Actors’ Diaries with Vipin Sharma.
“Good directors let you be after they have expressed to you all that
they need you to know about your character. Then they allow you the space, the
liberty and the choice to explore. Becoming your travel companion on the
journey of your character’s arc.” - Vipin Sharma.
Vipin Sharma was born and brought up in Delhi. His parents are not from
the filmmaking or theatre profession.
The stranger selling tickets:
Vipin was 18, selling tickets outside a theatre in Delhi that exhibited
Hindi and Punjabi plays. Besides him, there was an old man selling tickets for
a Hindi play. He observed Vipin selling tickets for a Punjabi play which was
known for its comic vulgarity, and asked him simply out of good hearted concern,
“This Punjabi play that you are selling tickets for, can you see it with your
parents?”
That made Vipin ponder. He says, ‘That man was an angel for me. He,
unknowingly, pointed me towards Hindi theatre, which then was known for refined
and intellectual content. I gravitated towards Hindi theatre only after this
encounter with that complete stranger.” (smiles)
I think, Vipin is in this profession today also because of that old
man’s moral question, besides the choices Vipin made on his own accord.
The seed - realisation of a more meaningful performing art:
Vipin knew someone working at a radio station in Delhi who was studying
at the NSD (National School of Drama, Delhi) He invited Vipin, via a India Post
card, to see their final year theatre production.
Vipin went to see the play and at this event he saw actor Amol Palekar.
Amol Palekar was a star actor. The play was excellent, and the crowd was
dignified and refined, which Vipin found to be a contrast to the environment he
had witnessed watching Punjabi theatre plays.
The atmosphere he experienced during this Hindi play influenced Vipin
greatly, cementing his desire to belong in the world of Hindi theatre. Vipin
decided to learn acting professionally at the NSD. He soon gave the entrance exam
and got selected at the very first attempt. He left his college graduation
midway to enrol at the NSD.
Realisation of a finer craft:
When Vipin was studying at the NSD, Film Appreciation was a part of the
syllabus. He saw innumerable foreign language films, along with English ones,
and films belonging to other languages from India. He was always a great fan of
actors from Hindi cinema, Amitab Bachchan was amongst his favorite. But during
his NSD years he got introduced to great actors from European cinema. Their
talents and craft influenced him greatly.
The European actors influence:
He discovered the foreign (European in particular) actors were more
subdued, subtle and less melodramatic than the star actors belonging to
mainstream Hindi cinema. Watching these foreign actors perform he identified
more with them than the actors he was familiar with and fond of from mainstream
Hindi cinema.
The travel bug:
After NSD, Vipin felt acting is not for him, and the travel bug in him
overpowered him. Kind of a lost soul, he travelled around India a lot and then
to Berlin, Russia and Canada. He worked as a professional video editor in Toromto
for a few years. Even though he was making a decent living off editing in
Canada, the thought of acting in films never left him. He began to feel he must
go to Mumbai and try his luck in films.
Irrfan & Maqbool - arrival of a new breed of fillmmakers:
Vipin happened to come to Mumbai on a visit from Canada, and met his
friend, actor Irrfan Khan. Irrfan’s Maqbool (2003) was releasing and he
suggested Vipin watch it, saying, “Filmmakers nowadays are making very
different kind of films. You will like it.” Irrfan is also a NSD graduate.
Vipin saw Maqbool and was highly impressed with it. He confessed to
Irrfan that even though he is quite settled as an editor in Canada, he often
thinks of returning to Acting, but fears it may be too late. Irrfan suggested
Vipin settle in Mumbaai if he wants to become an actor, because without being
present personally it will be very hard to get a break. Because people here are
not very good at responding to phone messages and emails.
A criticism that could have pulled him down:
But a senior actor and friend in Mumbai told Vipin he should not try in
films, because by staying away from the field for nearly a decade he must have
forgotten the craft of acting. His friend’s comment bugged Vipin, and he
returned to Canada with the thought that he must reboot, refresh, his acting
skills by enrolling in an acting workshop.
Vipin continued to work as an editor in Toronto, but a singular thought
kept reappearing, “I will not die an editor. There is something else in store
for me in life.’
