The unhurried actor

In my head the passing of Dilip Kumar is momentousmdashhe was a game changer in the way that Rajesh Khanna Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan arewere in varying degreesIrsquom not a fan of Kaka or the Badshah of Bollywood purely as actors but therersquos no denying their stamp in the annals of BollywoodIrsquom not as familiar with Yusuf bhairsquos work as say Bachchanrsquos My Hindi movie enjoyment began in the cinema houses of Girgaum Lamington Road and Dongri on a diet of stale samosas and rsquo70s formula films so it was really the lsquoAngry Young Manrsquo over lsquoThe Tragedy Kingrsquo but I do remember being absolutely transfixed by the two titans playing off each other in Ramesh Sippyrsquos Shakti one evening in 1982 in the now defunct Minerva cinema house Much the same way that Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino were pitted against each other in Heat ironically also in an airfield Watching two giants riffing off each other rapport and mutual respect abound in a heady mix adds incredibly to viewer entertainmentAnd then in Mashaal in 1984 Dilip saab attempts to save his ailing wife played by Waheeda Rehman His scream of pain at losing her stayed with me for a long time But even in extreme grief he was lsquounhurriedrsquo He built his desperation gradually leading to final despairDilip saab had that singular quality that all great actors havemdashunderstanding how to play silences how to use lsquothe pausersquo skilfully without selfindulgence never to overdo itmdashthe innate belief that a pause is an unspoken dialogue that the camera up close and personal allows the audience to see what yoursquore feeling if yoursquore expressive enough SRK in contrast feels he must twitch and tremble and tear up to give us a window to his heart what is loosely called overacting Yusuf bhai trusted his instinct and the intelligence of his audiencesmdashunderstanding the value of words he didnrsquot just use them as raw material to enhance his actingI read somewhere that in Bollywood to achieve superstardom you have to also do comedymdashapparently both Big B and SRK went into the stratosphere the moment they tickled our funny bonesBollywood annoys me in many ways that we typecast actorsactresses lsquoso and so is good in intense rolesrsquo lsquoso and so is better at comedyrsquo To even refer to the thespian as lsquoThe Tragedy Kingrsquo is demeaning Dilip Kumar was fabulous at comedy as well because he didnrsquot try to be funnySadly the OTT generation wasnrsquot really exposed to his craftIn many ways Yusuf bhai would have been the consummate OTT star Shri Bajpayee Shri Nawazuddin and Shri Tripathi are building a career protected from the real pressures of box office and the requirement of boyish good looks and a chiselled bodymdashthey are feasting on roles that the younger Sri Shah Shri Puri and Shri Rawal would have cherished had they had Amazon Prime and Hotstar earlier in their careersmdashin a sense OTT is lsquoa streaming Parallel Cinemarsquo platform true actors are able to have a field dayThey can act with no fear of consequence beyond audience appreciation they can emotionally risk with scripts that challenge themIn OTT skill takes precedence over stardom Dilip Kumar was called a lsquomethod actorrsquo frankly another term I donrsquot easily understand For me itrsquos important that you are believable in a role always lsquoin the momentrsquo and emotionally willing to take risks Doesnrsquot matter to me which school yoursquore frommdashMethod or Classicalmdashthe point is are you good Are you engaging And vitally are you versatileDilip Kumar was all of the above RIP sirRahul daCunha is an adman theatre directorplaywright photographer and traveller Reach him at rahuldacunhamiddaycom