pooja Narang, Bhushan Gaur, Nitin Kumar Sahu). They all had complete faith in us and shot their show reel with us at “Kreating Charakters”.

Batch no.65 (Mani Sharma, Taufik Bagwan, Ashish Pore, Shantanu Roy, Madhura Dalvi, Preeti Choudhary, Mehtab Mirza (pari), Sahil Kohli, Gaurav Pandey, Megha Joshi, Suchi Shah, Angule Mero). The crook diction tutor tried to misguide and manipulate these helpless innocent students, but they realized who is genuine and who would invest themselves for good of the students and thus completed their entire training with us. 

Batch no.66 (Rahul Tyagi, Nitin Dev Chauhan, Siddharth Gupta, Vikram Singh, Zubin Mehta, Rahul Menon, Charu Bakshi, Pravin Poojari, Sarvik Yadav, Sandip Thorat, Yash Patel, Herry Janwa, Aakash Sharma, Kiran Kumar, Udit Sawhery, Ajay Bafna). They were the youngest (junior most) and most vulnerable. When their second installment of fee was due, the door to door diction tutor, behaving like a “jilted lover”, broadcasted text messages to the students and their parents alerting them not to pay their dues, but to ‘no effect’. These students by then had realized that having white hair and lived more number of futile years doesn’t make one a respectable and earnest teacher.

“KABHI BANDOOK KO HATH NAHI LAGAYA AUR CHALE FAUJ KO TRAINING DENE”
One should realize that even a science teacher of standard 10th should have a minimum qualification of MSc (Master of Science). I fail to understand, how can a guy who has never faced camera in his entire life, (excepted for the fetish about the picture he clicks with celebrities) who has never ever been on stage, who has never smelt the smell of a film studio, who has never given a single audition and faced rejection an average actor faces, He who has never experienced the turmoil and negativity a new comer goes through, how can he empathise with such ‘actors’ and be their ‘mentor’ and well-wisher.
“zindagi mein kabhi bandook ko hath nahi lagaya aur chale fauj ko training dene” wah.!!!

THE K.C ITES STOOD BY US.
I thank all our passed out students from the bottom of my heart. Throughout that torrid period they stood by us. The K.C ites gave us relentless support, they had unshakable faith in our ability as their teachers, they strongly recommended “KREATING CHARAKTERS” to their wards, kins, and friends as the ultimate destination to learn the craft of acting.
I am grateful to all the passed out students who not only recommended Kreating Charakters, but took out time to attend the classes and have a taste of the new revamped syllabus. Would specially mention the names Veebha Anand, Akriti Singh, Kartik Tiwari, Himanshu Malhotra, Sandesh Gour,Aditya Seal, Preeti Sood, Gaurav Pandey, Shivangi Singh, Narendra Jaitly, Sahil Meena, Mohit Malhotra, Monty Bakshi, Sunny Bohra, Neeraj Verma, Vikas Dahiya, Kartiki Sharma, Chandani Desai, Priya Joshi, Sagar Manto, Deepak Saksule, Labeeb Andrabi, Vikas Gupta, Siddhart Amar, Apoorva Mitra, Mahesh Sharma, Zoheb Siddiqui, Minisha Mendonza, Shrishti Sharma, Puja Lunawat, Rohit Singh, Parimal Vakhariya, Anurag Sadh, Kunal Sharma, Shyam Tiwari, Karan Gaba, Rahul Tyagi, Ankit Narang, Ali, Karan Lamba, Sidhant Gupta, Aryaman ( Ankit) Seth, Vikas Maharishi, Ishtyaq, Vikas Singh, Harry Josh,Utkersh Kanchan, Praveen Yadav, Ranjan Chabra,Priya Pandey, Krupa Shah, Neha Berry, Sumit Jindal, Anshul Gupta, Pragati Pandey, Gyanesh Moga, Izhar Khan, Arshad Khan, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Soni, Zima Barbora, Adhish Khanna, Aksshat Saluja, Raveena Taurani, Vicky Nayyar, Neeru Chopra, Archana Taide, Ananya Bhatt, Anshul, Vishal Gajaria, Randhir Chudhary (Ranoo), Nandini Sen, Chander Vikrant, Gautam Deepak, Kushwant Walia, Narendra Jetley. I might have lost out on few names, these were the guys who realized which were the genuine teachers who “understood the craft”, ” loved actors” and would invest themselves whole heartedly for the benefit and welfare of their students. Not like ones who sit in class fiddling with their blackberry and sipping coffee. 

