Film
Actors
“The Best Thing about you is you” Anupam Kher
I was invited a
couple of years ago to give a series of lectures at the National Academy of
Audit and Accounts at Shimla. Though I used to visit frequently Chandigarh and
Sanawar, I never took time off to visit Shimla and missed an opportunity to
visit. This time I was particularly interested to visit for a peculiar reason
and that was to go and have snack at the “Alfa Restaurant” in the Mall road in
Shimla. The name of this restaurant struck deeply in mind after I attended a
talk by Anupm Kher at the Ahmedabad Management Association a few years ago. In this
talk on “ Face to Face with Achievers of Excellence” in August 2010, a team of students prepared a
collage of his significant films starting with Saaransh to Wednesday and “Wake up Sid” in 2009.
While talking about his own life Anupam Kher mentioned that
when he was young his father frequently took his family once in every six
months to Alfa Restaurant and they used to have mutton samosa, Gulab jomon and espresso Coffee. In those
days the students in schools used to be asked to sit in the next class after
the exams until the results were declared and when the results were declared if
they fail, they have to go back to the older class and sit with the new
students promoted to the older class. I remember that I myself went through
such a practice in my village school in Akunuru of Andhra Pradesh in 50s.
Anupam Kher narrated an interesting incident after he completed his examination
in 10th class. The school reopened and he had to sit in the 11th
class until the results were declared. His father was working in the Forest
Department and knew people in the education department. A few days passed by
and his father one day came to the school in the middle of the classes and took
him to Alfa restaurant and ordered
mutton samosa and gualb jamoon - the usual menu they sued to feast on.
Anupam Kher was wondering all the time why his father got him again to Alfa
restaurant as they just had been there a few weeks ago. After Kher finished eating he asked his
father’, “ why this feast. For which father apparently replied saying, “Beta,
You failed in 10th class and that is why I am celebrating”. Anupam
Kher was quite stunned and asked him again: “Failed, If I failed, then why this
celebration” to which his father replied, “”I am celebrating this so that you
will never be afraid of failure in life”.
That was touching story told by Anupam Kher and it left a
unforgettable imprint in me. I kept showing his talk in most of my classes this
part of his speech while giving 360 Degree Feedback and I must have shown this
film at least 30 to 40 times to various groups to make a point on managing
failures. The Alfa restaurant and Anupam Kher became a part my psyche for
managing failures. Anupam Kher shared many more lessons from his life some of
which are stated in his book published three years later. Some of the things I
learnt from him as lessons from his own life are to share your weaknesses with
others so that you don’t have to be ashamed of them. He talked of how he had facial paralysis at
the time of shooting his film “Hum AAP Ke Hi Koun” and was told by his doctor
to go back to Shimla and take rest. He almost decided to that but went on to
the sets and announced his problem with his friends. His friends gave him a lot
of assurance and the shooting went on without him having to go back to Shimla.
He also talked of how he did not know any acting when he was young and how he
discovered his interest after a few years and went on pursuing the same. I felt that I have learnt a lot from his
speech and even today I show it as a part of my class on 360 Degree feedback. He
came to Ahmedaabd to start a school called “Actor Prepares”. Among various
things he talked of are the need to know yourself, discover your talent, never be afraid of
failures etc. One of the things e we talk in our Leadership development
programs is the need for self management. In fact Peter Drucker wrote an
article on self management in Harvard Business Review which became a classic. In
the article Peter Drucker makes the following points for those aspiring to be
effective managers and leaders:
1. Know what you are good at. A person
can perform only from Strengths. One cannot build performance on
weaknesses, let alone something one cannot do at all. Put yourself where your
strengths can produce results and work to improve your strengths. Avoid
intellectual arrogance – acquire skills as required. Remedy bad habits; have no
lack of manners.
2. Successful careers develop when
people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their
method of work, and their values. Discover where you belong. Knowing where one
belongs can transform an ordinary person – hardworking and competent but
otherwise mediocre – into an outstanding performer
3. Do not try to change yourself (too
much) – instead, work harder to improve the way you perform
In many ways Anupam Kher was saying very similar things
drawn out of his own experiences. Kher’s later book and his response to his
father’s death in 2012 have all excellent lessons for all those aspiring to be
effective.
As soon as I landed up in Shimla that day the first thing I did
in that evening was to visit Alfa restaurant and order same menu Kher used to
order. I even enquired with the bearer who has been there for several years if
Kher visits. He mentioned that he does see him once in a while. Perhaps I was
unconsciously reassured that Kher was not acting in the session in AMA when he
narrated the story of his father on failures. In fact like a child getting
autograph of famous people I retained the Alfa restaurant bill in my valet for
the next couple of years and thrown. In fact I even showed it to my daughter
who also admired the talk by Anupam Kher proudly to say that I visited the restaurant
where Anupam Kher was given the news of his failure in exams by his father. Nandini
Chawla edits a magazine called “Perfect Professional” for which she got Anupam
Kher to write an article.
