The road to glitzerland

For those who fantasise about seeing their face beaming down from hoardings and dream of walking the red carpet and are aspiring for a career in showbiz, actress Tisca Chopra has written a book, packed with tips and anecdotes from some of the biggest names in cinema.

Talking about her debut book Acting Smart, Tisca says, “This is not a book that will teach you acting. It will rather prepare you to deal with various oddities, auditions, portfolios and agents. It will try to show you the way around showbiz in India. It is aimed to provide a road map to being a solid working actor as well as being part of the delicious excitement that the city of Mumbai provides.”

The book boasts of interesting tried and tested tips from industry experts like Imtiaz Ali, Raju Hirani, Shabana Azmi and Boman Irani. “If you aspire to be an actor, know at the outset that you are about to embark on a journey akin to the Lord of the Rings. You will be faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, find yourself lost in woods, you will confront enemies both internal and external, there will be magic, luck and a few hobbits to jolly things along. It is going to be a bling-ring of glittering lights, red carpets, premieres and buffed bodies in snazzy designer wear, all in a state of frenetic activity,” she says.

When asked if there are any set rules to survive in the industry for newbies, Tisca says, “You may be a billionaire, a rocket scientist, or a surgeon, but none of that will prepare you for acting. Like any other skill flying a plane or doing an endoscopy, acting has to be learnt. And honed with hours and years of practice. There is no gospel truth about the world of showbiz. Rules are meant to be broken and new ones come to be. If you are young and willing, just go ahead and take a chance. Big or small, whatever roles you get, do them with all your heart. You never know who is watching!”

Often tagged in the best-dressed lists and popular in the advertising field, Tisca got her big break in Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par. “I don’t think anybody’s made more mistakes than me in the business. I fell hard on my face several times and had to find ways of righting the wrongs. Often I wished for some basic pointers to start afresh and then I figured there were none. So that was how it began.”

The book has a whole chapter dedicated to the dark world of the casting couch. Revealing a personal experience of an ‘awkward encounter’ with a leading producer-director, she says, “Yes, it does exist. As it does in every profession , hospitality, airlines, and certainly politics. Actors are just better looking and more fun to talk about. A senior producer-director, famous for his successful films as for his penchant for women, once offered me a romantic cameo. During the shooting, I was already on my guard, alert for any sign of overfriendliness. When filming started, the director went out of his way and started explaining the scene details quite meticulously. When it was time to meet the director in his room to ‘read the script’, I requested that all my personal calls should be forwarded to his room to distract him. I handled the whole situation quite confidently. After the incident, he never asked me to discuss the script again, except on sets. We became dear friends, and today he is the one I call if I ever need any advice.”

It is a myth that acting is a gift, or a matter of genes like good looks, feels Tisca. “Training helps you to be confident, and acting is all about confidence. Training creates belief in characters, stories and situations. I have always believed in doing my homework or any kind of research before the shoot and I would suggest all aspiring actors do the same.”