One of the obvious characteristics of a 'clichéd Indian' is being a movie fanatic. I'm no different. Right from my childhood days I have wondered at the process of film making. Be it shooting on snowy peaks, jumping from a building terrace to another at will, dancing in created exotic locales, a scene showing hundreds of soldiers at war- a lot more movie scenarios have intrigued me for infinite times now. Probably it was this influence that made me to step on the stage and act.
From my school days, I can only recall an English skit of which I was a part of and probably this was my sole experience at acting. It was based on a short story about five fools and had some witty dialogs, if I remember properly. After starting engineering, I was part of the English play presented by the 'English Drama Club'-BITS, Pilani by the name 'Bindermayer's Theory' directed by Jayendran Srinivasan, wherein I played Scarmaglione- a demon from the seventh circle of hell! It was a short role lasting for about a minute or two but required me to sit in a corner and sip coffee for the rest of the time. The role required lots of anger, aggression and shouting! Apart from the learning, the experience was indeed memorable and easily one of the few things I cherish from my days at BITS, Pilani.
After making a shift to IIT-Bombay, I was looking forward to play an active role in dramatics. IIT-Bombay has an extremely strong dram-culture is what I can say for the least. Having witnessed some awesomely performed plays and monologues by the seniors for the past 8 months, I have to say that it's been a learning and a refreshing experience. I myself have been fortunate enough to have got a chance to perform on a few occasions. Here they go:
1. MONOACT: So we have the 'Freshizza' which encompasses competitions from all genres like dance, music, debate, fine-arts, photography, literary events and of course dram-events. The monoact, a dram event could have either been in Hindi or English. I chose Hindi and made my own script and wrote my own dialogs. It was about the character by the name Kishore who comes home on a rainy afternoon and has brought two tickets for a movie later that day. As he removes his shoes, dries himself and gets fresh- he keeps talking assuming his mother to be listening from the kitchen. When he doesn't get any response, he enters the kitchen only to find his mother lying dead! He checks the pulse to confirm and yes, he's indeed shocked and utterly dismayed. As he weeps and talks to the dead body, in a matter of seconds he turns mad and starts singing as if he's putting his mother to sleep! But all of a sudden Kishore stands up and asks the one auditioning him about his performance, thus revealing that Kishore was giving a performance for an audition all this while!!
The climax was suppose to shock the audience and a lot of them said it did. But I kept a lot of dialogs for the one auditioning too, which wasn't required and thereby I lost the plot. Since my Hindi isn't all that great, my language was a problem too and my grammar was a joke at parts! Nevertheless, appreciations from my friends was overwhelming and that from the seniors was encouraging.
2. FRESHIE PROD: So the second prize at 'Freshizza' helped me in getting a chance to be part of the 'Freshie Prod'. It was a 15 minute long play titled 'Ehsaas', directed by Abhishek Lal, which was primarily based on two characters.
History: I played the character Rajeev, son of the principal of a popular college in Mumbai. Due to bad company and a series of events at a friend's birthday party, I get arrested for drug usage and murdering, although I'm inncent. The media portrays me as a villain and my the pride of my family is a subject mockery in the public. I happen to lose my parents who couldn't bear the media outcry and the humiliation. So, upon my release I plan to take revenge against the public-the society which played a huge role in turning my life into a disaster. And hence I take a city bus in Mumbai with an intention of bombing it!
Play: Here, before the bomb could explode, I happen to encounter my own self. This inner voice (played by Chhotu a.k.a Motu) of mine has its own point of view. This voice says that it would rather commit suicide and end its life's miseries than going around trying to take revenge against the society. The bulk of the play contains the conversation between me and the inner voice of mine. Through the length of the play we manage to convince each other that both our decisions are wrong i.e. neither an act of extreme revenge nor a suicide would solve the matters. Finally I decide that I need to live and make the rest of my life a fulfilling one. The play received good reviews, but not from the judges. The script and the acting were appreciated. However, the screenplay and lighting weren't up to the mark. Overall, it was a nice beginning and a good experience. The night outs and the rehearsals running into the play date are quite memorable.
4. STREET PLAY @ MI: The annual cultural festival of IIT-B, Mood Indigo is a culmination of talent from all over the country. It was my first attempt at a street play which is high on melodrama, music, noise, forming patterns, social messages, loud verses. Our performance was called 'Apna Sapna Money Money', directed by Kshitiz Saxena, depicting the currency as the baap of today's society and the social differences it has brought about along with it. Street plays require the performer to not just speak loudly but with clear Hindi too. Since my Hindi isn't too great, I just had a couple of dialogs in English. The rest of the time I had to sing and perform with the group. Not to forget, I had to be the fan and a car for two different scenes! Funny, I know! Making ASMM was fun to say the least and I shall always remember the hilarious line from Vaibhav, 'Arey kahaan hai humaari Pussss-paaaa'!
