Charged-up inspirational-strategy to keep the momentum forever
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| This scene from Sholay is very much apt to re-charge its auditioning hunt for all the Bollywood Aspirants as Industry will undergo transformation of the fittest for fulfiller's |
It’s an old adage, rejections are part of growing period in any struggling moments. Remember they haven’t closed the door on you. Mithun Chakraborty graduated with a Diploma in Acting, in the year 1974 and fresh out of the FTII Pune (Film and Television Institute of India), started knocking the doors of the film producers. As most of the film producers offices were located within film studios, just imagine the plight he was told to return back from the gates of the studio. Now, this is something you can’t tackle, watchman or a security guard has nothing personal with you, he is just doing his job of obstructing unknown people and aspirants. One incident about his struggle brings up into the foreground as he had highlighted in an interview of a Stardust magazine published in the year 1984 which is as follows --------[[ The moment he graduated from the Institute. Mithun began to feel insecure all over again. The uncertainty of making it in the Industry frightened him again. The struggle had started, so had the barbs and insults. Once when he approached a producer with his photographs, the man looked at him from top to toe and sneered “the Industry has sent so many gadhas, the biggest of them has come now”. If Mithun could never forget this, he could also never forgive one particular filmwalla who abused him in front of a whole lot of the industrywallahs when he threw him out of his office with. “Try Devar Films, they train animals there, you might stand a chance there. I can’t help you, for right now, I’m making films with human beings”. Mithun was almost in tears “The producer was not insulting me at that time” he explained dispassionately now “His disgust was towards my low status. I have realized that people don’t respect or humiliate you for yourself but for your position” ]].
More struggles for Mithun happened dotted with ridicule, humiliation, barbs, stopped-at-gate, shown-the-door etc….many movies later, the year 1982 saw the release of a titled ‘Main Aur Mera Haathi’ with him playing the stellar role produced by Devar Films, a one of the known production house from South India, which turned out to be a good movie.Struggle and Hard-Work paid off, you see nothing is personal, all are related to professionalism and it also states that you have been at a right moment in a right place and at a right time all through right connections. A bit of hard work, luck and right connections make a perceptible difference.
A struggler might have realized about this dynasty-cum-synergy operated Industry, where everything moves in a closely protected way. But Janta Janardhan (the majority of the Public) the audience is the king, in order to reach them you have either to beg, borrow or break (3B) with the filmmakers, casting agents are just middle-man you are like you to get the work done as required by the filmmakers. But aspirations and burning desires are more dominant and powerful to reckon with, if not then outsider holding big names and big labels wouldn’t have reached the pinnacle. A survey among the few of the mélange members of Bollywood have stated that 2018 is different, the stake among the aspirants have become death-defying as the aspirants come from remote and unheard places building hopes and expectations for their near and dear ones, staking their hard-earned wealth, youth, time, energy and comfort level of being with parents to gain fame, money, adulation and prosperity so that it gives better life to all in their family. Survey also reveals in a big way that there is ‘a shift in the collective consciousness regarding the old power dynamics in our industry has occurred. The patriarchal power brokers of an antiquated industrial model are being brought to their knees by brave voices demanding change, and we’re not going back.’
Every Friday, post the outcome of the new releases, sets in a game-changer which is the effect of a complicated set of power dynamics involving audiences, trade analyst, Bollywood pundits, Social media reviews, Industry reactions and other unknown factors plays out. The thinking of power player’s changes and this impacts the industry on the whole. Even the acting aspirants have to change accordingly and deal synergistically as they have to audition for the people with the power, the money, and the creative control so when you walk into an audition room, you don’t think you have the power. But that’s where you’re wrong.
In auditions even the highly talented actors feel lost as they are unable to get the grip of the character which they have to perform, it’s more like a chance-of-a-lifetime and in this situation, you cannot the measure the range of your own acting power. And also stop thinking that this power comes from status, desperation, failure, ridiculed, rejections, money, etc. It doesn’t, just think that you are the character you need to play and visualize any of the similarly related observation of that character you had before and assure yourself that you have to perform the same getting into his/her skin, to support and elevate the script to a level of deep humanity by bringing your unique human experience to each moment. What you don’t realize is that the decision makers, those people on the other side of the camera in the audition room or watching you’re self-tape, are in deep need. Remember if you assume being the character you are playing, you will realize that you are getting to know more about the character, even rejected you have a better chance of imbibing self-confidence to get you going faster and hence you can perform amazingly
It’s true, casting agents are the ones making the decisions but they are incapable of bringing their vision to life on their own; they need you. They need you to elevate their script and help them fulfil their vision so they can keep their job on this project and be granted permission to create again. And they usually need it on a deadline and you have to make sure that you deliver within the deadline. If they don’t get it, their production can’t move forward. Often times they’re terrified (even if they don’t show it), sleep-deprived, and trying to keep a thousand plates spinning as the stakes keep on growing with time. When beckoned, you enter confidently, illuminating the room with your presence and keep charged the crew with your conviction of the character, and this will keep them satisfied as they just need you to be a talented actor. If you’re able to do that, you have all the power. They have a need and you have the ability to fulfil that need.
