Mumbai, Nov 30 Acclaimed Indian talent Irrfan
Khan, who has dabbled in Bollywood and Hollywood, says the key
difference between performing in the two industries lies in how the
audience perceives an actor -- for one, the parameter is engagement and
charisma, while for the other, it is the nuance and subtlety.
"I
think the most interesting part of exploring both the worlds of cinema
-- Bollywood and Hollywood -- is how the audience perceives an actor. In
our (Indian) cinema, actors are like a magician who come on screen and
do something to engage and mesmerise. On the other hand, in the West,
actors are performers, and the audience looks for a certain amount of
nuance, subtleness.
"It is really an interesting area to explore for an actor like me," Irrfan told IANS.
Iconic
film directors like Mira Nair, Colin Trevorrow and Danny Boyle have
worked with Irrfan in international projects. Some of the titles he has
worked in include "The Warrior", "A Mighty Heart", "The Namesake",
"Slumdog Millionaire", "Life of Pi" and "Jurassic World".
Irrfan
may not be among the blockbuster Khans of Bollywood, but he has made his
mark as a critically acclaimed performer who has strengthened Indian
presence in films internationally.
Critics praise his performance
for intangible elements and for how he can convey a situation or a
reaction with mere silence sometimes.
He says there's a thought behind it.
Explaining
how he adds "soul" to any written character, Irrfan said: "In the
National School of Drama, we learned how to perform, deliver a dialogue
or monologue, and how to carry a certain body language for a character
that we are playing. But the thought that always played in my mind is
how a character establishes its relevance in silence, without uttering a
dialogue.
"In film acting especially, it works -- a small
expression, a small silence and then amalgamate it with the subtext of
the situation."
However, he believes, one has to be very careful
about improvisation as it might just spoil a character at times. Irrfan
stressed that having this understanding is important in the
character-building process for an actor.
"For instance, in
'Maqbool', after improvising certain parts in two scenes, I just
realised that what I am trying to add is taking away the essence of the
character," said Irrfan, whose Indian filmography is decorated with
projects like "Paan Singh Tomar" and "Piku".
Pointing out how
actors at times create their own comfort zone by improvisation, he said:
"I have seen actors taking an unnecessary pause between lines because
he did not learn the lines properly and is trying to find his own ease
in between. For me, that is not the right thing to do.
"For a
performer in a film, how the director is setting our frame of mind also
matters," said the actor, who has enjoyed working with Vishal Bhardwaj,
Shoojit Sircar and Tigmanshu Dhulia.
The year 2017 has been eventful for Irrfan.
He
got commercial success with "Hindi Medium", acclaimed movies like
"Doob: No Bed of Roses" and "The Song of Scorpions" and had another
commercial release "Qarib Qarib Singlle".
Asked if he is saying
"yes" to more scripts these days instead of being too choosy like
earlier, Irrfan said: "My criterion of a good script as the deciding
factor has not changed. But scriptwriters are coming up with some
brilliant stories and that is bringing all the changes in our cinema."