PICTURES SHOW THE REAL PICTURE.
From September 2012 to August 2013 in span of eleven months, KREATING CHARAKTERS has commenced eight batches, 103 actors have enrolled for the course, approximate average of 12 students per batch. 
These are the statistics which actually matter, not the ones collected by the film statistician and film historian for the blogs. A comparative review of the picture of the batches (from 67 to 74) speaks volumes as to which is the favoured and sought after acting school.

OLD HABITS DIE HARD
Isn’t it indignified for an owner of an acting school to go to some bodies home and take diction tuition. You have your pupil coming down at your school, they trust you, respect you and you like a struggling job seeker going to some bodies door to “click pictures with them”……..disgusting!! isn’t it?
At KREATING CHARAKTERS the door to door diction tutor was debarred from taking private tuition to preserve the dignity and esteem of “Kreating Charakters”. But no sooner he left he could not resist the urge to go back to his old ways. Thus, “You can keep feces away from swine, but can’t keep a swine away from feces”.

NO ITS NOT THE PERCEPTION, BUT GENUINE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CRAFT – LOVE FOR THE ACTORS THAT WORKS.
The deprived politician believes in creating an image of a teacher, thinking that it is the “perception“ that works, but unfortunately that’s not true. What works is how much you invest yourself as a teacher for the wellbeing of your pupil and the knowledge and the experience of the craft you possess and impart.
If he is an actor, acting student (seeker of acting as craft) and an acting teacher “worth his salt”, I invite him to compete with me on any platform.

TIME TO GO TO MOUNTAINS
Remember!!! Mr.Deprived politician, you had prophesied some people would go to mountains (Uttrakhand) for good, post December 2012, after the last installment of batch no.66. WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FORECAST!!! 
Also do you Remember!!! The gesture that you made of “Slitting throat“ of “KREATING CHARAKTERS” sitting at KC office and now you are using the same “KREATING CHARAKTERS” brand name to piggyback and cheat innocent aspirants to run your kitchen.
Isn’t it the right time for you to go to the mountains and contemplate over the fact that it is not the perception of a teacher, but actual knowledge of acting craft and love for actors that works.
Last but not the least, I will always be indebted to my lawyer friends who took out time from their hectic schedule and stood by KREATING CHARAKTERS. 

THE DUST HAS FINALLY SETTELED DOWN. 

(For previous Blogs/ Tips on “Acting Career In Bollywood”
Visit (For previous Blogs/ Tips on “Acting Career In Bollywood”
Visit www.kreatingcharakters.in)

ACTING TIPS, FOR YOUR CAREER IN BOLLYWOOD -72 (THROUGH THIS I WISH TO SHARE MY INSIGHTS AS AN ACTOR/TRAINER WITH MY STUDENTS AND OTHER ACTING ASPIRANTS).

FACING “UNEMPLOYMENT AND REJECTION”

My heart bleeds when passed out students come to the institute in ‘despair’ and ‘hopelessness’. This is a heartless place, a dog bite dog industry. Getting rejected and being unemployed sitting at home is part and parcel of our profession. I have personally experienced that phase number of times.

There was a time in 1997-98, I was doing two mega shows simultaneously. Om Namah Shivay and Mrityunjay, was shooting 30 days a month. Om Namah Shivay was raking in television ratings of above 65 consistently. Situation changed and by 1998 end I had no work. I sat home without work for almost a year. Then “Gadar”-ek prem katha happened. The film was a block-buster hit, but again that did not translate into a professional success for me.

I have gone through that stuff, that’s the reason I understand the ‘vulnerability’ of young aspiring actors. I know of a diction tutor who refer to his students as “neev ka pathar”….meaning foundation stone of His success story….how cruel?..how mean?

If you ask me one word that guarantee you success in this highly competitive business..it would not be “talent” or “luck”…it would be “PERSISTENCE”.

The Actor who set goals and relentlessly work towards them shall almost always get work.

“You just cannot wait around and hope work will happen”

Constantly work towards your craft, attend workshops, be connected to the trade news, expand your network. Let people know what you do and how well you can do.

The truth is, you never know where ‘that break’ is going to come from so better be prepared.

“When ‘preparation’ meets ‘opportunity’ success happens”.

This psyche is deeply embedded in the actors of Mumbai’s Best Acting School KREATING CHARAKTERS- we groom actors.
(For previous Blogs/ Tips on “Acting Career In Bollywood”
Visit www.kreatingcharakters.in)

SAMAR JAI SINGH
www.kreatingcharakters.in