NG Reflections: Rants about Acting!
What can define acting? Whether the emphasis is important or the effectiveness ? How can one know that the actor is justifying the role he is in?Many questions are perplexing,more so when acting is what should actually define the texture of a movie.
Seen Brando in “On the Waterfront”? Would request you all to watch it.The way he evolves through the length and breadth of the movie is absolutely amazing.Why? Because his character and the nuances of it take a course that is in synchrony with the story and the demand of it. Brando is not pitch perfect as you would remark,he is infact vulnerable at many places and that vulnerability that gradually takes the form of resolution and emphasis makes one stand and clap for him.Frankly speaking I never liked Brando in the movie when I watched it first.I felt he was underplaying many emotions at multiple places.But as i went on a revisit,the gradual sigmoid curve of the portrayal seemed evident!One of the finest piece of acting I have ever seen.Appreciate Deewar and Zanjeer for the same way with respect to Amitabh.He never plays it monotonous in Deewar,infact he turns from innocent to rebellious and then traces of megalomania too develop till he finally has a colossal fall at the feet of the Almighty.The portrayal is effective,of course over stressed at places but sums up beautifully in the final cut.Zanjeer on the other hand is a monotonous textured acting but when seen from the angles of character development and the way the script writer visualised the story,the acting comes across as apt. Bachchan is very different from Brando in the sense that he never believes in using small inconsequential expressions of hands,face,eyebrows to add the shine to his expressions.Brando was a master of using minute details to make his presence more effective!
Watch him in The Godfather where he delivers a short speech in the mafia meeting and when he talks to Michael.Brilliance written all over it!Use of the screen with respect to the angle he raises his head and then bends it sideways and the flexing of masseter with adequate utilisation of the voice modulation. Bachchan easily scores above Brando in the usage of voice to add charm to the presentation of character but certainly scores much lower in other aspects!
I also very much appreciate “Blue Velvet” for the phasic elevation in the quality of the feature because of Denis Hooper’s masterful portrayal of a sexual maniac.The character comes of as such that induces a sense of attention and inquiry in the viewer.It does not make you pay attention to the exterior curves of a female body but forces you to dwell on the interior curves of the mental disposition of a maniac for whom sex is an avenue to his subdued feelings. Hooper resurrected himself and the film with that piece of acting.Similar portrayals of character that have made a movie great will include Anand.Khanna was irritating with that fast dialogue delivery of his but then if one reads the character well,he was just using the little time left in his life to speak volumes that he was experiencing.The race of words against time was evident.Life had never been portrayed more beautifully in the cradle of death before!Khanna lived the role with his accurate portrayal–straight head,eye to eye contact,monotonous speech that had wealth of emotions and his beautiful pauses. Wonderful!!
Do watch out for John Voight and Dustin Hoffman in The Midnight Cowboy! Chemistry in acting has no better example than that.Only other that can come near is Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.One can look for pure acting in Daniel Day Lewis’ portrayal of the powerful gang leader cum butcher in Gangs of New York,particularly the famous head butt scene where he looks so deeply immersed in his role such that one can smell the fury and wrath.Pacino in Merchant of Venice as Shylock is menacing enough to define the term–”menacing”.Watch the scene where he asks for a pound of flesh from Antonio loathing him outrightly.Brilliantly done!!
Cinema is just not seen in isolation,it is watched in cumulative assessment module.Reflections abound,you chose yours!!
Milind/Anupam
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7Havent seen any of HW references here but agree on Anand. Good post Milind.
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1lol..me saying good post milind got 3 dislikes…
hahahaha
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1Disagree Shalu
I also havent seen Brando much but agree with Milind here. Bachchan’s acting is mainly in his voice rather than expressions/body language.
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0milind bro..very good article as always..
examples u have given here are mostly serious roles…what is ur idea of good comic acting? would love to know ur take on it
about using subtle expressions ..thhe performance tht completely bowled me away is actually a female one..coming from preity zinta in heroes…the way she shows her pain in tht role is simply mesmerising n very realistic too..the moment wen she receives the letter from her late husband..the expressions on her face..i haven’t seen a better performance in a scene from any actor till now..
other performances wid subtle expressions tht lasted wid me are
- ajay devgan in london dreams wen he gets jealous of salman for being able to compose several versions of the same songs..on the whole i found his performance ok..but tht scene was brilliant..
-salman khan – in jaaneman wen he n akki are watching preity ion the screen..preity starts crying while watching a movie…n both sallu n akki cries too..very beautifully acted by both sallu n akki..
also sallu in khamoshi specially his expressions in the song yeh dil sun raha hain
srk- in swades where he goes to get the rent..tht scene was srk at his best in subtle expressions
akki-the end speech in waqt..brilliant..thts exactly how u sound wen u r crying n giving a speech
aamir-ghajini end scene..for some reason i find it absolutely touching n wonderfully acted by aamir
about amitabh the one scene tht stays wid me is his mirror scene in amar akbar anthony
anyway milind very good post once again -
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1I.One you are a moron!

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