Farhan and Abhay herald the return of the character actor hero?
So, most of us are going to see Luck by Chance this weekend. Some of us are sure to gloat about the movie’s prospects and some of us shall remain dissatisfied. Then, we shall have other stellar cinema coming our way in the next few weeks. Delhi 6, Dev D, Billo Barber, etc. It is surely going to be quite exciting. Slum Dog Millionaire has set the ball rolling. Raaz has given an additional kick too for some.
I was hopping back to Mumbai three evenings ago after some jousts in Bangalore and Jet Airways decided to provide me with some much needed In- flight entertainment. So, I saw a movie called “Eagle Eye”. That morning, Kingfisher also provided me with some entertainment and I watched “Rock On” again. Two actors. Two very different genre of movies and yet I was struck by the minimalistic act by both of them. Shia LeBouef and Farhan Akhtar.
Shia had a very physical role. The character was a jumpy youth trapped in clear and present danger, to him and to others around him. One could easily have over acted this. But this guy was different, thankfully. His expressions stemmed from simple human reactions to extraordinary situations. Was it good to see and behold. Very. Completely believable and that’s why the movie to makes its mark in spite of being a run of mill Hollywood thrill special.
I had seen Rock On before. So, I did not bother with the story anymore. For me, it was watching a group of good actors at work. I tried to see and understand the kind of body language Farhan, Purab and Shahana deliver in the movie. They were my shortlist after seeing the movie the first time. Here, Farhan and Shahana excel and even an accomplished actor like Purab pales. I would call this system of acting – the Reactionary system, my lack of dictionary knowledge of acting propels me to state such an awful name. Shahana is a trained actress, one can see. But, switching from theatre to cinema, so I believe, lends that additional capacity to an actor that peeps through when you are supposed to do nothing much on screen. So, her energetic scenes when she is at the Mascarhanas home, doing the fishy business, shouting at Joe, complaining, serving food at the dining table, ruffling the hair of her son and limply sitting in her chair, all speak of a dissatisfied wife, a disgruntled character, on the boil, the tempest within, the short shrift that the world has given her. Shahana brings that to the fore with fulsome aplomb. I was again struck at her efficiency. Here was a good actress who would go a long way. But how much did she strike me in the heart? The best of the lot strike in there. Bring a tear to the eye or a smile to the lips. That was Farhan.
He has his weaknesses. A husky voice and Hindi while being good not being the best. But the sheer power of body language to instil empathy with his character blew me away. Let me explain this with a few scenes. Joe tells him about his girl friend wanting to be the stylist for the band. He listens. No expression. Joe not convinced. He seeks assurances. The split second of quizzical look before an over enthusiastic “Of Course”. It tells us about the character that Aditya is. Logical, distant and practical. Joe was diametrically opposite and so the stage is set for further clashes. Neat and superb. Next, Aditya’s party scene where his wife is introducing his old friends to him again. The usual meet and greet over, Aditya is uncomfortable, he wants to leave, his eyes shift, the look again becomes hollow, there is a sigh, then the “excuse me”. Many other actors would have done this but not in the understated but passionate method Farhan does it. The gaze is distant but all – knowing. This comes from living the character, not acting it merely. This is where the character jumps from the screen, sits on your lap and becomes dearest to you like Amitabh in Deewar, Sunny Deol in Arjun, Farooque Shaikh in Bazaar, Naseer in Masoom, Kamal Hasan in Swathimuthyam, Om Puri in Ardhsatya, Aamir in Rangeela, Shahrukh in DDLJ or Guru Dutt in Pyaasa.
We shall see Farhan again this weekend. Fellow bloggers are already singing praises. Critics have gone ga-ga today. Abhay Deol has already shown the way late last year as to how one can prosper by just diligently doing a character instead of being a star. Akshay, Shahrukh, Salman and Ajay have it in them to produce great characters, but would they necessarily take that much needed step in this direction? I would like to be surprised!
Tags: Abhay, Acting, Farhan, Shahana
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I think the very term “hero” is getting redefined.. And that’s good for all of us!
Wonderfully written! I too had loved the “ofcourse” bit in Rock On! His facial expressions, raised eyebrows, et al. were pitch perfect. Farhan and Abhay remind me of Naseer and Farooq Sheikh from the 80s – brilliant, charming, completely natural, and most imporantly understated. You can’t help but feel for such characters on screen
great post! and i agree…..
:-O ZOMFG! did u just say that Shah Rukh can act? you’re def. losing YOUR account, my friend! :P
i don’t necessarily agree with your post, but ok. rock on was a good movie, and farhan was nice, but not mind blowing. i liked arjun the most, tbh.
I agree with the first comment.
Even in Bollywood.
@shamoni – SRK can act, or rather he can be, if he wants..in DDLJ he did be, and that is effortless, whenever he wants to just “be”…but, yes, you are right, when he struts his stuff, it becomes unbearable, like that Sunny Deol shriek!!
@SL, judgdegag – Thanks