Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Diasporic Actors - Do they really act?
Kal Penn
Purva Bedi
Sheetal
Sepiamutiny led me to Kal Penn's blog .
I am often intrigued by these actors, too desi to make it into any mainstream cinema and IMHO too undesi to make it in Bollywood. Their acting abilities are only to portray and break stereotypes of the South Asian Community, their physical characteristics are more important than their acting skills, their brown looks are often used to capture the ethnic, not character emotions that mark a fine actor.
A lot of South Asian Actors from the diaspora will only be portraying their "Indian Ethnicity" on screen, never a true acting talent. I do feel it is time that these actors realize that the genre of "South Asian Diaspora Film" has few story lines so they can never really break the mold of the "confused", "identity" character. The other thing is doing smaller roles in mainstream TV and film, just because you’re brown is never going to give you the label of world class actor.
I think South Asian film makers and production houses need to produce films that have strong story lines with actors from the diaspora who do more than just display cultural dilemmas. They need to produce films of historical relevance, social purpose, commercial value and artistic integrity.
Comments
true, most often their role in the mivie is only to reinforce popular 'Asian' (read Paki - how I used to hate that word)stereotypes - even a fine actor like Om Puri played a wife bashing husband in East is East (although I expect people believe the movie is amore than just that - but think about it, can a 'brown' actor ever be a main character in a 'white' movie?
I don't think a brown actos can ever be a main character in a white movie, likewise a white man can never be a main chracter in a brown movie.
What I am suggesting is that we need more original storylines for where there is the acting skills involved.
Like I said in my last para - Ithink South Asian film makers and production houses need to produce films that have strong story lines with actors from the diaspora who do more than just display cultural dilemmas. They need to produce films of historical relevance, social purpose, commercial value and artistic integrity
You have taken up an interesting research area. My long term plan is to direct a movie that has appeal across nationalities. Let's see in what timeframe I can get there :-)
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