Anupam Kher himself is a good actor he impresses others even
in his speeches sharing his life experiences.
Anupam Kher[i]
was born in 1955 in Shimla,
into a Kashmiri Pandit family. His father was a clerk and he
had a modest upbringing. He received education at D.A.V. School in Shimla. He is an alumnus and a
former chairperson of the National School of
Drama. Some of his early
acting roles were in plays performed at the Himachal Pradesh
University. He has
acted in several hundred films and many plays. He has also appeared in
acclaimed international films such as the 2002 Golden Globe nominated Bend It Like Beckham, Ang
Lee's 2007 Golden
Lion winning Lust, Caution, and David
O. Russell's 2013 Oscar winning Silver Linings Playbook. He
has held the post of chairman of Central Board of Film Certification and National School of Drama in India. In 2004, he was
honoured with the Padma
Shri by the Government of India for
his contribution to Indian
cinema. Kher has won the Filmfare
Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role five times.
Kher
made his acting debut in the 1982 Hindi movie Aagman. Then in 1984
came Saaransh, where 28-year-old Kher played a retired middle
class Maharashtrian man who has lost his son. He hosted TV shows such as Say
Na Something To Anupam Uncle, Sawaal Dus Crore Ka, Lead India and the
recent The Anupam Kher Show - Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai . He
has had many comic roles but has also played the villain such as his acclaimed
role as terrorist Dr. Dang in Karma (1986). For his
role in Daddy (1989) he received the Filmfare Critics Award for Best
Performance. He has starred
alongside Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan many times in
films such as Darr (1993), Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Chaahat (1996), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Mohabbatein (2000) and Veer-Zaara (2004).
He
ventured into directing with Om Jai Jagadish (2002) and has
been a producer. He produced and starred in the film Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (2005). He received the Best Actor Award from
the Karachi International Film Festival for his performance. The role of the Police
Commissioner Rathor, played by him in critically and commercially
acclaimed A Wednesday is also very much appreciated.
Kher
is known internationally for Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Bride and Prejudice (2004), Speedy Singhs (2011), his
appearance on the hit TV show ER, and more recently
in The Mistress of Spices (2006) and Lust, Caution (2007). In 2012 he co-starred in the Academy Award-winning Silver Linings Playbook.
Kher
has written and starred in a play about his own life called Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai,
which was directed by Feroz Abbas Khan.
In
2007, Anupam Kher, with his batch mate of NSD, Satish Kaushik, started a film
production company, Karol Bagh Productions. Their first film, Tere Sang,
was directed by Satish Kaushik. He was appointed in 2010 as the goodwill
ambassador of the Pratham Education Foundation, which strives to improve children's education in
India.
Anupam Kher Foundation is a Public Charitable Trust which was founded in
the year 2008. This foundation which is based out of Mumbai, aims to maximize
the future opportunities for children from less privileged background by
promoting and advocating good quality education aimed at holistic growth.
ACTOR PREPARES[ii]
is India's finest acting school for talented individuals who wish to pursue
careers as actor-performers in the entertainment industry. Established in 2005
by Anupam Kher, it is the only school for actors in the world to be founded by
an actor who is professionally active. The intensive professional-level course
provides specialised training in acting. The classes at ACTOR PREPARES are
conducted by competent in-house faculty members who passionately teach the
craft through practical, theory classes, games, exercises and extensively
filmed practicals. In addition, there is a roster of Bollywood celebrities,
which comprises the schools visiting faculty, who share with students their
invaluable on-the-job experiences and tips to success. Above all, each student
receives individual guidance and counselling from the country’s most successful,
trained teacher-actor, Anupam Kher, throughout the programme.
Like Anupam Kher’s story every actor and actress has a story
to share. Rajnikanth has story to share and it got reflected in some ways in
his Tamil version of the movie “Billu Barber”. Every life ahs lessons and some
of them draw lessons consciously and share w them with others for the benefit of
others. These are more effective people than those that don’t even articulate
lessons from their own experiences and don’t even are to share. A year ago
Amitabh Bachchan visited IIM campus to share his experiences in advertising for
Gujarat Government to promote tourism. There are many lessons students drew
from his interactions. Kandaswamy Bharatan Executive Director of Kavithalaya
Productions started by the famous K. Balachander teaches a course at IIMA and
in the last few years got to the classroom Actors like Shriya Saran, Dhanush,
Amir Khan and others to share their experiences. Kamal Hassan is another actor
who shares his experiences for the benefit of others. In my view this makes
them more effective than those who don’t share. The lives of some of the actors
themselves are lessons to learn.
