The importance of being Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter Dolores was the centre of attraction at the film fest, writes Vinayak Chakravorty.

Dolores Chaplin can’t resist a proud grin when you ask her if the illustrious surname is a burden. "I try not to think of it when I’m at work," says the French actress, who is the granddaughter of the legendary Charlie Chaplin. "Being a Chaplin of course is a demanding proposition, but as an actor I believe in doing my own thing."

In Goa, as a guest speaker at the ongoing International Film Festival of India 2005, Dolores is a natural crowdpuller. Like her grand-dad, her idiom of cinema too is very different from what we normally associate with the foreign films we get to see here (read, Hollywood releases). "An actor’s primary job is to entertain. But it’s also the duty of an artiste to usher a new sensibility among the public."

Dolores, who is a name to reckon with in French films, doesn’t deny plans of "a move to Hollywood": "The problem is, Hollywood with its studio culture can be very complicated. Filmmakers ask me, ‘are you bankable as a star?’ I’d rather work with a filmmaker who has something concrete to say through his/her work."

The actress who made her debut with Lettre d’Alphonse in 1991, has a German and a yet-untitled English film coming up. In contrast to the European definition of cinema, she confesses an aversion for sex and violence. "As creative artists, if you tap into beauty, you can provoke the beautiful in your audience. That’s something filmmakers need to realise," she sums up.

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