5. ONE ACT PLAY @ MI: Easily the most popular dram event @ Mood Indigo, 'One act play' is THE test for an actor. I hadn’t been selected for the contingent entry of IIT-B for this competition. However, two other plays from IITB were performed which had taken the first two spots in the Inter-hostel dram GC. One of them was 'Rafi saahab ki mayyat' having Snehil Gautam and Abhinav Yadav in the lead. The play was about Rafi saahab, a qawwali singer who is planning his funeral and his conversations with his neighbor. One of the scenes depicted Rafi saahab thinking about his past when he gave a qawwali performance. The scene required a few other qawwali singers on stage doing the chorus. Since any random guy could play this role, I was one of those roped in to play at the last minute. 'Unki nazaron ne kuch aisa jadoo kiya.. Teri deewani…teri deewani' are some of the lines I remember. Though no one would remember those qawwali singers on stage and by no means a big achievement of having played that role, this is probably the most satisfying experience I have had in my first year! Sharing the MI stage with some of the most talented actors of IIT-B, and getting a chance to watch them rehearse is something I will cherish irrespective of where I end up in the dram scene in the coming years. The qawwali costume and the eye-liner were something new!
5. THE KILL @ MI: Shoot 'em up is a short film making contest @ Mood Indigo. The contingent entry for this competition was directed by Abhishek Lal, with Anand Malpani and myself in the lead. Though the movie deserved better accolades, it's this movie that got me interested in the art of film-making. The story is a thriller about two brothers and the concept of hysterical amnesia has been used. The movie was great on editing, screenplay and direction. However the script had a few cracks. Nevertheless, 'The Kill' still remains one of the best IITB movies made, according to me. The acting part was also well appreciated, though I feel that it could've been better had the director given some more scope for self-improvisation and time for preparation.
6. 6 ENEMIES @ MI: Having been strongly influenced by The Kill, I decided to shoot my own movie for the competition. 6 Enemies is based on the concept of 'Arishadvargas' and depicts the protagonist (Kapish) overcoming them in order to reach his destiny. It was an 8 minute long movie and making it was a WOW! experience. The movie was poor on detailing and casting. Though the script was well appreciated, if own digs deep into the plot, it's clear that it has it's own loopholes. And yes, it did secure the 3rd spot in the competition and it was nice to receive some appreciation from the judges with Kunal Deshmukh (of Jannat fame) being one of them.
7. SEMI-MIME @ MI: Another competition at MI '09 was semi-mime requiring a narrator behind the stage doing the dialogs and a performer on stage doing the acting. Prasun and myself had planned on taking part in this competition but kept postponing the preparation since we both were busy running into the fest. But somehow we started the preparation, penning down the script and writing the dialogs- the day before the fest and finished rehearsing at 3 in the night! The story was about a blind teacher who speaks to the audience about his profession and the way he's fought In life to become one. Having had no prior experience in semi-mime and with not much research done in this regard, we went wrong with the basic depiction of the 'semi-mime'. I was the actor while Prasun did the narration. Both did our jobs fairly good enough. But finishing the preparation for the event with just hours left was some experience! And this also made me realize as to how important voice modulation is for an actor. Not to forget, I got to witness some great performances from various participants across India.
8. MIME @ Annual Theatre Fest: The annual theatre fest held in January showcased some of the best plays of our college. Here, I got the chance to be part of a mime performance. Mime was being performed on the IIT-B stage after a gap of 4-5 years. Mime demands it's own requirements from an actor. As a performer one doesn't have the burden of by hearting the dialogs, but the performance needs a high level of intensity in bringing out the emotions through facial expressions. Though our mime performance titled 'Reflections' wasn't all that hilarious, it received good reviews. It was about the images of the protagonist coming to life and making fun of him. Making the prod and the getting the climax right have left some fond memories.
9. FURKAT: Silver screen, the film making club had its first annual fest this year. Few of the stud movies made by IITians were screened. Two movies were exclusively made for the fest, out of which a movie was made completely by the first year students (freshies, to say it in short). Furkat is a story of three friends (Prasun, Dhande and myself) who part ways due to some misunderstandings that come in their way. Rajesh, one of the three friends played by me meets with an accident and later gets diagnosed with 'Alien-hand syndrome'. The psychological weakness it brings along forces Rajesh to cut out on socializing. After rehabilitation, things begin to look better. However, as fate would have it, Rajesh's alien hand strangles him to death! The final scene of the movie shows the two other friends of Rajesh visiting the cemetery. A song is played in the background which speaks about friendship, separation, the necessity to live in the moment and to forgive & forget. Though the movie wasn't great on script and screenplay, it surely taught me a few of the things of what NOT to do while making a movie. Nevertheless, the hectic shooting and the acting part were certainly enjoyable.
