“I think someday when I become a director, I hopefully have actors who ask me as many questions.” Siddharth speaks on how working as an assistant director helped him become a better actor.
Thanks to KKR Mind Studio for the footage.
Thanks to KKR Mind Studio for the footage.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00When I first became an actor, I always thought of it as a temporary job.
00:05Actors are very vain, selfish, immature people.
00:11One evening before your release, are we?
00:14That's a lovely question.
00:16It's actually a question you will get a different answer from every actor.
00:21In fact, probably a different answer every time you answer the same actor also.
00:26Because there's really no hard and fast about this question.
00:31Because when I first became an actor, I always thought of it as a temporary job.
00:38That I would become a director one day and fulfill my dream.
00:42Then I realized that I'm just becoming an actor, I'm getting more and more work.
00:47Then it started becoming important to me.
00:50And I can tell you from personal experience in the last 10 years,
00:53the more important it becomes to you, the less you enjoy the releases.
01:00It's kind of inversely proportional.
01:02The less you actually think about it,
01:04the more enjoyable it becomes to watch a film on the first day.
01:08Because you're not thinking about it.
01:09Because what happens is, this whole thing of a hit or a flop
01:13is not really that important to any actor.
01:16Because actors are very vain, selfish, immature people.
01:20We just want to look at ourselves on screen.
01:22Did I do this well?
01:23Is my looking alright?
01:25Is my makeup okay?
01:26Is my hair spiked at the right place?
01:28This is what we are concerned with.
01:29How much money the producer got or made or lost, we don't care.
01:33But when all this conversation happens before a release,
01:37people start talking about hits and flops.
01:38And the industry uses these words.
01:40And the media uses these words.
01:41That's when it kind of gets into your own thinking.
01:45So instead of thinking of one of two things,
01:47which is, is it a nice film or not?
01:49Or if I'm looking nice or not?
01:50You start thinking of how much money this film will make,
01:53which territory it will make, what profit.
01:55That is not an enjoyable part of the show.
01:57So I mean, I've trained myself to care a lot
02:02and think a lot about my film till the day I finish dubbing it.
02:06And then I just forget about it.
02:08I just forget about it.
02:09Because I want to enjoy the release.
02:11As it is, we've lost the fun of watching films on the first day
02:14because we are in them.
02:16It's not fun watching yourself.
02:18How did the director in you take up sometimes?
02:20The director is the wannabe director.
02:23And we come out and do something.
02:25That's a good question.
02:28Training as an assistant director.
02:30I'm a better actor than him.
02:32Because it helps me understand things other than acting better.
02:36What happens in a film shoot and the technical aspects of it.
02:40But the truth of the matter is,
02:43many people have different opinions of what an actor's job is.
02:47So if you as business students were asked, what's an actor's job?
02:51Some of you might say, it's his job.
02:53He gets paid.
02:54He has to come.
02:54What the director says, he should do.
02:56Some of you might say, no, he should actually prepare and do research
03:00and get the character right and do method acting and come and do it.
03:03So everybody has a different take.
03:04I have a very simple logic of how to perform.
03:08And that's what I applied even to my own mentor.
03:10Which is, until I have zero doubts in my mind,
03:14I can't perform without inhibition.
03:18So I ask him as many questions as I have.
03:22For simple reasons that when you're acting,
03:24it's always my method makes me need to have all those answers.
03:29So you can call that the assistant director and me or the actor and me.
03:32Both of them do the same thing.
03:33They ask lots of questions.
03:35And I would say anybody, because at this age in your life,
03:38it's the finest thing I can tell you is never be afraid to ask questions.
03:42Because there's only two things that can happen.
03:45Either somebody will answer you or they won't answer you.
03:47But at least you'll be a better person for having asked that question.
03:50At least you're identifying yourself that you have that doubt.
03:52And it won't linger inside your head after that.
03:55So if it applies to daily life, it applies doubly to acting.
03:58So that's how I approach it.
04:00I ask lots of questions.
04:01And I think someday when I become a director,
04:04I'll hopefully have actors who ask me as many questions
04:06because it will help me clear all my doubts then too.