Bollywood may not be generous when it comes to churning out biopics. But when it does, it tries to get under the skin of characters, the research behind Bhaag Milkha Bhaag being a case in point. Eram Agha spoke to experts about the portrayal of other heroes
The Rajs, Rahuls, and Chulbul Pandeys can be designed to the tastes of the audience.But real-life characters like a Gandhi, an MS Subbulakshmi or Milkha Singh have to be worked on, according to fact and history.
The game of getting under the skin of the character changes, when the industry picks up an icon that lived and is still loved. You cannot hurt sentiments or play with someone’s image. The person’s family becomes important sometimes. And so does the junta, which knows everything much about the hero they worshipped.
When Darshan Zariwala, the actor who played Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhi My Father bumped into an audience member, he was surprised to be thanked, but not congratulated!
He remembered, “An old lady walked to me, and said ‘thank you’. She didn’t say well done. That is how we take our heroes. They belong to us.”
Work in progress
One of the films expected to be released in the following months, is Rajiv Menon’s biopic, based on MS Subbulakshmi. He chose Vidya Balan over others, because of the actress’ understanding of Hindustani sangeet, which was important for her to pull off the legendary icon’s life story.
She will have to to carry off the singer’s age span, between 18 to 88 years, working on her body language and vocal inflexion. Balan had wanted to play lata Mangeshkar’s role at one point.
Her love and knowledge of music won her the role of MS, which as a South Indian she feels honoured to play. Is taking up a fictional character lighter than the task of playing roles based on real life heroesIJ “You can put a fictional character in any time and space. But with real people, you have to be careful, because we their character and work is well-known,” said Zariwala. It comes with responsibility, “There is the individual’s family and friends to consider,” remarked Kai Po Che actor Rajkumar Yadav.
He tasted critical acclaim with Shahid based on legal activist, Shahid Azmi. “The work in biopics goes beyond sets. This role required me to go out to meet his family, friends and understand his story. There was no material available on him. Just two pictures. I went to courtrooms and sat for hours to understand proceedings of a case,” said Yadav.
Physical and cultural milieu
last year when we had asked Farhan Akhtar about his phenomenal weight loss he replied, “I am glad my hard work is showing. Preparation for the role is detailed. I don’t know where to start. Every minute counts.” Physical appearance has to be kept in mind, but not overrated. In some cases, copying physical appearance gets tricky, because there is a danger of resembling a caricature. For this reason, the makers of Mary Kom biopic first went all out to get prosthetic treatment and heavy lids for Priyanka Chopra, then decided to stick to Kom’s emotional journey.
Sanjay Chouhan, writer of the film informed us, “Paan Singh Tomar was 6.4 inches tall, but the director ignored this. His line, ‘even if you are losing, complete the race,’ was more important,” he said. Khan was chosen for athleticism. Zariwala, who played Gandhi’s character in Gandhi My Father, picked a dhoti for the external look. The rest was make-up and cultural prep. “I kept my research simple and just read letters exchanged between Hari lal and Gandhi. They were written in Gujarati. And since I know the language I pulled off the character convincingly. If someone without the knowledge of it tried to play this role, he would have failed to bring out nuances,” he said. Adding, “With a non-fictional character you must make audiences disbelieve it’s you. Do not succumb to mimicry.”
Making moneyIJ
“An interesting and acceptable mix of fact and fiction is important to bring the audience to the show,” said Chouhan. Distributor Sanjay Ghai agreed, commenting, “For any biopic to translate into good business there must be entertainment with information. All serious biopics bombed at the box office.
They make for good festival screenings but not for show time. Biopics with a serious tone, don’t do well like Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Make a good story. Even Ramayana and Mahabharata are good biopics that adapt a gripping storyline and can be narrated with masala.” With all these efforts, the market remains mercurial. But at least our filmmakers and stars are stepping out of their comfort zone.