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About Acting & Theatre

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women, merely players” - William Shakespeare.

Who is an Actor?

Lights, Camera, Action!

How many times have you imagined yourself as the protagonist of your favourite movie? All the time, right?

Be it any genre, films and plays have a way of strongly impacting how we live, how we think, and how we act. It could be the story, the screenplay, the cinematography, or even the actor, all of these elements combine to create art that impacts and lasts.

Today, there are so many different faces we see and admire in the world of Performing Arts. But the moment it comes to choosing Acting as a career, “NO”, is the first reaction!

Why is that?

The industry of Film and Theatre is one of high competition, higher uncertainty, and often lower pay (at least during your struggling actor phase!). However, once you make it to the big leagues, the limelight brings with it unfathomable success, monetary and otherwise.

Still, everyday, people set out to be actors.

A career in Film and Theatre, no matter the struggle, can be fulfilling if it’s your passion. As an actor, you can be someone else. A character that you play, a character that you may feel closer to, than yourself.

Theatre, on the other hand, is the art of looking into ourselves. Most actors that you see on the big screens today, especially the experienced actors, all have a formal exposure to theatre at some point in their careers.

Naseerudin Shah, Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Jim Sarbh to name a few actors in Bollywood, and top actors in Hollywood - Morgan Freeman, late Alan Rickman (Severus Snape), Mathew Perry (Chandler), and many more have done theatre extensively in their careers along with training and education in drama and acting from popular institutions in India and abroad.

However, the most sought after and revered skills that an actor or a theatre personality can have is, ‘Creativity’, and that cannot be taught.

Shah Rukh Khan had famously said, “It’s not necessary that the world will accept your creativity, but don’t give up on it”.

However, Film and Theatre is not all Art, but also Science. Thus, it has its technical aspects.

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Career Prospects

Acting - The Stars

Actors are the main characters. However, they imbibe the characters they play, and become the face of the production. Bringing the vision of the director to life, they perform to the audience and put forth the story for them. Be it the theatre, films, or television, actors over the due course of time, become a brand themselves.

Direction - The In-Charge

A director is synonymous with whatever happens in a production. He is the ultimate person in charge, be it in the theatre, films, or television, and controls it all. Being the central point of all contact that floats between departments, he has to know the job of each and every member of the unit. Due to this, directing a production is perhaps one of the most difficult jobs.

With so many people working on many different elements, a director is responsible for every single piece that goes on stage. Be it an actor, a script, or camera angles, nothing goes ‘action’, without the director’s go ahead.

Script-Writing - The Story Writer

Script-writers make the play, they etch the storyline, and write the dialogues that the actors narrate on-stage. They create the aura that everyone in the theatre feels. Script-writers need to understand poetry, philosophy, and life experiences, in order to draft a winning script. They need to be smart writers, who can cleverly introduce satire in humour, and still get their point across to the audience.

Storyboarding - The Visualiser

Storyboarding refers to the process of drafting the entire storyline in a visual medium. This is especially important in high end productions and in films and television, where the storyboard forms the basis of camerawork. A story-boarder’s job is to give the script the element of space, so that the director, and actors can work on transitions between scenes, and people working with cameras can decide angles and shots. A storyboard comes in handy, for the art director, to design the set/ location.

Production Design/ Management - The Fixer

Production Designer/ Manager, are the people who would save the whole performance from the tightest of spots. From tight budgets, to tighter timelines, logistics, and success of the performance, Production Designers/ Managers plan and execute everything. Be it the delivery of props, costumes, and other deliverables from various vendors, they also collaborate with the director.

Stage Design - The Artist

Stage Designers (or Art Directors) take care of how the stage should look, in the setting of the script. Their job, in a crux is to design, plan and execute the best possible visual representation of the stage. In a fair number of cases, the background and the setting works half the impact, thus easing it out for the actors.

Stage Management - The Manager

Stage Managers are responsible for coordinating all the different elements of a theatre to ensure a successful performance. They manage actors, technicians, musicians, light and sound controllers, to make sure that the director’s vision comes to a reality. Stage Managers need to have a deep understanding of the technical as well as artistic aspects of the performance, and hence are involved right from Day 1 of prep.

