Character is my alter ego, says actor
HAVE you ever wanted something so badly that you would fake your own death to get it? No? Ramesh Dhoni has.
Dhoni, the lead character in British-born film director Oliver Rodger’s latest film, Actorholic , is a frustrated actor who is fed up with being typecast and overlooked for the movie roles of his dreams.
He decides that the only way to get the recognition he craves is to fake his own death and get a camera crew to document his family’s grief — reality TV-style.
The film, conceived by Rodger and lead actor Vaneshran Arumugam, who plays Dhoni, will be screened at the 34th Durban International Film Festival this month.
“The origin of the idea was exploring the actor’s dilemma of engineering the ultimate performance and breaking out of the limiting industry around him, but then learning the ultimate humility in doing so,” he said.
Arumugam became a familiar face on South African television screens as the womanising medical student Kashmil in the e.tv sitcom SOS in the early ■ 2000s.
He went on to secure roles in the medical drama ER and the action film The Scorpion King in the US, and, more recently, the local cop comedy Copposites .
Arumugam said he could relate to the role: “Ramesh Dhoni was a wonderful opportunity for me to explore the very environment ■ that I work in with a bit more imagination and a sense of ‘what if?’ as well as a healthy bit of irreverence.
“Oliver named him, but he is my alter ego in many respects … though he chooses differently and has different obstacles to overcome.”
Rodger said the aim was to create a satirical “mockumentary” that would poke fun at reality TV and film while getting its audiences to think about the nature of the genre.
“This is, I suppose, a thinking person’s comedy.”
The experimental film was shot in Cape Town without a script and on a budget of less than R100 000.
It will be screened at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on July 20, at the Ekhaya Multi Arts Centre on July 26 and at the Musgrave Centre Cinema on July 28.
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