Demise of an actor

It’s a bit belated, but I grieve over the death of Murali, actor par par excellence in our cinema. We have so many good actors that it is difficult to place one over the others. But Murali was an intellectual as well, that is a rare combination. Actors are normally sensitive and emotional, but rarely show the capability to think when they act. This man did and often surprised us with the results. Murali thus was an exception to the general run of actors that we have, though all of them are unbelievably good.

You can only wonder at their talent when you learn of the pressures under which they work. The Malayalam Movie industry is a very small one and the money flow into it is limited compared to the others in the land. Often movies are shot within two or three weeks and the actors have to perform without rehearsals and any other preparations. They may sometimes have to rely entirely on promptings to do their bit. This can be extremely confusing for even the best. There are no prepared scripts to be looked into or study before. Even the skeletal scripts could change without notice in the process of making the movie. And an actor may have to act every day (in different sets) to make a living out of what he does. May be in the morning he acts in one part of a movie and in the evening he does another part in a different movie. There are no call sheets as such here. There are only verbal arrangements. All this could affect performance.

But they are all gifted artists and can grasp a situation in a second and relying on their vast experience could bring the characters alive on screen. None in the land would compare with them in anyway. I am not saying this out of pride, but because it is the fact. I have seen the successful remakes of our movies in Hindi and other Indian languages. They would have the whole original movie to study. They spend millions and billions in making them. They could take years to complete the movie. But unfortunately the results are regrettable.

In emoting, in presenting dialogues, in screen presence and in most other departments these remakes look like indistinct and distorted copies of the original movie. We are pretty choosey here in this state. We would not venture out to see dumb artists playing dumb roles in a movie. We spurn even the good ones, if there are some minor flaws.

I don’t think Murali has ever failed us. He was a little different from others in the sense that he was a major actor in the contemporary theatre in the state. This chiseled a particular style into him. He was more of a body actor that an ‘expressive’ actor. I think he carefully stepped away from that style. He relied more on muscle control and limb control to achieve a lively effect. Not that he was any bad at emoting in the normal style. But this was his signature style.

Internal turmoil and terror could easily be depicted by certain techniques of internalizing emotion. It would have an overall effect when we see it. But to control facial muscles and make them do ones bidding is not easily done. I have seen the man’s face literally breaking up into hundreds of bits in one scene in a movie. The whole muscle structure in the face participated in the exhibition. It was no freak phenomenon coming out of emotional involvement. It was a real study in facial muscle control.

A difficult feat to duplicate as most other actors openly admitted.
This was an intelligent variation to movie acting. I like him for it. He was not very popular as most others in the movies, but there were roles only a man of his talent could have enacted. He would be sorely missed by the discerning.