10. MAI MAATI @ PAF '10: PAF's are an integral part of the immensely rich cult-scene of IIT-Bombay. PAF is a live Bollywood movie often bringing out a social message. 'Mai Maati' (meaning 'My Earth' in Bengali) was presented by Hostels-5,6,11. It showed the difficulties faced by the village community which is stuck between the MNC-nourished government and the aggressive Naxalites. I played the role of Masterji who stays in the village and imparts education to the villagers. PAF- as I always say, is a desirable pain. It was a good learning experience and the fundae from many of the seniors is surely going to help.
1. MONOACT: So we have the 'Freshizza' which encompasses competitions from all genres like dance, music, debate, fine-arts, photography, literary events and of course dram-events. The monoact, a dram event could have either been in Hindi or English. I chose Hindi and made my own script and wrote my own dialogs. It was about the character by the name Kishore who comes home on a rainy afternoon and has brought two tickets for a movie later that day. As he removes his shoes, dries himself and gets fresh- he keeps talking assuming his mother to be listening from the kitchen. When he doesn't get any response, he enters the kitchen only to find his mother lying dead! He checks the pulse to confirm and yes, he's indeed shocked and utterly dismayed. As he weeps and talks to the dead body, in a matter of seconds he turns mad and starts singing as if he's putting his mother to sleep! But all of a sudden Kishore stands up and asks the one auditioning him about his performance, thus revealing that Kishore was giving a performance for an audition all this while!!
The climax was suppose to shock the audience and a lot of them said it did. But I kept a lot of dialogs for the one auditioning too, which wasn't required and thereby I lost the plot. Since my Hindi isn't all that great, my language was a problem too and my grammar was a joke at parts! Nevertheless, appreciations from my friends was overwhelming and that from the seniors was encouraging.
History: I played the character Rajeev, son of the principal of a popular college in Mumbai. Due to bad company and a series of events at a friend's birthday party, I get arrested for drug usage and murdering, although I'm inncent. The media portrays me as a villain and my the pride of my family is a subject mockery in the public. I happen to lose my parents who couldn't bear the media outcry and the humiliation. So, upon my release I plan to take revenge against the public-the society which played a huge role in turning my life into a disaster. And hence I take a city bus in Mumbai with an intention of bombing it!
Play: Here, before the bomb could explode, I happen to encounter my own self. This inner voice (played by Chhotu a.k.a Motu) of mine has its own point of view. This voice says that it would rather commit suicide and end its life's miseries than going around trying to take revenge against the society. The bulk of the play contains the conversation between me and the inner voice of mine. Through the length of the play we manage to convince each other that both our decisions are wrong i.e. neither an act of extreme revenge nor a suicide would solve the matters. Finally I decide that I need to live and make the rest of my life a fulfilling one. The play received good reviews, but not from the judges. The script and the acting were appreciated. However, the screenplay and lighting weren't up to the mark. Overall, it was a nice beginning and a good experience. The night outs and the rehearsals running into the play date are quite memorable.
4. STREET PLAY @ MI: The annual cultural festival of IIT-B, Mood Indigo is a culmination of talent from all over the country. It was my first attempt at a street play which is high on melodrama, music, noise, forming patterns, social messages, loud verses. Our performance was called 'Apna Sapna Money Money', directed by Kshitiz Saxena, depicting the currency as the baap of today's society and the social differences it has brought about along with it. Street plays require the performer to not just speak loudly but with clear Hindi too. Since my Hindi isn't too great, I just had a couple of dialogs in English. The rest of the time I had to sing and perform with the group. Not to forget, I had to be the fan and a car for two different scenes! Funny, I know! Making ASMM was fun to say the least and I shall always remember the hilarious line from Vaibhav, 'Arey kahaan hai humaari Pussss-paaaa'!
5. ONE ACT PLAY @ MI: Easily the most popular dram event @ Mood Indigo, 'One act play' is THE test for an actor. I hadn’t been selected for the contingent entry of IIT-B for this competition. However, two other plays from IITB were performed which had taken the first two spots in the Inter-hostel dram GC. One of them was 'Rafi saahab ki mayyat' having Snehil Gautam and Abhinav Yadav in the lead. The play was about Rafi saahab, a qawwali singer who is planning his funeral and his conversations with his neighbor. One of the scenes depicted Rafi saahab thinking about his past when he gave a qawwali performance. The scene required a few other qawwali singers on stage doing the chorus. Since any random guy could play this role, I was one of those roped in to play at the last minute. 'Unki nazaron ne kuch aisa jadoo kiya.. Teri deewani…teri deewani' are some of the lines I remember. Though no one would remember those qawwali singers on stage and by no means a big achievement of having played that role, this is probably the most satisfying experience I have had in my first year! Sharing the MI stage with some of the most talented actors of IIT-B, and getting a chance to watch them rehearse is something I will cherish irrespective of where I end up in the dram scene in the coming years. The qawwali costume and the eye-liner were something new!