Lessons from Actors
Good actors are accomplished artists. Most public related to
them through their movies and messages delivered through the movies besides the
entertainment. Movies have always played
a significant role in the lives of many people. I am one of those who learnt a
lot from movies. I only see Telugu and Hindi movies and rarely English movies
and that keeps me more Indian. I don’t miss any good movie and I keep watching
them to learn some lessons. I particularly value films that promote values. Those
of us who were brought up in Andhra in
50s and 60s have seen NTR, ANR and SVR movies and leant a lot on family values,
values or lack of them of the rich, qualities of a good leader, how good leader
should ensure that poor people are taken care of etc. etc.. films have a lot of
impact on the mind. The Actors therefore leave lasting impressions in your
mind. They are only a part of making of a film but they are the face of a film
and the way they act is what makes an impact or imprint in your mind. They are
in “Influence Profession”. Films have the potential of changing the culture or
creating the new culture. So Actors are important and there are lesson to be
learnt.
Who is an Actor?
An effective actor is one who acts well and impresses you
with his performance. In this book we are not merely looking at success but we
are looking at the impact you make and the service you provide. So for the
purposes of out r assessment of Actors as effective people, we need to look at
the impact they make and the service they do for the society.
An effective actor is perhaps Talented and acts well. A more
effective actor makes wise choice of the films he or she should act. Those who act
in films with a message and deliver the message well to impact the values and
culture of the country or society are more effective actors than those who
merely ct well. Those who influence millions through creation of additional mechanisms
and become role models for others are perhaps Super Effective. For example when
Anupam Kher is using his action talent to train others by starting a school
that prepares actors, he is a super effective person as he is not only reaching
out to people through his movies but also through other activities that perhaps
leave a even more lasting effect.
The following is an illustrative case studies of some of the actors who have made a
significant impact on the lives of many:
Recent years Kangana Ranaut
made a good deal of impact on the
society through the kind of films she picked up like “ Queen: and “Tanu Weds
Manu 2” on the courage and independence of women. For example the following are
some of the things women can learn from the film queen[iii]:
1.
"You" are your biggest happiness
2. Meet
“yourself”
3. Take experiences as a part of life, and not life itself
4. There
is more to a tragedy. Maybe getting dumped or not having things turn out
the way you dreamt, is for the best after all! At times, it is the worst things
that can bring out the best in you.
5. Freedom is not to be able to do whatever you
want, but to be able to be who you truly are
6. Never underestimate the role that your friends play in
your life.
7. You are not weak.
Whether you see the ladies in your home or the ones running nations or those
winning medals for the country, women are in no way “weak”.
Amitabh Bachchan is not only an acknowledge Super star all over the world but a lot can be learnt from his own life and the varieties of career he had, the roles he played and the ups and downs he went through including an attempt to corporatize his name and achievements. Almost every movie he played had a message besides a big entertainment value. Besides being a great actor he influenced the lives of many young and old ones through his “Kaun Banega Krorepathi” which disseminated information and recent years started promoting tourism by being brand ambassador to some sates using his acting talent and brand name. The following are 10 lessons suggested to be drawn from his life and work in a write from the internet[iv]:
1. Create
a niche: Amitabh Bachchan entered the
Indian film industry when it was dominated by actors like Rajesh Khanna,
Dharmendra, Sunil Dutt and Dev Anand. While most were comfortable playing the
romantic hero, he took up the challenge of doing action films, thus creating a
niche for himself
2. Don't
take no for an answer: It seems unbelievable that Mr Bachchan was once rejected
by broadcaster All India Radio because they did not like his voice. Ironically,
today the actor's deep baritone and impeccable dialogue delivery have acquired
iconic status. He worked as a playback singer for 29 movies and in 2005, even
lent his voice as narrator to Luc Jacquet's Oscar-winning French
documentary, March of the Penguins.
3. Accept
failure, but never give up: In 1995, three years into semi-retirement from the
film industry, he founded Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited, an event
management and production firm.
Although the company achieved considerable success in
its first year, it subsequently suffered crippling losses, forcing Mr Bachchan
to take up acting again in order to cope with massive business debts. In July
2000, he came back with a bang to host the first instalment of reality series Kaun Banega Crorepati, which
went on to become the most watched TV show in the country.
4. Learn from everyone: He's worked with junior co-stars and directors half his age, but
he's never reported to throw tantrums or push his weight around on set or
otherwise.
5. Give everything your 100 per cent: His dedication to his craft is
apparent in the movies like Black, and Paa.
