"Theatrical acting" and "method acting"!

Sivaji Ganesan was truly a legend in Tamil cinema. For any cinema buff, who lived during those decades, Sivaji was the yardstick, based on which, all other actors were measured. Once started on this topic, elders in the family waxed eloquent, “Sivaji was the most complete actor. The current day artistes cannot hold a candle to him! This is not blind fanaticism. Look at the range of roles he has played! In “Nava-ratri”, he did 9 characters in one film, each character, completely different from the other! Much later, they tried to copy the film in Hindi with a different actor. But who can match Sivaji? Sivaji is Sivaji!”

What was equally admirable, was the consistency, when it came to supporting arguments, from a Sivaji fan. It was as if, like the thespian, the fan too, followed the same script, whether it be father or any other uncle in the extended family. “In Thillana-Mohanambal, Sivaji learnt to play the nadaswaram, so that he could essay the role convincingly! Look at his finger movements, the wobble in his shoulders, and even the blood-vessel throbbing on his forehead! And when it came to the film “Mridanga-chakravarti”, he mastered the percussion instrument. His entire body language was spot-on! “Nadai-udai-bhaavanai”- in walk, in dress, in expression, he became the role! That was his forte! His portrayal of “Karna” was matchless. And when it came to the freedom fighter “veera pandiya kattabomman”, what can we say? The dialogues from the film are cinematic folklore, that give goosebumps even now!” At this point, the Sivaji fan normally drifted off to “kisthi-thirai-vari-vaddi…” Sivaji’s most iconic tete-a-tete with “Jackson Durai” in the film!

Growing up in Mumbai, we were one generation too late.  Sivaji’s “heydays” were over. Also, access to Sivaji’s films was limited. Occasionally, the Sunday afternoon “regional film” on TV was a Tamil film in which Sivaji starred. Call it generation gap, you couldn’t help, but make some observations, “He is so melodramatic. Don’t you think his emotions are a little over the top, appa?” The Sivaji fan at home interjected before you could continue further, “Yes, he comes from a theatre background. In a drama, you need to emote- to convey that “rasa” to the audience. You cannot mumble, like today’s artistes do, standing still, like a pillar or a tree! The performance must be impactful, and that’s where Sivaji was head and shoulders above all others!”

If the Sunday afternoon film was in a regional language, the Sunday evening TV slot was reserved for Bollywood. Sometimes, they played films from a previous era. Comparisons were inevitable. The superstar Dilip Kumar followed a different acting style. He was called a “method actor”. No one exactly knew what “method acting” meant. Maybe, in acting too, there was a set template that could be followed- perhaps, some “method to the madness”.

Dilip saab was from that school. As Prince Salim, in the film Mughal-e-Azam, he took on Akbar, the Great. It was truly…a clash of the titans! “Taqdeeren badal jaati hain, zamaanaa badal jaataa hai, mulkon ki taareekh badal jaati hai…”- Dilip saab’s legendary lines from the film, left its impact on an entire generation of cinemagoers.

The Sivaji fan, his pride, pricked earlier in the day, took pot-shots at this scene. “The lines are beautiful, but with due credit to Dilip Saab, he is mumbling, with no enunciation or emphasis at all! It falls completely flat. He sounds like a cricket commentator running through some rote lines like…3 slips, a gully, a short leg…! Where is the emotion, where is the emotion, I say?”

 Someone had to rush to Dilip saab’s rescue, “Yes, the emotion is “understated”. It is restrained acting, and that’s what gives it greater impact. Maybe, Salim and Akbar talked in such a matter-of-fact fashion, back then. Who knows?”

Once the film ended on Sunday night, suddenly, the dread of Monday morning and school loomed large.  Some comic relief was needed to ease the tension. We took Dilip saab’s lines and parodied how Sivaji would have rendered the same scene. Sivaji would have likely said “Taqdeeren” and stopped. He would have peppered it with a low baritone laugh, followed by “badal jaati hain”, his eyes bulging, followed by a purse of the lips, and with his arms held aloft, in a dramatic style! The dialogue would have taken forever. By then, Akbar would have given up. Anarkali would have surely given up. And Akbar would have anyway dispatched marching orders to seal Anarkali’s fate. As far as Prince Salim goes…who knows? He will still be pantomiming…in the middle of his impactful speech, oblivious to all else!

Sivaji and Dilip saab- two actors, two styles, two languages, both…legends all the same!