'Living the Dream' portrays photo essays of actors from Mumbai's entertainment industry

Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah watch a rehearsal in progress from the lighting booth at Prithvi Theatre in Juhu If somebody told me I couldnt act any more Id put a gun to my head and blow my brains out Thatrsquos what acting means to me says Naseerudin ldquoTheatre is the space that Ive grown up in and I guess it was a natural progression for me to start acting says Ratna PICS and text COURTESYMark Bennington HARPERCOLLINS INDIAIn January 2010 when New Yorkbased photographer Mark Bennington was getting on to a flight to India the plan he recalls was to spend two weeks in the city for a simple comparing and contrasting photo essay about the acting communities of Los Angeles and MumbaiIts been seven years since that trip and the change in plan finds proof in his justlaunched coffee table book Living the Dream HarperCollins India a compilation of 113 photo essays of actors from Mumbais entertainment industryMark Bennington started the Living The Dream project in early 2010 In the last six years he shot over 126 actors of which 113 were finally shortlisted for the bookWith the aim of capturing a real glimpse of life behind the camera he looks at a strugglers tenacity to hold on to a dream the afterlife of success and a superstars battle with unbridled fame Bennington manoeuvres through various junctures in an actors life in an attempt to humanise them Edited excerpts from an interviewYesteryear actress Soni Razdan also Alia Bhatts mother enjoys a pedicure at a salon in LokhandwalaWhat about Bollywood had you realise it was an interesting industry to followIt happened by fluke My mentor David Alan Harvey a photographer with National Geographic and I were discussing book ideas and he told me I should do a book on actors in Los Angeles It was around that time that I happened to visit India It was a midlife transition journey where I was taking pictures of the country and the people and then when I came to Mumbai I thought why not meet up with the acting community here I reached out to someone in LA to find me a contact and the only thing they told me was go to BandraI was led by a laymans curiosity Until then I had never seen a Bollywood film and couldnt name a single star Then I met Guneet Monga producer now a dear friend who put me through to Shanoo Sharma casting director and thats how the book took shape The book couldnt have happened without Shanoo I was getting a certain level of actors and beyond that people would just not attend my calls So two to three months into my project it all came to a standstill And then suddenly I meet Shanoo and she really took a keen interest in my work She just picked up the phone and called all the actors whom she was in direct contact with She changed the dynamics of this bookSwara Bhaskar reviews a script on a local train from Andheri to ChurchgateWhat were you looking for back thenI was looking for a connective tissue that bound all these stories Theoretically every person in the book is connected by a dream and because dreams are not finite they are all literally living the dreamThe other thing I was looking for visually was to humanise the acting industry For example the photograph of Naseerudin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah shows how much they are driven by theatre and acting It was taken in the lighting booth and they were right in the middle of checking for their show That to me encapsulated what they are about which is theatre I had a really difficult time shooting Salman Khan because he is photographed so much and every single frame looks like the otherI had to spend two full days with him before I managed to get him on the terrace of a building in Pune where he was shooting surrounded by onlookers and crazy fans Not many people in the world have that command over peopleRanbir Kapoor takes a moment between takes for a commercial ad shoot at Yash Raj Films studio in AndheriIn the books prologue Karan Johar writes about actors believing they are unattractive They end up projecting vanity and this often becomes insanity Did you catch a glimpse of this vanityWell yes Actors are vain but people in general are vain Thats why we have mirrors and thats why we take so many selfies The acting community is more susceptible to it because what they are selling is their looks But gradually the industry is turning realitydriven There are people in the business who are not that concerned about vanityThe book has a mix of big names theatre actors TV stars and smalltimers Was it deliberate Why did you choose these namesI wanted to represent clusters of acting groups Salman represents the Khans Dharmendra and Hema Malini go back to the Sholay period and Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh are the new superstars Somebody told me that I shouldnt put the stars and strugglers together And I said no this project is not about hierarchy Thats one of the reasons why at least two people I wont mention names didnt want to be part of the book They wanted to be in a book that had people of their stature or not at all And thats fineWhich star did you want to include but couldntThere are some obvious names missing from the book But like I said I only wanted to include those who wished to be in the book and understood the idea behind the project Of course I was dying for Amitabh Bachchan to come on board He politely declined But I have immense respect for him as an actor Then there was Shah Rukh Khan and Anil Kapoor and both again said no But I think I have captured the entire community A few leaves may be missing here and there but I think I have captured the tree