In Paa to get into character,
Bachchan had to spend four to five hours
every day donning prosthetic makeup, post which he could not eat or drink
normally -- and it took two hours after each shoot to get rid of it. Despite his age and seniority, he did
not complain once, which is the mark of a true professional. Paa remains one of his best
performances to date.
6. Forgive and forget, and never lose sight of the
bigger picture: To be sure, he has
had his share of fall-outs, which are inevitable -- the Gandhi family, Shah
Rukh Khan, Amar Singh, Anurag Kashyap, various media publications -- but there's no denying that he does
not believe in mud-slinging and has graciously moved on from most fall-outs,
often extending a warm hand of friendship to former nemeses. He has never used the media as a tool,
as so many celebrities often do, to lash out at his detractors.
7. You
may be rich and famous, but you're never above anyone: His interactions with
his fans and the press are generally warm and gracious, and he makes a visible
effort to remain humble and grounded. And despite the constant attention, which can
get to the most patient of people, he manages to keep his cool and handles the
shutterbug invasion with a smile, posing for them, answering questions and
leaving them satisfied.
8. Give
back to society: From his decision to support the nationwide polio campaign to
his association with various charity organisations, Amitabh Bachchan has always
found the time to give back to society.
9.
Respect thy parents: Big B finds special purpose in revisiting his father's
poems -- to him, it's a way of paying tribute to the man who raised him.
10. Have
respect for other people's time and always be punctual: B-Town biggies have a
notorious reputation for holding up shoots, strolling onto sets five hours
late, throwing tantrums that cause setbacks to the schedule and delaying
projects by months, sometimes, even years. Not Amitabh Bachchan. One of very
few stars known for their punctuality, he is apologetic even if he's kept you
waiting a few short minutes.
Amir Khan is
known besides his acting for the social and nation commitment he has shown
through the films he chose’s like Lagaan,
PK, 3 Idiots, Tare Jameen Per,
Fana, etc. and his TV shows on social issues. Like many others the films he
acted have a lot of messages. For example 3 Idiots has significant messages and
impact on youth to promote to discover and promote their inner passion and
talent to become something in life.
Lagaan is used in many management schools to teach determination, hard
work, taking up challenges and team work. His latest movie PK has given some interesting
lessons like the following[v]:
To love someone, is to let go your love. Sometimes letting go makes you a
bigger person. Trust yourself and not someone who is a self-acclaimed manager
of the Almighty, trust your thinking and act accordingly. Doubt what you see,
read and hear. Question what’s in front of you and don’t just stand blinded,
accepting everything that’s handed to you. Apply your logic and brains
and behave rationally not just because your religion says so, but because your
mind says so. Listen to yourself before you agree with something you aren’t
fully aware about. Your mind holds the power, so give yourself a chance to be
enlightened. Rather than blindly following something that lies behind a fog,
it’s better to understand the hows and the why’s of a thing you have been doing
since your birth. It’s not a sin to have curiosity, so never be afraid to
satisfy your thirst for curiosity.
There
are lessons to be drawn from Aamir Khan’s life itself[vi]:
1.
When
you take on a project, give it everything you can. Be extremely committed to
it. Focus is what differentiates the good from the great !
2.
Diamonds
are in the details ! Only when you focus on each and every detail of the
project will you be able to create something that is a masterpiece and
something that lasts forever !
3.
Go
with your gut feeling. Do not hesitate to try something different ! If you want
to create a niche, create something different, you have to try doing something
that no one else is doing. Yes there is a lot of risk involved, but higher the
risks, higher the rewards.
4.
Good
Marketing without a Good Product might work sometimes, but Good Marketing along
with Good Product always works.
5.
Be
a responsible citizen. Aamir Khan is known to create responsible cinema. While
making his movies he makes sure that his movies do not promote anything that
might seem irresponsible or create imbalance in the society.
6.
You
have a responsibility towards the society ! As a citizen of any country or
simply as a human being you have a responsibility towards society. You need to
give back to the society that has given you all you have.
Arundhati Nag from South for the institutions she built to
promote art and culture, Rajnikanth for
the charities he has extended besides the films in which he acted and Surya for his work in charities.
There are many actors of yesteryears from Bollywood and also from the south. They include Devanand, Kishore Kumar, Pran, Rajesh Khanna, N T Rama Rao, Akkinenei Nagswara Rao, S V RangaRao, Sivaji Ganesan, M G Ramachandran, Gemini Ganesan etc. Among those living include Dilip Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Vyjayanthmala, Shabana Azmi, Sairabanu, Kamala Hasan, just to name a few
Actors are influential people. They influence our thought,
values, ethos and culture and through them our choices and actions. They
influence through their movies, dialogues, actions, what they do and don’t do
what they approve and don’t approve. They are as influential as teachers are
with the difference we have little choice of our teachers but we can chose what
we want to see, hear and learn. They also influence people through what they do
outside the cinema besides what they do in the film. Some of them also take up teaching role and
start spreading messages like a teacher. What make them effective? What are the common characteristics he
effective across among themselves and with others from other professions.
