The great Image
Mirage!! by Darina
poye daanayya
What
is forte for a sportsman is playing ground for a performer/actor.
Both these people make a living by building their careers
around their strong points. A particular batsman can savagely
ravage any bowling line up by going all out in the initial
overs thus never allowing the bowlers to get into their
rhythm. That is his strongest point - not allowing the opposition
to settle. A particular performer has a very expressive
visage that would contort comfortably for any given emotion.
Suitably he chooses roles that allows his strongest point
- expressive ability, to dominate his performance, than
be dependent on the dialogues to drive home a point. There
is nothing wrong in playing to one's strengths and thus
build a career around it. But what if the situation demands
otherwise and one had to change the nature of the performance,
like the situation where the batsman has to take his foot
off the pedal and play sensibly rather than going about
his regular launching of the vicious attack against the
opposition? If the player does not conform to the situation
and still continues his aggressive nature of play, he is
usually termed as a player with limited range - one, who
is only fit for some situation and not a man for all the
seasons. Now, what if a performer plays only to his strong
points without expressing any willingness to explore the
possibilities beyond his realm of capabilities? It is quite
strange that the industry does not call him a player of
limited range. It instead has a special term for it - IMAGE.
The performer is playing to his image. The industry brands
him and the audience anoints him as the new player with
this limited ability, gifting him the much sought after
image.
Let's understand this term image in a little bit more detail.
Initially the performer's strong point has been identified,
accidentally or consciously, which is then nurtured and
groomed carefully, and finally showcased to extract maximum
mileage out of it. As always during the ascension phase,
it is interesting to watch the rise of the star (and his
star) trying to find his niche, and once found one, playing
to it to consolidate his position. It is quite natural,
so no problem here. Again as always, good things usually
have a half-life that are even shorter than the most radioactive
element out there, in that good times do not last long.
We are awed by the performance when we watch it for the
first time, we are enthused at the third showing, we are
interested at the tenth one, we are amused by the time it
gets to twenty, we are with him till his fiftieth, but we
eventually get bored after the nth time. How long can we
accept the same type/kind of performance over and over again,
playing like a needle stuck in a deep grove on a gramophone
record? By the hundredth time, we know exactly the notes
of his music, we know how his nostrils fare, we know how
his brows lock, we know how he modulates his voice, we even
know his entire performance before he enacts it. For a performer,
nothing is worse than having the audience predict his performance
and grow disinterested to it. Sooner before he knows it,
his image becomes his chief constraint to perform better,
thus restricting his range and proving a liability. The
very image that he once sought after so badly, proves a
ball and chain ankle attachment, limiting his ability to
go places, like a dog on a tight leash.
When we think about the actors of yester year, we do not
think about images, we think about performances. While performances
remain permanently etched in our memories, images linger
on just as long the performer has a bankable shelf life.
When the torch is passed on from one generation to the next,
or the time capsule gets buried, all that matters is how
good an actor was or how varied his range was, rather than
what image he was stuck with or what title his name was
prefixed with. Currently, the trend of trying for images
even before entering the industry has become fashionable.
Even before the performance is evaluated, even before the
audience had a chance to embrace or reject an actor, the
trade papers confer a title that is usually a ridiculous
concoction of some weight measure with a star appended to
it and grant him an "image". Nowadays, images
are not earned, images are granted. The stars, apprehensive
about how a different performance would be received, preferred
to stick to their images and bet on safe ventures, than
move out of their self imposed boundaries, expanding their
range and repertoire. So going by that line of thought,
if a movie that is tailor made for a star's image fails,
the blame automatically falls upon the makers for not exploiting
the image properly, than on the star, whose inability to
take a chance, probably could have contributed in large
amounts to the failure. Even pitiful is the situation, when
the stars proudly proclaim that people yearn to see them
sticking to what they are good at, than allow the people
to have a glimpse at the different dimensions and undiscovered
variations of their performances and show the them what
they MIGHT BE good at too. Range guarantees longevity. Range
promises legacy. Range assures a place in the future, in
addition to a respectability in the present.
The sun shines brightly over the dunes, the warm air rises
upwards, collides with an air layer of different temperature
creating an affect of a mirage to a distant observer. As
soon as the lights dim, or upon a closer observation, the
temporary images fade away to reveal the actual truth that
image is as trustworthy as the mirage.
elugu tOlu tecchi image niccinaa
nalupu nalupae kaani telupu kaadu
image icchina maatraamna mahaa naTuDaunae
viSwadaabhi raama vinave sinee seema
-
Daarinapoye Dannayya
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