My Acting Portfolio

Well, not everyone gets a chance to enact a Tree in a play right? I was opportune enough to get to play a Tree and that too, a Tree with a personality! I had to get into the Tree's character, sway right and stand still. Like an immovable object and irresistible force, yeah? This would be the most glorious role I have played so far.

Of course I have played other roles like a Ball Dancer in the background, a Spectator in the background, an Old Man with a stick and no dialogues, a British Army General who is defeated by Jhansi Ki Rani and then Persephone from The Matrix spoof.

Yes the ballroom dance indeed demanded me to be at my suave best, what with dancing gracefully and all. So what if the play is happening in front and the main characters have the dialogues. The dancers added charm to the play! And the Spectator in the background? What's the point of announcing something publicly on a stage if you don't have skillful and attentive spectators?

So was with playing the Old Man! Come on, just emptying an entire bottle of talcum powder in the hair to make them seem white won't really work! One should also learn to handle the walking stick well, learn to be sophisticated after wearing suspenders, and in general create a very senile impact in a very short time!

What more do I say about being a British General? You know how these are right? Carry the Gun, Carry the Glory, Carry the belligerent attitude... so overall a lot to carry! On top of that, get shot by Jhansi ki Rani, act really hurt and pass out gracefully. All this in a minute flat. Quite challenging eh?

But the challenge that surpassed it all was playing a woman and that too enacting the oh so awesome Monica Belluci (Persephone) from The Matrix. Well, since it was strictly an all boys play to poke some fun at the girls in the class and the fact that it had all crazy Bollywood characters enacting the characters from Matrix (Shahrukh playing Neo, Amitabh playing Morpheus, Shakti Kapoor playing Agent Smith, Trinity obviously Kajol and others who just played their roles), it was super fun! I had to dress like a drag, walk like a girl and dance with Shakti Kapoor on the Raja Babu epic Aa Aa Eee Oo Oo O, Mera Dil Nah Todo. I think I overwhelmed myself with that performance!

I have come a long way, the acting journey has been good so far. You think I should seriously think of a career in acting?