Back in to time of Charlie Chaplin :: debut by a deaf and mute actor !
Charlie Chaplin was not mute but he worked in the silent films. Without uttering dialogues from his mouth he was able to create magic on screen through his acting ability and he proved that you don’t need heavy dialogues to make impressive presence on the screen. Presence has to be generated through facial expressions, expressions in the eyes and body language.
Almost all great actors of the world have never been dependent solely on their dialogue delivery skills and they have been equally great in the scenes where they have not a single word to say from mouth. If three factors, face, eyes and body language don’t support an actor then s/he never can deliver a good performance no matter he has got best dialogues written by best writer of the world and we call such actors as actors with wooden face.
Kamal Hasan did wonder in “Pushpak” where he did not say a single word but he was as alive in the role as he was in Naykan or Mahanadi or Chachi 420 or several other great films.
Amitabh Bachchan had played small role of a mute in “Reshma Aur Shera” without using his famous baritone voice. He has a not so good film “Yarana” where his character speaks too much but watch this actor when he is sitting with Ram Shetty on dining table and both communicate without saying a single word. Amitabh Bachchan is as powerful an actor in that wonderful scene as he has been when he says dialogues using his rich voice and perfect phonetics of the words.
It looks odd to praise Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri in the Gulzar’s film “Koshish” where they had played deaf and dumb couple, because they did it with so much flair and they have been praised by all for their performances in that film. Nana Patekar and Seema Biswas did good job in Sanjay Bhansali’s Khamoshi – The musical. Ayesha Kapoor as child Michelle Mcnally did very good job in Sanjay Bhansali’s Black and Rani Mukherjee too did her best effort in the role of matured Michelle in same film. Before that Patty Duke had done a brilliant work in Hollywood film” The Miracle worker (1962)” which was based on the life of Hellen Keller.
All good actors have proved it time and again, that whether they get a role with or without dialogues, it does not matter, as they always deliver good performances.
When P Jairaj, hero of silent hindi films, had got prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award then he had said that during shooting for silent films sometimes they used to say any thing with the actors involved in that scene and often made jokes with each other.
But all the actors in the world in any type of cinema have been having voice to speak in real life. Here comes an actor- Dhruv Sharma- who is deaf and dumb and yet he has courage to opt profession of acting. When singer has to sing songs for the actors and others often do dubbing on behalf of the actors then Dhruv Sharma’s determination, efforts cant be diluted by the fact that Nature has not given him the ability to hear or say anything. He and his determination has been resulted in to a Kannada film “Snehanjali”.
His determination is not only praise worthy but he needs salutation from all cine lovers. He has just started and hope he touches the sky in his acting career.
One shér fits perfectly on the courage of Dhruv
“ Jahan rasta nahin koi wahan mein banaunga
Meri jindagi se akar milen jinhe hoslon ki talash ho“
[I will make the way where its not present
Those should see my life, who need courage]
Dhruv, if you read it, please write your experiences on PFC. We all, present here would love to read views from you.
If any of Dhruv’s friend or familiar person read this , please send contact details of Dhruv.
[One may read about Dhruv and his film in the following link :
LINK
Deaf-mute but still a hero
10 Jun, 2007 l 0124 hrs ISTlRakesh Prakash/TIMES NEWS NETWORKBANGALORE: A deaf and mute youth as a lead actor in a film? It sounds unreal since this has probably never happened in India's 94-year-old film industry.
But in a forthcoming Kannada movie, Snehanjali , 25-year-old Dhruv, congenitally impaired of speech and hearing abilities, has pulled off the unimaginable feat of acting in a lead role. Dhruv has lip-synced dialogues and songs with such ease and dexterity that viewers fail to realise that he has never spoken or heard a sound in his entire life.
Born and brought up in Bangalore, Dhruv is son of businessman-actor Suresh Sharma. His is a story of fight against severe adversities. He was pulled out of college as he was finding it difficult to follow the lectures. But, what made him stand out was his oodles of confidence and the determination to succeed.
After completing a couple of computer courses, Dhruv played cricket and represented India in the Deaf Cricket World Cup in 2005. Over time, however, he grew interested in acting, a career that took off more than a year ago when he accompanied his father to a dubbing studio. He was awe struck by the fact that voices actually have to be dubbed for the screen and are not recorded at the place of shooting.
"If lip-syncing is all that one has to do to go on screen, I wondered why I, too, couldn't do it," Dhruv informed in sign language. At that time there were not many - including his father, Suresh - willing to believe that Dhruv would be able to pull it off.
"I brushed it off as a joke. I kept discouraging him, but he insisted he could do it. My friend, film producer Siddaramu, was struck by Dhruv's logic and he told me that my son is handsome and can make a good-looking hero. When I was asked why we couldn't try, I felt he could," Suresh said.
The star cast, including veteran Anant Nag and Anju Varma, was astounded when it learnt about his impairment. Many in the film industry scoffed at the idea of casting such a challenged youth as a film's hero. The only other disabled actor Kannada film industry had seen was late Balakrishna who had hearing problem.
"On the first day of the shooting, I was scared and confused. But, gradually things started falling in place and co-stars began to accept the reality. My father used to explain me the scene the previous night and I would prepare myself for the next day," Dhruv said.
The cast and crew have two reasons to admire him - his power to understand what others say and his sense of timing with regard to dialogue-delivery. Said Sharma,"My biggest fear was the song sequence as it involves lyrics which need perfect lip movements, but Dhruv has carried it off well."
Leading Kannada film producer Parvathamma Rajkumar, who saw the songs, was floored by Dhruv's performance. Dhruv has performed a few breathtaking stunts himself. The film, a romance, is slated for release this June-end and it's targetted at the youth. Though trailers are being shown on TV channels, Dhruv does not display starry airs.
A great fan of late Rajkumar and Amitabh Bachchan, Druv said,"I don't want to be a great hero, I just want to tell the world that my disability cannot stop me from becoming one. There are lakhs of disabled youth. I want to tell them that victory comes when one is confident and works towards achieving it instead of cursing themselves and everyone around."
While awaiting the release of his film, the best compliment Dhruv has received so far has been from actor Om Puri. On seeing clippings of his movie on Dhruv's mobile phone during a chance meeting recently, Puri wrote in his autograph: "Dhruv Sharma, it was a great feeling meeting you. Though nature has been harsh on you, you have challenged nature. You have kept your spirit high. You are a great inspiration to millions of people with limitations. I salute your great spirit."
- With due thanks to Times Of India, Link has been used purely for academic purpose]
Tags: Acting, Dialogues, Kannada
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thanks for sharing RK! dhruv is truly an inspiration… i hope he reads this post and comes on board…
RK – thanks again for this wonderful article.
I feel so humbled and so lucky to be born without any disabilities. A great inspiration for all of us
Hazaar ^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^ to the spirit of Dhruv Sharma
many many salute to dhruv
As i have littlebit problem of stammering ,He is great inspiration for poeple like us
and thanks RK for sharing about this great personality.
Striker, KK, Shailesh:
Thanks guys for comments. The most appealing thing is Dhruv’s intelligent remark (though through sign language) that when dubbing has to be done later and actors have to lip-sync then it does not really require voice.
Such intelligent mind and such determination can make a certain presence in the crowd of actors.