Effective Actors
Who is Effective Actor (male or female we use here as gender
free applicable to both)?
1.
The first criterion is that the actor is one who
acts well as decided by the viewers. That means the actor who has most
impactful performance in the film. Now the issue is how do you decide the impactful
performance? The answer for this is rather simple- many criteria:
(i) The success of the film in box office
which is normally indicated by the revenues which also indicates the viewership
and the duration of its running in the theatres;
(ii) nature of reviews it has got and the
credit given to the actor as a part of the reviews besides other variables like
the story line, the dialogues, the songs, the settings, the editing, music,
moral, social relevance t the time it has been made and released and social
impact ;
(iii) The performance of the actor in the
film as rated y the critics etc.
2.
Magnitude and Duration or span of
impact with which the tenure of the acting is linked. The number of impact making films in which the actor has
acted (male or female). This is a questionable criterion. A new actor may have
acted only a few films and decided not to act. For example Bhagyashree’s acted only in one film (myne pyar kiya) and
left remarkable impressions on all but got married soon after and did not act
much. Do we include her as an effective
actor? Normal response is that such an actor is effective only in that movie
but can’t be called as an effective actor for life, simply because she left
acting- unless she comes back and starts acting again. That means the person
should have made acting as profession and is available for a longer duration.
Then the question is how long? -As long
as he or she has shelf life. In which case males stand a chance of being there
longer than females. Though some may argue that it is not necessarily. Whether
you are a male actor or a female actor there are many examples of being
available life long or for a considerable longer periods of time and make an
impact. Female actors like Asha Parekh,
Wahida Rehman, Rekha, Saira Banu, Nirupa Roy in Hindi and Anjali, Savithri,
Janaki, Padmini, Bhanumathi were available for a long period and almost as long
as they live or lived. Singers of course have even longer period of impact. Male
actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Rajendrakumar, Dilip Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Ashok
Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Devanand, Pran,
Rajendra Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, MGR, NT Rama Rao, A Nageswara Rao,
Satyanarayana, continued to be
available all through their life. Certainly for the purses of this book those
who are career actors and available to make their impact for a reasonable long
duration and left their imprints on the audience and whose films are visited
and revisited even today are also effective actors. Magnitude of impact
is a significant variable in impact making or effectiveness. Another dimension
of the magnitude of impact is the number of languages in which the actor
acted. Those from south stand a disadvantage as their audience are limited to
the linguistic groups. For example N T Rama Rao who used to be worshipped as
Lord Krishna and every house hold had and still has his pictures in their homes
and performed puja is not likely to be known across the country or world as
much as Amitabh who acted in Hindi films as Hindi i viewers are much larger in
number. We discount the linguistic limitations as we are not comparing
statistics here but the relative impact in the groups for which the film or the
actor’s talent is meant. Now days the linguistic barrier is being broken
slowly. For example h the recently released film of Bahubali with Prabhas has
hit record breaking view ship with a South Indian actor and so are Rajnikanth’s
films.
3.
It is said that female actors have a shelf life
and males have a little longer duration but may have to learn to adjust playing
different roles as they get older and popularity declines. An effective actor never
retires. Actors who manage their shelf life and keep bouncing back are more effective
than those who go to oblivion. Uday Kiran after completing 21
successful films and even getting awards ended his life at 34 years of age. It
was rumoured that he was going through depression due to declining offers and
committed suicide[vii] Silk
Smitha also committed suicide as she could not handle the ups and downs in her
career[viii].
“ Vijayalakshmi (1960 –1996), known as Silk Smitha, worked predominantly in the South Indian films. She
entered the industry as an extra[1] actress and first got
noticed for her role as "Silk" in the 1979 Tamil film Vandichakkaram. She
became the most sought-after erotic actress in the early 1980s. In a career
spanning 17 years, she appeared in over 450 films. in Telugu, Tamil,Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi languages. On 23 September 1996, she was found dead in her
apartment in Chennai, apparently having
committed suicide. The cause of her death was not
known, it may have been her disillusionment of getting failure as a film
producer which she had tried her hand on the previous year, an unrequited love
or alcohol dependency. Subsequently a film also has been made depicting her
life story line. Parveen Babi, Jiah Khan, and Divyabharathi are some of those
who died early as they perhaps could not handle their career ups and downs.
