Talent, where art thou?

They appear in shows looking like Christmas trees. But don’t shine like them. Almost all actors on the small screen end up looking like clones of each other. They sleepwalk in and out of scenes. While the women concentrate on holding their zardosi sari pallus in the picture perfect way the men ‘emote’ with their rippling muscles. By God, the amount of time they spend in trying to look good, if they had invested the same in learning the craft the quality of television would be so much better. All of us have been subjected to dead pan expressions, flat dialogue delivery and vacant, vacuous looks. It should be made mandatory for every new actor to go through a rigorous acting course before he faces the camera! They are oh-so-busy working out on their six packs or getting their dance steps right or even fixing their slightly crooked nose that most of them really don’t have the time or should I dare say even the inclination to better their craft. With stories of shows going nowhere and actors going through the motions of a daily show almost indifferently why should we be watching them? The whole of last week I kept surfing through channels in the hope of picking up at least five good actors. And to say it was an uphill task would not be an exaggeration… TellyChakkar has its very own New Talent awards. And right from the short listing of new talent to the nominations and finally the winners is quite a task. To sift the grain from the chaff is really a chore as the quality one encounters doesn’t make a very happy picture. Sure it is purely based on voting but then shouldn’t we be putting the best up for mandate? Coming back to my own list of picking just a handful on the current shows my vote goes to (not necessarily in this order) Swapnil Joshi in Papad Pol, Pooja Gor and Kunal Kapoor in Pratigya, Varun Badola in Maan Rahe Tera Pitaah, Krratika Sengar in Jhansi ki Rani, Sushant Singh Rajput in Pavitra Rishta. OK, Swapnil and Varun are not really ‘young’ actors but at least the younger lot can aspire to become like them. As I write this I wonder why can’t the younger lot take a leaf from their senior co-stars and pull their socks up. Does this mean these prime time stars aren’t serious enough and have been taking their job very lightly? Acting isn’t about showing off your lately acquired tattoo or flexing your biceps. Neither is it about skin show or revealing your twin assets. I think it has something to do with talent…no? Read more...