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Hidden Talents |
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Imagine a
filmmaker asking a group of children questions to judge their ability to act
in a movie he is about to direct. The session would, more or less, go as
follows: Can you
see a tree there? Yes,
replies one. No,
says another one. What
all do you see there? Leaves . And Branches Do you
see a bid on the tree? Yes What
colour is the bird? Green . A
modern-day version of the Mahabharata episode where Dronacharya tests the
aptitude of the young Kauravas and Pandavas in archery? Not quite
so. The filmmaker in question is Adoor Gopalakrishnan. The director from
Kerala is often described as the successor of the great Satyajit Ray. His Kathapurushan bagged the best film award in the recently held
national film awards. Kathapurushan s
narrative centres
round the life of Kunjunni, whose comfortable feudal upbringing did nothing to
help him cope with the hard realities of life. The
response to Adoor s advertisement for child artistes for the film was
overwhelming. Around 20,000 applications with photographs poured in. I was
on the lookout for smart and responsive children infants, boys, and girls
who looked like the grown-ups whom I had already cast in major roles. There
are some physical features which don t change as one grows from childhood to
adulthood. The eye is one. The
director went through each and every application and 100 children were asked
to appear for an interview. For him, the whole exercise was exciting. I
still regret not being able to shoo the whole process of interview with a
video camera. It would have been great material. In fact, it was an educative
experience for me. Anyone
with previous experience of acting in films was automatically rejected for
they would already have imbibed the wrong lessons. Adoor
laments that in our films, children talk and behave like grown-ups. To
avoid any such hangover, I insisted on fresh talent with no burden of any kind
of acting experience. Kids
brought up with overzealous care and protection, normally take time to come
out of their shells. There might be talent latent in them, but it takes an
effort to bring it out. Also there are children who have already had a lot of
experience in life. They don t need much prodding . Like many
of his great predecessors, Adoor has handled children in major roles in many
of his films. He, however, does not treat children as actors. We should differentiate between mature actors and children. Children will repeat whatever we show them. An important precaution one has to take is not to give them wrong briefs. When you tell them something, it should be correct in the first instance. Children are in a constant process of learning. They take in things too quickly for analysis and examination. If you feed the child some information, it get caught and that s it. A child s mind is like a receptacle. What you put in remains there.
Youth
Express 20 September 1996 |
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Last
updated/modified on April 17, 2001. 2000-2001 H Shaji. All rights reserved.
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