Each actor goes through some crisis or the
other at some points of time. Young and beautiful actresses are likely to go
through traumatic experiences at a young
age and the way they are able to manage them make them seasoned in life and
come up well subsequently. Deepika Padukone reports some such ups and downs in
her life and she has even started a centre to coach and help people who may
have depression and related issues. That is a highly effective e way of coping.
Even seasoned Actors like Amite Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Shah Rukh Khan and
many others had to go through ups and downs in their career. The most difficult
times were face by the most famous actor Amitab Bachchan. First an accident
taking him nearer to death, then falling popularity, politics not working out
well with him, being dragged into Boffors controversy, the losses due a company
he started that has not worked out and brought him to appoint that he even had
to consider selling his house and had
come out of all of them remarkably. Even Rajnikanth had to face ups and downs
due to health recently. Madhuri Dixit and a few others like her had
interruptions in career and bounce back after long intervals to perform
different b and yet significant roles and continue to influence different
sections of people. The ability to manage ups and downs in career and bounce
back is another dimension of their impact. The ability to manage career ups and
downs and remain in the field actively is therefore another dimension of the
effectiveness.
4.
Another significant dimension of impact is the
money earned or market value of the actor. Market value is determined by a
number of factors. It normally goes up higher and higher with success. According
to one estimate in the net the range is from Rs 55 crores (Rs 550 million) to
Rs 10 to 15 crores (100 to 150 million) charged by Salman Khan, Amir Khan, Shah
Rukh Khan, Hritik Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor, Ajay Devgan, Amitabh Bacchan, Saif and
Ranveer Singh in descending order [ix]
for 2014 down loaded on 26-07-15 ). In South the range is from Rs. 30 crores
(Rs 300 million) or more for Rajnikanth to Rs 5 crore for Puneet Rajkumar and
Balakrishna with others like Pawan Kalyan, Surya, Vijay, Mahesh Babu, Ajith,
Ram Charan, Vikram, Junior NTR, Allu Arjun, Prabhas, Dhanush, Ravi Teja, Simbu,
Sudeep and Darshan falling in descending order in between them from Rs 15
crores to 6 or 7 crores[x].
Among
the Actresses from Bollywood the range
is from Rs 10 crores (100 million) to Rs
3 crores (starting from Deepika Padukone to Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor,
Katrina Kaif, and Anushka ranging between Rs 5 crore to Rs. 8 to 9 crore and the rest like Bipasha
Basu, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonam Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Asin and Jaqueline
Fernandez charging between Rs. 2.5 crore (25 million) to Rs 5 crores (50 Million)[xi]
.
South Indian actresses are significantly less
paid. They range between 2.5 crores to Rs 50 Lakhs and even less. The highest
paid in order according to one site include: Nayanatara, Anushka Shetty,
Tamanna Bhatia, lleana D'Cruz,Kajal Agarwal, Trisha Krishnan,
Samantha Ruth, Shruti Hassan, Asin (commands higher for Bollywood films) Amala
Paul, Hansika Motwani, Priyamani, Taapsee Pannu, Anjali, Genelia and Shriya
Saran, Nitya Menon[xii].
The normal range is from Rs. 1 crore to
rs 3 crore as per the net reports in
2014 for the so called actresses in high demand like Nayantara, Anushka Shetty,
Tamanna Bhatia, Shriya Saran, and Kajal Agarwal[xiii]
. These may be changing with time. The scene is clear. Bollywoood actors get
highly paid followed by the Actresses with a significant difference and the Tollywood or south Indian actors as
well as Actresses get far less due to limited viewership and box office. While
the remuneration or market value is one indicator of your popularity it can’t
be taken on actual value though it is a
significant indicator.
According to one report there are a few Bollywood celebrities who
actually have been working consistently on issues they care passionately about.
This list includes:
Shabana Azmi: Well known for her social activism; raised her
voice and expressed concern on a variety of issues. Her focus over the years
though has remained in the areas of child and women’s rights. She has fought
for the stigma and injustice of those associated with AIDS. She has also advocated the cause of slum
dwellers, displaced Kashmiri Pandit migrants, and victims of the earthquake at
Latur (Maharashtra) in the past. Shabana Azmi has been the Goodwill
Ambassador of the UNPF as well as for the HIV/AIDS programmes for SAARC region.
