An actor prepares

Nonika Singh

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When Suicide Squad actor Jared Leto spilled the beans about the ludicrous extent to which he went to get into the character, Hollywood all but wrote method acting’s epitaph. Leto’s obnoxious means, which included sending used condoms to his co-stars in order to understand the twisted psyche of Joker, did not go down well with many film watchers.

Closer home though thespian Dilip Kumar is considered as the original rather the ultimate method actor, the term has come home to roost in more recent times. As of now in Bollywood it is being written about in most glowing terms. Method is perceived as dedication and an acid test of one’s commitment to acting.

Few months ago Randeep Hooda made headlines for hand-cuffing himself, locking himself in a room for several days and losing a staggering 18 kg of weight. All this in order to transform himself into emaciated Sarabjit, the man who languished in a Pakistani jail for 22 years. Right now, Aamir Khan is creating a buzz, among other things for gaining and losing weight to nail the part of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat in Dangal just right.

Be it real characters or reel, the level of preparedness that today’s generation of actors is undergoing is astounding. Though Salman Khan’s “raped woman” analogy of his preparation for Sultan landed him in a soup, it did underline the gruelling schedule actors are following today. Rakeysh Mehra’s Mirzya may have left both critics and audiences cold but its lead actor debutant Harshvardhan Kapoor learnt archery and horse-riding to fit into the part.

In the West, Oscar-winning performances often come laced with anecdotal stories of endurance, grit and spirit. How Leonardo DiCaprio, a vegetarian, ate meat for The Revenant, how Shia LaBeouf turned up drunk to play a moonshine distiller in Lawless and Daniel Day Lewis remained confined to his wheelchair while playing the cerebral palsy-afflicted artist Christy Brown in My Left Foot. All of this is by now the stuff legends are made of.

Another legend that goes around concerns Dustin Hoffman, who takes great pride in being a method actor. As he stayed awake for three nights for his part of history student in the Marathon Man, he was apparently told by his co-star Laurence Olivier — why don’t you try acting instead?

This brings us to the perennial question — is method acting the perfect way or just another technique blown out of proportion? No doubt, acting is far more than saying lines. Even Amitabh Bachchan shares that there were many levels of debates and discussions before his character of lawyer Deepak Sehgal was firmed up. As Pink earned him many brownie points, however, he has no hesitation in sharing that he did not meet any lawyers up close and personal. He did no extra homework and simply followed the director’s vision.

Even Saurabh Shukla, whose character of Sessions judge in Jolly LLB was spot on — every single nuance speaking volumes — confesses that he did not visit any courtroom for greater understanding. Instead, he relied on his own experiences, both as an actor and person. But that’s exactly what method acting is all about — to become the character, whatever may be the tool.

The term that owes itself to Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski is all about acting and rehearsal techniques for a more sincere portrayal. Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner added to it and worked on the psychological, sociological and the behavioural aspects, respectively. Strasberg known as the father of method acting in America is believed to have trained actors like Al Pacino, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Fonda and Dustin Hoffman.

In India actors like Irrfan Khan and Randeep Hooda are considered fine examples of method acting. Hooda, however, refuses to dub himself a method actor. Instead, he feels it’s a much-abused term and hardly anyone truly understands it.

Indeed, the debate whether actors need to live their characters when off stage or when not facing the camera is not new. Alfred Hitchcock described his work with Montgomery Clift in I Confess as difficult “because you know, he was a method actor.” Charles Laughton, who worked closely with Bertolt Brecht, argued that “Method actors give you a photograph”, while “real actors give you an oil painting.”

What would you or rather what do audiences prefer? Indeed, actors like Aamir Khan may win the best actor voting contest hands down but it’s a Shah Rukh Khan who wins hearts. Star actors or the ones driven by method in madness... what matters in the end is an honest portrayal that touches a chord.

Nawazuddin Siddqui might feel without studying Saadat Hasan Manto’s life, how can he nail him in a biopic on the great Urdu writer that he is currently working in. But even he agrees that an actor can’t lose that something special in him. Obsessive preoccupation with the character is fraught with that inherent danger and has some fatal dimensions too. Australian actor Heath Ledger, who died from an accidental intoxication from prescription drugs, was said to be obsessed with his role in the Batman movie The Dark Knight.

But as more and more actors are following method acting, it is being flaunted as a pursuit for perfection. All very well, as long as they remember actors are meant to look real, not perfect. Camera knows only acting, method or spontaneous. As Frank Capra famously said; “Drama is not when actors cry but when audiences do”.