Suppose you want to learn Magic, the best way is to go to a Magician and become his rabbit or pigeon. Then you will exactly know how he is doing the disappearing act of the pigeon under his Hat.
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Great acting is like creating magic on the screen which can only come with in born talent and not by becoming rabbits or pigeons. By doing so, you can only learn the art of acting. Good actor can become a great actor only by means of sadhana like in music which requires continuous exercise and experiment.
What great actors do which others don’t, defines the crux of it. It involves Research, Planning and Execution, the last part defining their greatness.
Research : Suppose you want to act as Mahatma Gandhi you need to study his history in detail, watch old clippings of his in detail and interact with Historians and his kith and kin to understand all the nuances about Mahatma. This is what Sir Richard Attenborough or Ben Kinsley would have done before making the movie.
Kamal Haasan did lot of research for ’’Hey Ram’’ to create the plot with some great actors with him in supporting roles. He in fact underwent training in Police Academy for few weeks before acting in ’’Kuruthi Punal’’.
The amount of research that Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott did for the movie ’’Gladiator’’ is amazing, the result of which is a superlative movie and wonderful acting. The arena and the Roman age (timeframe) remained the epicenter of their research. Good research work is very important for the success and acclaim of the movie as well which is what many Indian movies lack.
Vikram’s performance in ’’Anniyan’’ would have required him to do lot of research work with Shankar on Brahmin (Iyengar) community (and yet get three dimensions to his face) to get the best make up, accent and behaviour and of course recreate the atmosphere. However he did overdo the Brahmin role unlike Kamal in ’’Hey Ram’’. The same is the case with ’’Mangal Pandey’’ for which Amir and Ketan Mehta have put in tremendous research.
Planning: Great actors do lot of planning in advance for the whole film on various aspects like screenplay, dialogue, voice modulation, facials, dressing etc. The Director plays a major role in evolving the plan and it helps immensely if the Director is also great. Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalni, Balachandar are all great actors themselves and their immaculate planning of the scenes helps them to get the best out of ordinary actors. Planning helps in the logic of creating good storyline and screenplay and helps eliminate vagueness in picturisation.
Robert De Niro gained sixty pounds to become an ageing boxer in the movie ’’Raging Bull’’.
Execution: This requires enormous hard work (Which I meant exercise above) and smart work (Which I meant experimentation above) Two Malayalam actors Mammooty and Mohan Lal are masters in executing good act with very simple approach to the scenes. You cannot get a better actor to walk or talk like an Old man than the great Kamal Haasan. Most actors have to do several takes to perform well in difficult scenes. However for great actors, it is child’s play. Honestly that’s what it looks on the silver screen but they would have put tremendous effort behind the screen on research, planning and execution by means of rehearsing & experimenting.
Great actors of course are born with the talent and acting well comes naturally to them. To nurture this talent and become great, they definitely require doing this sadhana.
Dustin Hoffman’s performance as mentally ill Babbitt in ’’Rain Man’’ is one of the finest acting performances I have ever seen in the History of movies. The stiff walking, ceaseless patter & the cocked up head have all been brilliantly researched and executed.
Great actors need not be successful at the box office as we would have seen with Naseeruddin Shah or Om Puri. Box office requires great entertainers like Rajnikanth, Amitabh Bachan, Chiranjeevi, Shah Rukh Khan etc. Great Entertainers need not be great in acting. Can we expect Rajnikanth to shave his head and act as Alavanthan or Shah Rukh Khan to act as Chachi in Chachi 420.It is impossible for them to do so because we the people can only see the superstar image in them and accept them as great entertainers only.Chrianjeevi can only be Chiranjeevi, in the movie.
Late Shivaji Ganesan stood symbol of how an Actor becomes the role that he plays and this is what fetched him the name Shivaji when acting in Drama before venturing into movies.
’’Godfather’’ is one of the finest movies ever and it is because it has such greats as Marlyn Brando & Al Pachino in the lead. The choice of locations & the support from Zuckerman have all added great value to the movie. The same can be said with ’’Godfather II’’ with Robert De Niro.
Great actors become transformed into the role they play and you will see Amir Khan only as ’’Mangal Pandey’’ in the movie and not as Amir, whereas the roles change as the super stars in the movie for Great Entertainers.
Indian Cinema requires Great actors as well as Great entertainers to keep the most important Entertainment for a common man in India “movies” flourishing.
Great Acting is a sight to behold, a work that stimulates, a journey that makes you think and a gift (God’s) that is always new & refreashing (like Nature).
After note : This review is not tips for acting but on what it is. The actors and movies used for the review are only examples used for the short review and each of you is entitled of your own opinion. I am not an authority of movies and above review is only a reflection of my perception or viewpoint and am not trying to hurt anyone’s idolism with the actors because what I know is only a grain in the Ocean called Cinema. You have the final word as whom you think is great actor as the word in itself is ambiguous.