6. 6 ENEMIES @ MI: Having been strongly influenced by The Kill, I decided to shoot my own movie for the competition. 6 Enemies is based on the concept of 'Arishadvargas' and depicts the protagonist (Kapish) overcoming them in order to reach his destiny. It was an 8 minute long movie and making it was a WOW! experience. The movie was poor on detailing and casting. Though the script was well appreciated, if own digs deep into the plot, it's clear that it has it's own loopholes. And yes, it did secure the 3rd spot in the competition and it was nice to receive some appreciation from the judges with Kunal Deshmukh (of Jannat fame) being one of them.
7. SEMI-MIME @ MI: Another competition at MI '09 was semi-mime requiring a narrator behind the stage doing the dialogs and a performer on stage doing the acting. Prasun and myself had planned on taking part in this competition but kept postponing the preparation since we both were busy running into the fest. But somehow we started the preparation, penning down the script and writing the dialogs- the day before the fest and finished rehearsing at 3 in the night! The story was about a blind teacher who speaks to the audience about his profession and the way he's fought In life to become one. Having had no prior experience in semi-mime and with not much research done in this regard, we went wrong with the basic depiction of the 'semi-mime'. I was the actor while Prasun did the narration. Both did our jobs fairly good enough. But finishing the preparation for the event with just hours left was some experience! And this also made me realize as to how important voice modulation is for an actor. Not to forget, I got to witness some great performances from various participants across India.
9. FURKAT: Silver screen, the film making club had its first annual fest this year. Few of the stud movies made by IITians were screened. Two movies were exclusively made for the fest, out of which a movie was made completely by the first year students (freshies, to say it in short). Furkat is a story of three friends (Prasun, Dhande and myself) who part ways due to some misunderstandings that come in their way. Rajesh, one of the three friends played by me meets with an accident and later gets diagnosed with 'Alien-hand syndrome'. The psychological weakness it brings along forces Rajesh to cut out on socializing. After rehabilitation, things begin to look better. However, as fate would have it, Rajesh's alien hand strangles him to death! The final scene of the movie shows the two other friends of Rajesh visiting the cemetery. A song is played in the background which speaks about friendship, separation, the necessity to live in the moment and to forgive & forget. Though the movie wasn't great on script and screenplay, it surely taught me a few of the things of what NOT to do while making a movie. Nevertheless, the hectic shooting and the acting part were certainly enjoyable.
10. MAI MAATI @ PAF '10: PAF's are an integral part of the immensely rich cult-scene of IIT-Bombay. PAF is a live Bollywood movie often bringing out a social message. 'Mai Maati' (meaning 'My Earth' in Bengali) was presented by Hostels-5,6,11. It showed the difficulties faced by the village community which is stuck between the MNC-nourished government and the aggressive Naxalites. I played the role of Masterji who stays in the village and imparts education to the villagers. PAF- as I always say, is a desirable pain. It was a good learning experience and the fundae from many of the seniors is surely going to help.
Acting is one of the few things that I have found to be enjoyable. It's one of those things a year at IIT has taught me to get myself into. Hobbies are a man's best friends- and sure this is! An actor can only get better with experience. By experience I'm not only speaking about the experience of performing and watching plays but also the experience with life. One can never perfect the emotions without facing the ups and downs of life. Language is an extremely vital part of an actor and if it's coupled with the expressions, you can sure do a good job. Good observational skills are necessary too. But the most important thing I have learnt is- Acting is all about common sense.
Hoping to share a lot more of such experiences in future, cya. Take care!
incredible..!!some multi tasking hero u r... n hey i v writn a book of short stories n planning to make a short film for d colg fest next year....lemme knw if ur free by july...ok coming to the main point..U HAVE A LOTTTT OF PATIENCE!! uff..2 type all dz amazng write up is something a lazy soul like me keeps procastinatng bt..n it was very informative..various jonourz scriptd briefly n protrayd neatly...i personally liked ur monoact tinge...n ya "acting is all about common sense.."... afterall life is a stage n v all done various characterz.."common sense" is wat designs r living...!! le perfecto..as usual!!:)
ReplyDeletehey, do mail me the stories.. would love to read. i'm in town till the end of july, so v could plan something :D
ReplyDeleteand thank you for the appreciation :)
gr8
ReplyDelete