Rahul Bose: an unconventional actor
has is the founder of the Group of Groups, a parent organisation of about 51
charitable organisations and NGO clusters in Mumbai, has been involved in
various social causes. He was one of the first celebrities from Indian
Bollywood space to become the Oxfam Global ambassador in 2007. He also founded
another NGO named the Foundation that focuses on providing education for
children from lower economic backgrounds in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He is associated with several other
organisations like Akshara Centre, Breakthrough, Citizens of Justice and Peace,
and the Teach for India movement. He has been extremely vocal for his support
for his support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Nandita Das dons many hats apart from her career in acting,
directing, she is also a writer and has always believed and worked for greater
good of society, right from her choice of films to her living style. She
co-founded Leapfrog, an advertising organization geared towards making socially
conscious ad films. She has been giving philanthropy talks around the world
about the impact of her films and the need for powerful social movements in
India. A graduate in Social Work from Delhi School of social work she also
campaigned for child survival, against AIDS, and violence against women. She
was appointed as the chairperson of the Children’s Film Society of India in 2009. Recently, as the face of the campaign ‘Dark is
Beautiful’ she has been raising her voice against discrimination based on skin
colour. Nafisa Ali former Miss India, a national swimming champ and
actress, she has supported numerous causes including founding the Orissa
Cyclone Relief Fund, reconstructing houses in 48 villages of Gujarat, which
were destroyed in the 2001 earthquake, starting a care home named ‘Ashraya’ for
those affected by HIV/AIDS, exposing various government scams, heading the
Human Rights Commission, Delhi, and leading various women’s associations. Akkineni Nagarjuna,
with his wife Amala is the co-founder of Blue Cross of Hyderabad, a registered
society recognized by the Animal Welfare Board of India. a non-government organization (NGO) in Hyderabad,
India, which works towards the welfare of animals and preservation
of animal rights. He is also involved in some welfare programs undertaken by
the MAA
TV association,
and serves as the brand ambassador for HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns. In 2010, he starred in an HIV/AIDS animated software tutorial created by TeachAIDS, a
nonprofit founded at Stanford University. Chiranjeevi founded the Chiranjeevi Charitable Foundation,
established in 1998, which is involved in humanitarian activities. On 2
October 1998, he founded the Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust (CCT), which includes
Chiranjeevi Blood and Eye Banks. It is the state's largest recipient of blood
and eye donations. The trust has made over 68,000 blood donations and 1,414 eye
donations. The Blood Bank of the CCT has helped over 80,000 people and the Eye
Bank has helped about 1,000 people in the state of Andhra Pradesh since its
opening. Around 350,000 people have pledged their eyes to CCT so far, giving
1600 people eyesight through CCT. CCT has also won the "Best Voluntary
Blood Bank Award" by the AP State Government for the past 4 years[xv]. Surya a popular Tamil film
actor began Agaram Foundation, which funds for
various philanthropic activities including school dropouts. In 2007, Suriya was
the brand ambassador of Tanker Foundation and acted in a short film on AIDS
awareness. With the Ministry of
Education in Tamil Nadu, he created a short commercial video outlining child
poverty, labour and lack of education. With the firm belief that the educated
mind can not only eliminate social evils but also aid in the socio-economic
upbringing of society, Agaram Foundation works towards providing appropriate
learning opportunities to the rural populace who do not otherwise have access
to quality education. In South Mohan Lal does not like to publicise
about his charity and got the prestigious Mother Teresa award long ago in 2000[xvi].
6. The
actor should be a role model in personal life to the extent possible. This is
an important criterion. When I had put up suggestions for the criteria in the face
book some of my face book friends (I have nearly 5000 of them) mentioned that
the actor can’t be consider as effective if he had violated the law of the land
like involved any criminal cases or evaded tax. However no one mentioned about
the family life. The family life of m quite a few good actors is unfortunately
filled with aberrations some of which
may be perceptions of the public. The career of acting puts you into situations
which are more likely to give scope for rumours and may leave a negative impact
on family life whether you like it or not. They are matters of discussion for journalists
and media persons and they are under scrutiny all the time. Should the number
of affairs you had with your heroes or heroines be criteria for being judged as
an effective actor? In recent times Kanagana Ranaut made a great impact across
the world by taking up women’s issues in her film Queen where she demonstrates
her independent of mind women have when men their trusted decide to ditch. Her acting was
acclaimed across the world. It was immediately followed by another film
called Tanu weds Manu- 2 in which she
acted in two roles one of them with a totally different accent (Haryanvi) again
to prove the independence of mind women can ahnve and need to have. Earlier years
she had done a marvellous job in a film called “Fashion” that depicted the travails
of a model. Many acclaimed her role as near reality. She undoubtedly in a short
time got many accolades. However her
personal life as listed in the net has ups and downs. So is Deepika Padukone.