The outcome of an audition is fulfilling the film-makers requirement and that is all that matters. Fame, popularity, being in page 3, riches, known among the social-circles, and high-end representation are often perceived as indicators of talent. But it’s not always the case that the rich, popular, Jubilee-Stars, famous, well-agented actor is the most talented or the actor who can deliver that talent at will. So forget all that stuff. Sure, it’s a potential indicator of value but it’s not the value itself. You’re a talented actor and yet to prove you’re potent. They’re in need of a talented actor. So you have power derived from you ambition, aspiration and drive. Don’t let anyone tell you differently, even if they tell you, as they are in the dominant position for time-being, there could be a message, kindly decipher and take it as a lesson, not as a discouragement.
Power and talent are interlinked, however, having power is different than feeling powerful. You can logically understand the power dynamic happening in the industry but it’s another thing to hang on to your power while sitting in a waiting room with pages of dense dialogue swimming around your head, about to read for a fancy showrunner who can give you a career and recommend to someone who can consider giving you a break.
Apprehensions, disbelief or whatever holds your back needs to be extinguished. They don’t nest in you, they have to be jettisoned. Whatever sneaky ways in which your mind prevents you from doing the work must be stopped. Agreeing to the same Actor Hemu Shetty, Speech Reformer and a well-known actor from Bollywood also being touted as the next Bollywood Villain and Bollywood Baddie, recently ranked favourite by Bunt community within the inner circle as the promising Actor in the Tulu Cinema, ( now coined as TULUWOOD) and has also been nicknamed as the Tulu Actor and with his long experience as an acting coach , overall a celebrated self-styled campaigner of Mithun Chakraborty , having an ability of a #HistrionicAnalyzer and penchant of an #HistrionicWriteradds “Banishing apprehensions, Ignoring rejections, staying charged is the only way of power-fueled inertia to keep your ambition going , staying inspired, is the only explosive packed strategy to keep the momentum forever, nothing can drive you ahead, unless and until you keep the spark within you ignited”. Actor Hemu Shetty further added “You must do the work, assignment needs to be fulfilled always. Take every opportunity to act. Look for all the ways to create strategies yourself and crave for those opportunities that can give you complete satisfaction. Power comes from doing the work oneself as it provides you re-learning, insights, builds intuition, provides a detailed knowledge and skills to build our own equity; anything else is false power and will dissipate as it has always been volatile.”
Preparing to be a star or a known star is different from being every ready actor-performer. A good actor cannot perform if he is not ready or not in a mood to perform. So always be a keen observer as a learner who is referring notes and be free to learn by observing and taking time to know what syllabus is important in order to be a full-fledged ever ready actor-performer. The most freeing thing an actor can know is that power is a practice and re-practice till you get a proper feedback of doing perfectly. Feeling like you deserve to be in a big audition room is the product of practice and perseverance. If you practice your art on a level that rivals the training of an Olympic athlete, you minimize the feelings of powerlessness. You want to be in those high-pressure, deadline-fulfilling moments and high-stakes rooms. So lift whatever weights you need to in order to ensure that when called upon, you can deliver that amount of material with ease, perfection, finesses and clarity, bringing the fullness of your unique emotional life. The power is in the doing and fulfilling within the timelines. Yes, doubt, irritation, awe and nerves will creep up in high-pressure situations. But from a foundation of consistent, dogged exploration of the work, your talent will fight through.
Confidence in aspiration and willpower to remain moving will definitely come if you completely believe in the talent you possess as the Almighty has chosen you for this path. And always think that you are the chosen one and your super talented in this field and can offer that talent boldly with ease and expertly, you have as much power as anyone else in that audition room. When you walk in with talent, the power dynamics turn upside down as you are nearing your destination because they need you, your hard work, and your emotional investment. All you have to do is be a great performer in that room and that comes from an artistic practice, from doing the work you love that emerges from your passion and remain passionate about this profession.
Now is the right time, it's now or never, this reminds me one of the dialogues of Sanjeev Kumar as the character of Thakur (one of his stellar performances) in the movie Sholay, he delivers “ Loha Garam hai….Maro Hatoda”, let this be your maxim for the year 2018. Think bold and audition confidently, as if this is the only way to evolve and try to continue doing much better than the last audition. Dear Bollywood Aspirants this is the perfect time for you—an actor with immense talent, unrestrained stake and with so much to value-add to the growing Indian audience and to the film industry—here is the time to commit to owning your power and bringing the totality of your power to bear-on-stage, on set, in the audition room, illuminating the screen and in your life. This is the year of your power to unleash your talent to etch the minds of the entertainment-starved audiences. Happy auditioning 2018!.
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