Mr. Eyes

Mr. Eyes Ram Gopal Varma's Comment about Surya's Speaking , volcano eyes...

I have always been asked this question regards to which actor surprised me the most that I have ever worked with and now I can say without a doubt that it is Surya. To elaborate on this answer I have to define first what the word ‘ACTOR’ means to me. Most people I know including both laymen and film industry people cannot differentiate between an Actor and a Character. A character is a sum result of various elements like the written role, the way the scene has been edited, the performances of the co-actors the progression of the screenplay with respect to that particular actor and of course what the actor himself brings to the table. But in this respect he is one of the many elements that contribute to the overall effect. The true test for a cinematic actor in front of a movie camera can only come in between action and cut. That’s because he has to draw an emotion on cue without the progression of the emotional content of the whole scene and the screenplay backing him up to as how it would be seen by the audience in the final cut.

Amitabh Bachchan has a holding power through his eyes which look outwardly as calm as a sea. But if you look closely enough they have the depth of an ocean. In contrast the feelings in Surya’s eyes are like a seething volcano erupting through a rough sea. In some close-ups in “Rakta Charitra” I felt that the intensity in his eyes would burn the camera. I find it difficult to understand what emotional depths and sensitivity Surya as a person could have experienced in life for him to be possessing so much within his eyes for him to be able to convey such tremendous intensity through his eyes. His eyes don’t just speak… they literally scream.

As a Director it’s my job to have certain visualization and understanding towards how a character I conceived should look like on the screen but it will be still theoretical no matter how much clarity I might have or how much I might prepare myself. The real effect of a character eventually will come only when the said actor performs in front of the camera.

A long time ago Cinematographer P.C.Sree Ram told me that there is no greater cinematic visual than an actor performing in a tight close up and he added that no grand sets or exotic locations can ever match up to the expressions of an actor. I completely endorse that and the best use of it I put for the first time in “Sarkar”. It was a study in close-ups where I was cutting from emotion to emotion rather than to have informative shots.

But with Surya in “Rakta Charitra” I had to reinvent my taking style to be able to do justice to what he brought out through his eyes in front of the camera. Agreed that the subject matter is volatile and the role he is playing is very complex but purely as an actor his understanding of the emotional nuances of the character simply blew me away.

They say that a man’s eyes are a window into his heart and his mind. In person when I interact with Surya regardless of his genuine warmth as a person the windows of his eyes remain closed but on the cue of mine as a Director when I call for “action” he opens those windows so wide and so correctly that you can peer into every nook and corner of his character’s emotional nakedness.

Purely for want of a better word to describe the effect I am feeling as a Director as I see his eyes through my camera, I want to call him Mr.Eyes.

P.S: I am posting some pics of Surya in here from some scenes in “Rakta Charitra” to illustrate this point of mine.

Click the Flickr Photos Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramgopalvarma/show/