Part 3
If any actor is being able to leave a lasting impression on he minds of the audience, then undoubtedly the film will carry a wholesome experience in its entirety. Otherwise the film will be watched but once the film comes to its end, the characters or the actor’s acting prowess will gradually fade away. One of the finest actors of Hindi Cinema: Sanjeev Kumar. He has acted in innumerable films, but unfortunately there isn’t a single film of his which can be taken in the same breath along with his name. In Sholay, he came up with an extraordinary performance, but Sholay was not only Sanjeev Kumar’s film, it was equally Amjad Khan’s. Sanjeev Kumar’s another film where he delivered outstanding performance is Khamoshi’. For this film Sanjeev Kumar’s name can be taken at the same breath; but there are lot many films where he delivered great performances but yet those could not bring much recognition to his career to nor to his life. The reason is the film’s complete package. It is sad to know that inspite of possessing extraordinary acting talent; Sanjeev Kumar mostly had to do ordinary films to meet his needs. But it needs to be mentioned here that Satyajit Ray’s Hindi film ‘Shatranj ke Khiladi’ was Sanjeev Kumar’s best performance till date; but this film could not reach out to the ordinary audience.
An actor has to enact great performance in a film; there is no shortcut to it. After that the actor needs to find recluse in the story in the form of the character; the writer’s impetus, the director’s ability to handle the character aptly on celluloid; co-actor’s support and lot others.
Apart from the existence of the above mentioned factors, there are certain magical moments in a film which provides that much needed catalyst to make an actor’s performance in a film remembered for ages. But such magic moments are not preordained or preconceived rather they come before the eyes during the viewing o a film.
A scene from the film Pakeezah, Meena Kumari and Raj Kumar are seated on a moving train. At he moment when Raj Kumar leaves her, he writes these lines in a piece of paper- “your legs are very beautiful, do not let them fall into the ground, they will lose their beauty”. A brief scene except the dialogue there are no such ingredient in it but this moment of the film. And needlessly to mention Raj Kumar’s intricate dialogue delivery is the scene’s main mantra.
A scene from Sholay: Amitabh Bachchan is seated at the verandah playing the mouth organ o the other hand Jaya Bhaduri dims every single lamp that’s on the verandah. There are no dialogues in this scene, what we get to see are the two actor’s physical movements, technical brilliance of light and shade, camera’s use was so emotionally carried out that in this film this scene stands out as one of the most memorable ones till date. It is not that the director’s emotional involvement or intensity was less compared to this scene in the film. Absolutely not. But still this scene has reached a pinnacle of its own. This is thus called celluloid’s ‘magical moment’.
Another scene from the film Sholay. Thakur Sanjeev Kumar is narrating the incident where Gabber Singh cuts his two hands off. On the screen Gabber Singh is shown with two huge axes in his two hands, he gestures to cut off Thakur’s hands, after that flashback ends, the shawl fall off from Sanjeev Kumar’s body, the camera makes a movement from high angle to low angle, in a way depicting the decreasing intensity of the scene; creation of another magic moment. In this scene, more than the actor’s brilliant performance, the director’s imaginative prowess, external factors like background music, etc heighten the scene’s importance in the film, but inspite of all the actor has the last laugh.
There is another example of a magic moment with reference to an Assamese film, titled, ‘Anirban’ by Dr. Bhabendranath Saikia. There is an untimely death of Rajani master and Bhagyawati’s only daughter; but there are no emotional scenes after the death to mourn her death by these two. After a few days there is a scene in the film where Rajani master is seated in his home in the nearby room, Bhagyawati gets hold of a sandal worn by their daughter but by that time her daughter was dead. Master and Bhagyawati gradually gets immersed in tears and breaks down. In this scene not much effort is required on the part of the actors the work is deftly handled by the director through his camerawork. No audience can forget this scene who have watched the film and so is the case with the remembrance of the actor/ actress in this scene.
Another brief scene from the Assamese film Adhajya. A Brahmin widow indulges herself in an act which is considered unethical or unsocial. She eats meat- but while in the scene it is depicted that while she eats the meat she tears apart the meal which is an indication that she in a way showing her anger towards the so-called existence of rules and regulations in the society. Undoubtedly, a fine example of the director’s creation of a magic moment.
At times a powerful and efficient actor with the help of an equally efficient director in addition to his/ her acting prowess can take a particular scene to zenith. Take for example Naseeruddin Shah in the film ‘A Wednesday’. There is a kind of a monologue in the film towards the film’s climax. In this very long dialogue/ monologue, the director makes a presence felt though he gives very little space for the actor to show his acting prowess or very little movement in fact. The actor is seated in one particular place, it’s just his close-up. This very limited exposure is used by the actor to highlight the very most important scene in the film; in a way showcase a kind of a plus point via his eyes, his eyebrows, his facial muscles, his tonal qualities etc. In a way, the director achieves in creating the desired effect and the audience in experiencing a magic moment.
Let us take the example of a lesser known actor; Yashpal Sharma. In the film ‘Apaharan’, Ajay Devgan kills him. Till the last moment he is in that illusion that he is going to kill Ajay Devgan. Lastly he realizes that he has become the victim. Just one close up, in it he proves his mettle. He exudes a lot of confidence in himself which makes the scene memorable. Akira Kuroshawa mentions Toshiro Mifun in this respect. Yashpal Sarma deserves the same kind of praise for his ability in the film ‘Apaharan’.
Translated from original Assamese by KADAMBINI THAKUR
