Kirron: Director?s actress

Kirron Kher's portrayal of Ayesha in Sabiha Sumar's Khamosh Pani, the film that has been making news internationally, is an eye-opener in terms of acting skills.

She has her share of vanity as an actress in the sense that she likes "to be photographed in a particular way. I tell the director the right side isn't as nice as the left side of my face and this kind of light would look better and all that," but at the end of the day, Kirron Kher admits that she really is "a director's actress".

HT Image

Thus, when it comes to playing a character she becomes what the director wants her to be. "I must be able to give the director what he wants. Am only an instrument in his hands. My job comes with a sense of responsibility. There is money riding on that project and it will work in its entirety only if there is one vision (that of the director). I cannot keep doing what I think is the requirement of the role instead of following what he or she is saying."

So if a Sumitra (Kher's character of Paro's mother in Devdas) was loud, overbearing and "very silly at one level it was the demand of that role. Sanjay's (Leela Bhansali) brief to me was very clear. 'This is opera, melodrama,' he said. I could not have played it subtly at all. The film was meant for the front-benchers and not for those who'd come and watch a Khamosh Pani," Kher states with conviction and a smile.

Khamosh Pani - the film that has been making news internationally and which was screened to a full house (with double the number turned away because of paucity of space in the auditorium) at the ongoing Osian's Cinefan Film Festival recently. A film that has won for Kher the Best Actress Award in three continents - Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival (Europe); Best Actress at the Kara Film Festival in Karachi, Pakistan (Asia) and Best Actress in the International Film Festival in Cape Town (Africa). A film that lies at the other end of the spectrum.

Directed by the Pakistani filmmaker Sabiha Sumar the film explores the relationship between a mother, Ayesha and her son Saleem (portrayed beautifully by Aamir Malik, a Pakistani actor). Ayesha remains a mute witness to her son's changing personality - a happy-go-lucky teenaged boy who gradually gets transformed into an extremist. Ayesha's reservations about the change and her inability to deal with the situation form the crux of the film.

Kher's portrayal of Ayesha is an eye-opener in terms of acting skills. So understated is her style and manner that there are moments when one forgets that this is but an act on celluloid. "The preparation," explains Kher "was more at an emotional and sub-conscious level rather than at the script level. I became one of those women in the film. Ayesha's pain was mine. There are so many aspects of her personality that I understood.

She carries on with the business of living rather than get bogged down by her problems and her past personal baggage. She is so full of life, she is excited about her friend's daughter's wedding, she continues to teach the Koran to the village kids - in that sense she is the quintessential Indian woman. These women from the villages and towns are the real survivors. Ayesha embodies that spirit completely."

Sumar has patterned Ayesha's character on her own mother, whom she unfortunately lost a few months prior to the actual filming. Says Kher, "I think all those thoughts came into play when she was detailing the role to me. Ayesha has this inner strength of character. Despite her tragic past, she has learned to live life on her terms, she has adapted to her surroundings and has continued to be cheerful throughout."

For an actress who has cut her teeth in acting in theatre, Kher decided to come into cinema rather late in life. "I couldn't see myself doing the regular Hindi film grind of the two song routine. And, the parallel cinema already had its share of stars in Shabana Azmi and (the late) Smita Patil and I didn't want to do secondary roles. I had just split from my first husband, had a four-year-old son to take care of, so this wasn't so much of a priority. Then I married Anupam and settled down to taking care of my home and setting it up. Am not an ambitious person."

A firm believer in destiny, Kher let the roles come to her rather than "create opportunities" and the decision has paid off. She has been applauded in both the streams of the medium - mainstream and alternative. If she has received the Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Devdas, she has also received two National Awards for her portrayal in Shyam Benegal's Sardari Begum and Rituparno Ghosh's Bariwali.

The "search has been for excellence rather than fame. One only gets better with practice," she says candidly. Her performances surely bear testimony to that.