Known for his impressive performance in critically acclaimed films such as Titli and Lipstick Under My Burkha , actor Shashank Arora believes in depicting reality through his acting. He will soon be seen in Manto as Shad Amritsari, a radio presenter and one of the close friends of Saadat Hasan Manto. “Nandita (Das) is very clear and precise in her directions and her theatre background reflects in her work. Working with Nawaz was wonderful as there are few actors in the industry who spend time in rehearsing minute emotions,” says the actor.
Talking about Shad, Shashank says he is radio presenter but is someone who has friends in every stratum of society. “He turned into an alcoholic because he was asked to make many announcements which were against his own philosophy of life. He found a friend in Manto because he was also someone who believed in speaking the truth. Though half of my family is from Pakistan, the relatable factor was not the Lahore connection but the political upheaval in the country when the country was divided. The situation is true for today as well.”
Shashank’s parents are are graphic designers and he was surrounded by artists, instruments, good cinema and literature since childhood. “You associate yourself with the environment you grow up in. I used to do plays in school and that nautanki became serious. My father actually asked me to go abroad as there are no acting schools in India which offer acting courses in graduation.”
His childhood inspirations include Francis Ford Coppola and Saeed Mirza’s cinema. “I watched films on television as it was the main source of the world cinema. There was no cinema-going culture at home except watching a few blockbusters. Saeed Mirza’s Nukkad and his depiction of reality in his films was something which I found fascinating as that was born out of angst.”
Exploring behaviour
During his training, he understood that acting is nothing but the representation of human behaviour in all its forms. “It is just about existing as there is no difference between living and acting. You can mould your lines but you cannot actually develop your own lines. I believe in improvisation but only in those scripts which have some substance in it.”
Having from a privileged class, Shashank admits it was a little difficult for him to understand the class division in Titli. “ To overcome that I did research and lived in Delhi’s Sangam Vihar for two months. I cannot encapsulate the kind of life people live there and what it means to be a criminal but I can surely have a parallel to what I think. I cannot have the same problems but I do have my own problems which may be similar in their essence. A good actor cannot reflect the ultimate truth but he can show what is closest to the truth.”
He is fast becoming the face of festival films but Shashank insists that he wishes to be known only as a good actor. “I am happy because I have a body of films with a wide range of characters. That is better than becoming a star. I think the tags are there because of our inability to understand cinema. As an actor, stardom is only important to those who seek it. You can be a good actor irrespective of how many times you are exposed to the audience,” he argues.
On the dangers of becoming too niche with films like Brahman Naman , Shashank says , “ The film is in English and it is discussing issues which are many people find sensitive and it was mocking them. I do not want that all my films should be pleasantly palatable for everybody. There is certain work for a certain mindset. I understood the lack of structure while working with Q but I believe that even something which is without structure has an innate structure.”
Choosing cinema
In that sense, opting for Rock On 2 makes one curious. “I never choose a film because of the medium or the scale. A film like Rock On 2 is very much coherent on paper as it talks about issues of a certain part of the country. As an actor you cannot indulge in guessing as to how this film will be treated and what will be the financial decisions of the producer which will decide the commercial angle of it. Lipstick Under My Burkha was also a story of different women tackling different issues but it managed to have more monetary returns than most of the films in that category,” Shashank points out.
