Actors and their Persona

I was watching promos of Swades, where SRK is supposed to be a NASA scientist returning to India, and Veer-Zaraa, which is a partition-background flick.

It struck me that the persona of the actor overshadows the character he/she is playing so hugely, that it's simply difficult to ignore. It's perhaps a little premature to judge Swades, but the impression it left was that of SRK playing a NASA scientist, rather than a NASA scientist played by SRK.

Whether it's Bollywood or Hollywood, the ability to subordinate the actor's persona to the character being depicted, is probably the toughest to achieve. The actor needs to be almost transparent, or as blank as a canvas, to take on the texture of the character. The bigger the image of an actor as a superstar, the more this becomes impossible. It's very difficult to see Amitabh or Robert De Niro, not as themselves portraying some other characters.

We rarely get to see such portrayals in Bollywood. Even supporting actors carry their personal stamp on whichever character they portray. I think probably Anupam Kher is one of the few who can actually morph himself into a totally different character, keeping very little of his real self in view.



The last time I was completely surprised, was by Richard Roxburgh in Moulin Rouge. Perhaps it was because I had never seen the actor before, but when I saw him in an interview, I was completely blown away. He was so very different from the Duke he portrayed! I could hardly believe this was the same person indeed. Right from looks to mannerisms to diction - the metamorphosis was so complete!