Deepika established herself as a good actress in short time and appeared in
several impact making films but her personal life at least during a certain
period may not be considered as exemplary. It is not her fault and in male
dominated society most often it is the male who has an advantage of playing
with the lives of the female. Of course the reverse also could happen. No one
can judge the circumstances under which an actor’s life becomes not so
exemplary. However many actors at a later stage of life lead a clean and
exemplary life. For example NTR who has a record number of children and lived
with the same family all through life. So is ANR who is exemplary and also
Bacchan. And many others. Since we don’t have access to the truth and particularly
the circumstances under which he actor may take decisions in personal life
which is unfortunately a very private life the film career we perhaps need to
downplay this aspect. Many actors have more than one marriage and at least one
affair but have successfully kept their families intact or divorced gracefully and
started living with new partners. However if they have court cases that depict
them as not so good role models or citizens it becomes difficult to treating them
t higher levels of impact. If proved to be at fault and in jail or likely to be
in jail may be rated as good actors but can’t be called Super impact full
actors. Here we are not judging merely actors and this book is on effective people. We don’t exclude them
from effective actors but we don’t take them up for further analysis. Many stand
out as role models in their personal lives. Bachchan, Rajnikant, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna,
Sharukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Surya, Anupam Kher, Mohan Babu, Nagarjuna, Mahesh
Babu, etc. stand out on these criteria.
7. The
fifth criteria is the impact they made on the society outside the films either
by their conduct, preachings, charities, and other forms of influence. Many of them give a lot of charities. However
the charities they give are of different kinds. Some of them give free
advertisements for a cause. Brand ambassadors to UNICEF, UNESCO etc. and for
right causes may not charge or charge less. If they charge as usual then they
don’t fit these criteria. Such brand ambassadors include Priyanka Chopra,
Aishyarya Rai Bachchan, Surya, Shah Rukh Khan, Amir Khan and the like. Some of
them make impact in stating or taking part in socially impact full activities.
Like Amir Khan started the TV serial for which he may have charged but worked
with devotion.
8. The
sixth criteria is the institutionalization
of their talent or charities or values. Anupam Kher stands out on this. He started
Actor Prepares. One time actress Mallika Sarabhai stands out on multiplication
of talent to larger groups. After acting in a few films Mallika started her own
Institution to popularise dance and spread it to other countries. Darpana
Academy is the institution. Hema Malini is a trained Bharatanatyam artist. Her daughters are also well trained in Odissi dance form; the
three have performed together in a production called Parampara for many
charitable concerts. Malini is also trained in Kuchipudi by Vempati Chinna Satyam and Mohiniattam by Kalamandalam Guru
Gopalakrishnan. She performed in various dance festivals and for various occasions
like the Dussera in Mysore. Hema Malini started her own dance school to
teach Bharat Natyam which is her skill base and she is trying to make it big by
requesting for land in Mumbai. Ranga Shankara[xvii]
is a world-class theatre facility in Bangalore gives one of the most affordable theatre spaces in
India, it is dedicated to the art of theatre. Given below is the response of
Arundhati Nag an actor of yester years from south. “Ranga Shankara was the dream
of Shankar Nag, one of the most phenomenal theatre artistes of our time and
also, my husband. I met Shankar through theatre when I was 17 years old and
eventually, I got married to him. So when I moved to Bangalore, it didn’t have
a venue exclusively for theatre. All the places that hosted theatre
performances were also available for other purposes and we thought that this
was below the dignity of theatre. It was this that lead to Shankar and I having
this mad dream of setting up a space only for theatre. But then, Shankar passed
away in a tragic car accident and it took me about 10 years to recover
financially and emotionally. Over this period, I had paid off
the debts which had been incurred and I realised that the only way to regain
those lost years was to make the dream happen. And frankly, theatre was all
that I knew. Even today, apart from cooking and driving, it’s the only thing I
can do. So, when I started building the theatre, I had no idea that I was going
to turn into something so big. I was like the bull that runs the plough through
the fields – not aware of the size of the field, but going at it row after row.
Today, when I look back, it all seems so strange. Even now, when I walk into
the theatre, I’m overwhelmed. That’s because I had dreamt about it for so long
and it eventually came true. In some sense, when I walk into Ranga Shankara,
I’m walking into my dream. When I’m there, I live in my dream.”
[i] (source:
http://www.anupamkherfoundation.org/)
[ii] (Source:
http://www.actorprepares.net/)
[iv]
http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-specials-10-lessons-to-learn-from-amitabh-bachchan/20121011.htm#11
[x] http://www.ibtimes.co.in/rajinikanth-pawan-kalyan-top-20-highest-paid-south-indian-actors-2014-617376
for 2014 down loaded on 26-07-15
[xi]
Source: http://www.sportrichlist.com/top10/highest-paid-bollywood-actresses/
down loaded 26-07-2015
[xiv] http://www.thealternative.in/lifestyle/7-bollywood-celebrities-that-work-for-a-cause-not-the-applause/
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