The great Image Mirage!! by Darina poye daanayya

What is forte for a sportsman is playing ground for a performer/actor. Both these people make a living by building their careers around their strong points. A particular batsman can savagely ravage any bowling line up by going all out in the initial overs thus never allowing the bowlers to get into their rhythm. That is his strongest point - not allowing the opposition to settle. A particular performer has a very expressive visage that would contort comfortably for any given emotion. Suitably he chooses roles that allows his strongest point - expressive ability, to dominate his performance, than be dependent on the dialogues to drive home a point. There is nothing wrong in playing to one's strengths and thus build a career around it. But what if the situation demands otherwise and one had to change the nature of the performance, like the situation where the batsman has to take his foot off the pedal and play sensibly rather than going about his regular launching of the vicious attack against the opposition? If the player does not conform to the situation and still continues his aggressive nature of play, he is usually termed as a player with limited range - one, who is only fit for some situation and not a man for all the seasons. Now, what if a performer plays only to his strong points without expressing any willingness to explore the possibilities beyond his realm of capabilities? It is quite strange that the industry does not call him a player of limited range. It instead has a special term for it - IMAGE. The performer is playing to his image. The industry brands him and the audience anoints him as the new player with this limited ability, gifting him the much sought after image.

Let's understand this term image in a little bit more detail. Initially the performer's strong point has been identified, accidentally or consciously, which is then nurtured and groomed carefully, and finally showcased to extract maximum mileage out of it. As always during the ascension phase, it is interesting to watch the rise of the star (and his star) trying to find his niche, and once found one, playing to it to consolidate his position. It is quite natural, so no problem here. Again as always, good things usually have a half-life that are even shorter than the most radioactive element out there, in that good times do not last long. We are awed by the performance when we watch it for the first time, we are enthused at the third showing, we are interested at the tenth one, we are amused by the time it gets to twenty, we are with him till his fiftieth, but we eventually get bored after the nth time. How long can we accept the same type/kind of performance over and over again, playing like a needle stuck in a deep grove on a gramophone record? By the hundredth time, we know exactly the notes of his music, we know how his nostrils fare, we know how his brows lock, we know how he modulates his voice, we even know his entire performance before he enacts it. For a performer, nothing is worse than having the audience predict his performance and grow disinterested to it. Sooner before he knows it, his image becomes his chief constraint to perform better, thus restricting his range and proving a liability. The very image that he once sought after so badly, proves a ball and chain ankle attachment, limiting his ability to go places, like a dog on a tight leash.

When we think about the actors of yester year, we do not think about images, we think about performances. While performances remain permanently etched in our memories, images linger on just as long the performer has a bankable shelf life. When the torch is passed on from one generation to the next, or the time capsule gets buried, all that matters is how good an actor was or how varied his range was, rather than what image he was stuck with or what title his name was prefixed with. Currently, the trend of trying for images even before entering the industry has become fashionable. Even before the performance is evaluated, even before the audience had a chance to embrace or reject an actor, the trade papers confer a title that is usually a ridiculous concoction of some weight measure with a star appended to it and grant him an "image". Nowadays, images are not earned, images are granted. The stars, apprehensive about how a different performance would be received, preferred to stick to their images and bet on safe ventures, than move out of their self imposed boundaries, expanding their range and repertoire. So going by that line of thought, if a movie that is tailor made for a star's image fails, the blame automatically falls upon the makers for not exploiting the image properly, than on the star, whose inability to take a chance, probably could have contributed in large amounts to the failure. Even pitiful is the situation, when the stars proudly proclaim that people yearn to see them sticking to what they are good at, than allow the people to have a glimpse at the different dimensions and undiscovered variations of their performances and show the them what they MIGHT BE good at too. Range guarantees longevity. Range promises legacy. Range assures a place in the future, in addition to a respectability in the present.

The sun shines brightly over the dunes, the warm air rises upwards, collides with an air layer of different temperature creating an affect of a mirage to a distant observer. As soon as the lights dim, or upon a closer observation, the temporary images fade away to reveal the actual truth that image is as trustworthy as the mirage.

elugu tOlu tecchi image niccinaa
nalupu nalupae kaani telupu kaadu
image icchina maatraamna mahaa naTuDaunae
viSwadaabhi raama vinave sinee seema

- Daarinapoye Dannayya

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