Acting, if you think about it, is like being a mother. You give birth to another person who is still a part of you in some way or another—an extension of your body and ego but still you do not recognize. It also falls on you to nurture this person who you are but you are not, driving a kind of complex maturity. And, most importantly, you grow together. After a certain age, you are given the role of a mother most of the time. I have had a lot of women my age who are not mothers, so you could say that actresses are subjected to such a broad brush characterization. But it can be fun and challenging, and opens up areas for me to experiment. The point is how differently you can frame each individual role – you diversify based on the kind of person you play, the mannerisms, as well as a particular regional dialect or class origin if social Makeup is a relevant part of a character. You are essentially expressing the emotions, the inner world, the subjective experience of different individuals – enough for me to get excited about how I bring my craft to it. Plus, I’m a mom too, so I can naturally inhabit those colors.
mum’s the word
The image of a mother and the role she plays in real life has gone through some drastic changes, and it has naturally changed the way we view it in cinema. Personally too, I am very different from my mother. Of course, people change slowly with every generation… Our stories, our values, the way we want to raise our children, in all these areas only change is constant. It is inevitable that it appears in the cinema now. Irrespective of differences in region, dialect, class, manners, the basic fact of motherhood does not change. There is a grain of stability there.
That Matter Dei Thing
Being a mother.’ An additional layer of an ether is usually attached to it. Undoubtedly, the core emotion, the feeling, is beautiful, and we all have precious aspects of it in ourselves, and it colors our psychology. But I like to take a somewhat critical look at this whole joy of motherhood. I don’t understand why being a mother becomes such a big deal, when in reality it is said that being a father doesn’t change much. Once you become a mother, it becomes like a halo around your head that stays with you for the rest of your life. I contrast this with the actual experience of motherhood: the moment you conceive, the moment the sperm enters the womb, from the very beginning of the formation of the child, the woman becomes the mother. The child grows inside the mother. The child encounters and recognizes the father much later, while you play and fill in the role of the mother from the very beginning. That physical connection means I can never feel the same way I feel towards my child. This whole approach helps me play the role on screen – even though my relationship with my kids is very different from the one I portray. For me my script is the Bible. I get everything from script. That’s how my performance changes with every role.
say ‘yes’
Whatever I enjoy doing, my audience will enjoy watching… That’s my mantra. I am not here to preach or change the world. If that were the case, I would be in another profession. If I am in this profession, then I should entertain the people by telling things that touch the society. I don’t want to make boring film just to prove one thing. When I read a script, the first thought that comes to my mind is: Will I watch the movie? Secondly, the director, the setup, the people I’m going to work with. Will they understand me? Let me grow with the character? I try to get a positive response before agreeing to a role.
born a new movie
Our film stories mainly centered around the concept of hero and heroine. Thankfully, now the material is changing drastically. The kind of films that are offered to me are mostly family based, where the mother is an essential base. This is how our stories are woven. The moment we start telling stories differently, these concepts will change.
(This appeared in print as “Mother’s Diary”)
Supriya Pathak is a Hindi film and television actress.
.