JEDDAH, 1 October 2005 — The new crop of actors in Indian movies is “very much talented and professional,” according to a legendary actor from South India.
Nasser, who is known by his single name and who has impacted the Tamil movie audience through his characteristic roles, more recently as a psychiatrist, however, feels that Bollywood is more organized in comparison to the Tamil film world. They not only are more advanced in techniques but also in terms of selection of scripts by actors and movie production — thus setting a professional tone that could provide the difference at producing better films and actors.
In the Tamil movie industry, which is based in Madras, actors make the choice of scripts narrated to them, as against the practice in Bombay. “In Bollywood, actors read and study the scripts themselves before accepting a role,” says the thespian Tamil actor who has acted in more than 225 feature films, most of them in Tamil and the rest in other South Indian languages — Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam — and Hindi. He has also acted in a Hollywood movie “Made in USA,” which has just been completed and is yet to be released. The movie is about the relationship between a psychiatrist and a patient. It has been shot in locations in Albuquerque with a local Hollywood crew of technicians.
“I’ve also done some movies in Hindi with actors like Shabana Azmi,” recalled Nasser in an interview with Arab News yesterday. “However, my Hindi movies were dubbed as they were Tamil remakes,” he added.
Currently on an Umrah visit to Saudi Arabia, Nasser, who is returning home on Monday, said that it was a “sheer coincidence” that he recently did a number of movies on psychiatry. “Maybe because my wife was a psychiatry student,” he said, adding that his wife has been handling his home movie production.
Stocky and of average height, Nasser, who was a guest of honor at Thursday’s Tamil cultural and heritage meet organized by Jeddah Tamil Sangam, as part of the three-week India Festival which ended yesterday, says he believes in proper training for every actor, producer or director before they jump into a movie career.
“I’m currently doing workshops for actors. Last year, I ran such workshops for actors in Singapore,” said Nasser himself a trained actor. He did his training in acting in Madras before taking up acting assignments more than two decades ago. “I studied in two different acting schools in Madras,” he recalls.
Nasser is currently studying five scripts for his production company. “I’m looking for a script that will click at the box office,” he said, adding that there is no set formula for box office. “Storyline, characterization and acting that are among the selling factors in a movie and not necessarily ingredients like sex,” he said. He said the current heartthrob Surya is considering dates for his movie.
He feels Tamil actresses like Revathi, Radhika, and Shobha are “genuine actors and not necessarily beautiful” and they excel in any movie that they act unlike in Hindi films where actresses have to be beautiful and tend to show their sex appeal to earn popularity among moviegoers.
“Sex and vulgarity are two different things. Sex can be depicted in a decent manner if the script demands, but it should not be exploited as otherwise it tends to portray vulgarity.”
Nasser believes in sharing his talent and experiences with others, especially the younger generation, and has been lecturing in various academies and colleges. “I’m turning my attention to academics in addition to my ongoing movie production and acting,” says Nasser whose eldest son is studying interactive media designing in Malaysia and two other sons in school in Madras.
Nasser has also done telefilms for Singapore TV. The theme has centered on how to cope with stress. “This again is a theme with a psychiatrist playing a major role,” he said.
Of late, the cinema halls across Tamil Nadu are doing good business thanks to the state government’s strict moves against video piracy. “The government has cracked down on those involved in pirated VCDs,” he said.
Asked about the trend among Tamil actors to join politics, actor Vijayakant being the latest to start his own political party, Nasser said he personally had no intention of doing so. “I believe in offering whatever service I can without being in politics. I like to closely watch the developments as a citizen and nothing beyond that,” said Nasser some of whose movies are repeatedly watched by his fans here and elsewhere in the Gulf for his acting prowess.
His popular movies include “Ghazal” in Malayalam and “Thevar Maghan” and “Nayakan” in Tamil — in both of which he acted with Kamalahasan.
