A DIFFICULT
A lavish lifestyle, always looking stylish and having a huge fan following as well as a big bank balance — are some of the things that people associate with actors and actresses. However, seldom does anyone recognise the hardships that an actor has to go through to make the characters he or she plays on the screen look convincing enough.
In fact, when actors give their all to get into the skin of a character, they end up suffering. This happens because working on a character for so long influences a human being’s personality to a great extent. And this happens more often if the character has dark shades to it.
The recent news of actor Ranveer Singh allegedly seeking the help of a psychiatrist to get rid of his character’s remnants from Padmavati, is proof of the same. In Bhansali’s upcoming period drama, the actor will be seen playing a menacing, cruel anti-hero Alauddin Khilji; and to play the character Ranveer had to explore such hidden depths of negativity, that it has left the actor struggling to get back to his real self.
Reportedly, actress Deepika Padukone, too, has been feeling extremely disturbed after shooting for the jauhar scene where her character, Rani Padmavati, had to jump into the fire along with other women for the same film.
So, can a playing a villain push an actor into a dark space? “Yes!” answers Dr Baijesh Ramesh, a clinical psychologist. “To make the audience believe that what they are watching on celluloid is real, an actor has to make sure that he/she is exactly like the character. So, they not only try to grasp the physical attributes of that character, but even try to think like them. And doing so for a long time can certainly have a bad impact. Although, this is not permanent and can be taken care of with time, the actor may find it difficult to leave the character behind,” he adds.
Veteran actor Raza Murad, who is a part of the movie Padmavati, and has played many negative characters himself, feels that actors are required to feel the pain, angst or anger of the character they play, and that could, at times, be a bit too much. “And it doesn’t just happen while one