Sanford Meisner’s acting methodology:
Eager to refresh his acting education in Canada, Vipin came across a
workshop for actors on Meisner’s acting methodology. This workshop experience,
he says, ‘…changed my life. I felt I can act. The experience and knowledge of
Meisner’s methodology gave me the confidence to return to Mumbai and try my
luck in films.’ (smiles)
Vipin reflects, “Meisner’s acting methodology made me realise that the
name given to the acting profession, ‘Acting’, is incorrect. Because good
acting is not really acting. It’s listening, feeling and believing. The
‘reality’ of doing is what good acting amounts to. Not ‘pretending’ to listen,
but actually listening to your co actor/s, would make you perform the role, the
character, more believably. I would suggest people who are ambitious to become
actors look up Meisner’s teachings in film libraries or online. Although
Meisner had himself said, reading my book will not help.”
Here is a link for a quick insight to Meisner’s acting methodology
(http://hhsdrama.com/documents/07WebSanfordMeisneronActing.pdf)
Workshops:
Vipin has sometimes conducted workshops in Meisner’s acting methodology
for actors like Chitrangada Singh, and some others, when requested by his
friend and director Sudhir Mishra, during the script rehearsals/pre-production
of Sudhir’s Yeh Saali Zindagi (2011). He still conducts these workshops on and
off when invited.
First film:
Armed with a renewed self-confidence Vipin arrived in Mumbai to become
an actor, just as Irrfan had advised him, “… be present in Mumbai to be an
actor here.”, and soon bagged a role in a prestigious production, actor Aamir
Khan’s (first film as director) Taare Zameen Par (2007) was Vipin’s first film
as an actor.
My take:
This was the first film I ever saw back to back twice in a cinema hall.
And the character of the troubled father played by Vipin was not acting, but
reality for me. My hat off to even the script writer of this awesome film, Amol
Gupte.
The actor-director relationship:
Vipin feels that directors who allowed him the ‘space’ to explore a
scene and or character managed to get really good performance out of him. “A
good director allows an actor part ownership, or sometimes complete, of the
character, and will not dictate nor spoon feed the actor about how the
character will think, talk and move. A good director may only go to the extent
of offering suggestions and or options/choices to the actor, and not beyond.
When a director allows his actor such privileges, the actor will be able to deliver
a far better performance than what even the actor may have expected from
himself or herself.”
I think, directors who know their script and character really well have
the ability to give an actor choices, allow them to explore beyond their own
expressions. These directors are not insecure about themselves. However, if the
actor is limited, the director may not offer him or her too many choices and or
even too much information, because a limited actor can get more easily
confused.
A complete NO on Vipin’s list is an unfortunate habit some directors
have. That of showing an actor EXACTLY how they want him or her to perform!
(laughs) Maybe those directors are seeking claps for themselves on set, he
jokes. But, to not judge them, if the director feels his or her actor will do a
better job if he is shown how to do a particular scene, or action, Vipin
suggests … “Then the director should do so in privacy, and not on the film set
in front of the crew and other actors; it’s demoralising.”
Signifying the importance of a director, Vipin elaborates that an actor
cannot watch himself or herself while performing. That is why the director’s
feedback, an honest one, becomes so crucial for an actor. And the level of
conviction with which a director gives feedback to his actor can boost the
actor’s confidence or destroy it.
Vipin rarely watches his own performance on the video assist monitor. He
rather trust the directors when they say the shot is great, or not. And the
trust should be mutual. It cannot be a one way street. (smiles)
Not judging the directors he has worked with so far, but when pushed to
name a few he feels were able to help him perform better, helped him own the
character he was performing, Vipin names Aamir Khan, Anurag Kashyap, Tigmanshu
Dhulia, and Sudhir Mishra. “Good directors let you be after they have expressed
to you all that they need you to know about your character. Then they allow you
the space, the liberty and the choice to explore. Becoming your travel companion
on the journey of your character’s arc.”
The arc:
When Vipin is offered a script, he is looking to see the arc of the
character offered to him. An interesting journey, arc, of his character makes
the character interesting to perform.
Ever evolving:
Scripts get altered as they are shot and edited. Sometimes the
character’s arc can change for the worse. At times the arc cam get better as
its production progresses. Vipin says “Since an actor cannot predict how it
will turn out to be, you just need to keep the faith while at it.” (smiles)
Filmmography:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1479650/
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The directors’ on Cinema & Filmmaking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8bnPI95HCs
The directors’ Beginnings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgbvst-mhOw
The directors’ Convictions: (What convinced the directors to come on
board our book, their reasons behind our book) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQgoJwP1sd8
The directors’ Challenges: https://youtu.be/1BmjGGurM5U
Imtiaz Ali’s 1st film being his film school & our book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzC18coaoLw
Zoya Akhtar on being a 1st time film maker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsdg8UNfwKs
Shyam Benegal on ‘… Why directors’..’ : https://youtu.be/3-u3GRgkt8E
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