In cinema, the term ‘method acting’ holds a very special place. It draws a line between a performance and a stellar performance. Actors who believe in method acting have time and again stood out from the crowd. Be it Ranveer Singh in ‘Padmavaat’ or Rajkummar Rao in ‘Trapped,’ the madness in their method made sure to etch their characters in the hearts of the audience.
What is method acting?
If we talk a little about the history of method acting, then it dates back to the 19th century. It was developed in Russia by a theater practitioner called Konstantin Stanislavski. In the early days, it was proposed with the thought of introducing the concept of realism into acting. Later, Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan redefined the game.
Stanislavski argued that actors should rely on their personal experiences to deliver authentic performances. This method centered on actors tapping into their own memories and feelings to embody their roles.
For instance, if an actor is assigned the role of a psychopath, they may be quite different from this character. A straightforward technique for the actor would be to draw upon their own feelings of anger or anything else relevant to their character.
The actor not only immerses themselves in the character’s mindset but also begins to live as that character outside of their performances. This process can allow the actor to thoroughly adapt to their role and deliver an outstanding performance.
Method acting in Bollywood
One of the perfect examples of the same is Ranveer Singh’s work as ‘Khilji’ in ‘Padmaavat.’ From being a quintessential hero to playing a deeply dark and disturbed antagonist, it wasn’t a cakewalk for him. Even the decision to shift his image from that of a protagonist to a villain came with its own risks. In an interview with BT, the actor shared, “I was fully aware that for a mainstream leading man like me to play such a dark and evil role at this stage of my career was a risk. There were people who told me, “If you are going to play a villain at this stage, how is the audience going to react to it?”
“I was apprehensive… ki aise ulta nahin ho jaaye… that if they hate the character, then they (the audience) end up hating me. But I convinced myself with the belief that today’s audience can recognize a performance for what it is. Alauddin Khilji was a multi-layered, juicy character for me to play, but personally, it was a huge risk,” he added.
He continued, “The time when it was offered to me, I was in a very happy and light mind space. Ideally, I wanted to do a comedy, and I wasn’t ready to play such a dark character. Also, knowing my process, I could foresee that this was going to take me into some dark web. I knew that iss me ghusa…toh bahut lamba ghus jaaonga. When you are playing a character like this, you have to dig into some deep, buried life experiences. To generate that kind of darkness and to tap into it on a daily basis for so long takes its toll on someone. It took a toll on me, too.”
As Ranveer Singh rightly said, playing a character this intense takes a toll. When one of Bollywood’s finest stars, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, was shooting ‘Raman Raghav 2.0,’ he experienced something similar.
During the shoot of his thriller, the actor got unwell and was taken to the hospital. Speaking to PTI about it, he shared, “I was told later that even while I was almost half-unconscious in the hospital, I was repeating my dialogues from the film.”
Back then his significant other came to Anurag and asked what he was making him do. “Something like this, to this extent, never happened to me. This role was mentally draining for me,” said Nawaz.
Further, while talking about the madness that goes behind the method, he shared, “The first thing that I had to understand was that the character comes from a different world; he does not think like you and I. People like these, especially Raman Raghav, have a different mindset; they follow their own logic of doing things. It is not easy for us to even think of what he used to do so easily. I had to get under the skin of the character, understand him completely, and then portray it convincingly on screen. It was really tough.”
It is worth noting that method acting is not just limited to dark characters or antagonistic roles. It goes for a character that has meat, that has substance. For instance, Shah Rukh Khan’s role in ‘Devdas.’ King Khan played a heartbroken alcoholic in the movie, and to get into the skin of the character, he began drinking. Speaking about it at the Locarno Film Festival, Shah Rukh revealed that though his performance earned him love and recognition, there was a downside as well. He said, “It might have helped, but I started drinking after the film, and that’s one downside to it.”
“I didn’t want people to love him or hate him. Nor did I want the audience to like him just because he was an alcoholic running away from every woman he loved. I simply wanted him to feel indescribable,” he shared while talking about the complexity of his character.
The technique that SRK used in ‘Devdas’ is called ‘as if.’ It revolves around the actor’s personal life. In the “as if” method, actors practice imagining themselves in their character’s situations and emotions, allowing them to access a more authentic and believable performance.
Another very recent example of the same was shown by Randeep Hooda in his movie ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar.’
Randeep was 92 kilos when the movie came to him. Before starting the movie, he had to be 60 kilos. For several days, he worked hard to lose a kilo per day, and the actor admitted it was a hard nut to crack. And that is not it; he read about Savarkar and went to Kala Pani’s cell, where the late activist was imprisoned. He had to know for himself and imagine ‘as if’ he was trapped in a cell that small.
The entire journey of transforming from Randeep to Sarvarkar took its toll on the actor, both emotionally and physically. His parents even made him promise not to take such roles going ahead, as they were scared to see the massive weight loss and the changes it caused.
In a nutshell…
Method acting exemplifies the depth and dedication of artists who invest in their craft. They often push their physical and mental boundaries and explore emotional and psychological depths to deliver authentic performances. This ultimately highlights the intricate relationship between an actor’s journey and the stories they tell.