Costume Design - The Fashion Baron

Costume designers design the look of the actor(s) to suit the plot and requirements of the play. They carry out extensive research about the fashion trends prevalent at the time the play is set in. Furthermore, they put the attire together for the actors, to look their part. This includes clothes, make-up and accessories.

Prop Design - The Executor

Prop designers hold the responsibility of putting a stage designer’s plan in action. They place each component individually and get it made, custom to order. They are resourceful people who possess impeccable attention to detail.

Casting - The Serial Picker

Casting Directors, in a gist, audition people for different roles, and finalise the cast, depending upon the auditions. They are also responsible for devising promotion strategy, and call for auditions, and conducting the auditions. They also draft contracts and mediate negotiations between the company/ production and actors.

Music Composition - The Maestro

Music composers compose the background score to be played during the play. Depending upon the director's requirement, they may pre-record the music, or synchronize it live, or combine the two.

Light & Sound Control - The Aesthetics

Technicians working with Light & Sound, though a little underrated; make the show what it really is. The impact of a story that is delivered with light and sound, cannot be achieved otherwise. A light designer designs what kind of light would be required at what point in the act, and the technician makes sure it happens. Similarly, a sound designer designs the sound effects and track-merging according to the act, and sound technicians execute the plan.

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Jobs & Salary

Abhishek Bachchan has worked as an Assistant Director.

Ajay Devgan’s father was a reputed stuntman.

Shah Rukh Khan heads a Production Agency.

An actor doesn’t spend his lifetime just as an actor. There’s much more to the film and theatre!

From scriptwriting, to direction, to production, screenplay, and photography, actors can opt to expose themselves to other aspects of a film.

Understanding the ecosystem of the film and theatre industry can be tricky. If your ultimate aim is to become an actor, it is important to know what industries hire actors, and what is the scope of this field.

Some of the industries that actors are most involved in are -

  • Theatre
  • Radio
  • Advertisements
  • Television
  • Over the Top Media Services (OTT)
  • Social Media
  • Film

When it comes to getting paid as an actor in film or theatre, it starts at the bottom. In the industry, the actors are paid the highest salaries, while the other professionals get paid depending on the experience and affiliations they bring.

In India, an actor earns an average of Rs.5 Lakh Per Annum. However, this depends on a number of factors such as experience, filmography, and more. Now this is in the film industry.

When it comes to theatre, the average salary of actors and other professionals are much lesser. Theatre actors earn an average of Rs.3 Lakh Per Annum. However, actors with higher experience earn much higher salaries.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Collaborative work culture
  • Exciting work environment
  • Opportunity for high pay
Cons
  • Irregular work hours
  • High competition

Famous Personalities

Shabana Azmi

Five-time National Award winner Shabana Azmi's name pops up every time there's a list of great actors from India. She's equally famous for her stage prowess having acted in iconic plays such as ‘Safed Kundali’ (White Horoscope) , ‘Tumhari Amrita’ (Yours, Amrita), and ‘A Doll's House’. Shabana Azmi has been a prominent name in many social causes as well, that she tries to portray in her roles in plays and films.

Rajkummar Rao

From ‘Newton’, to ‘Trapped’,  and then ‘Ludo’, Rajkummar Rao has been breaking boundaries and stereotypes all over Bollywood, and putting it all out there on the big screens. He has been a prolific actor portraying strong characters in his movies that come under a wide range of genres. Before becoming a successful actor, Rajkummar Rao was highly active in theatre at the Shri Ram Centre in Delhi.

Meryl Streep

Well known for her iconic film roles in ‘Death Becomes Her’, ‘Mamma Mia’, and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, a dramatic and versatile actress has done a lot of theatre as well. Meryl Streep’s professional career actually began in theatre at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in Trelawny of Wells. Soon after, she starred in ‘Happy End’ on Broadway, and then went on to star in several other Broadway shows.

Timeline

500 BCE First Theatres are built in Ancient Rome.

1576 The First Commercial Theatre opens in London, United Kingdom.

1592 Shakespeare and his work becomes popular.

1866 Elves’, the first Broadway show was played.

1913 First full-length Bollywood silent movie 'Raja Harishchandra' was created by Dadasaheb Phalke.

1957 Mother India, an epic starring Nargis is released.

1990 Romance and Action becomes the top two genres in the film industry.

2018 Bollywood heads to Hollywood.

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