Glam, but not easy!
The saying no pain, no gain' holds true in T-town too.
There’s no dearth of fabulous clothes and great make-up here. The fans take you to another high. Looking good seems to come easy and the perks of a fine life certainly makes for envy! This is an actor’s life, for sure. But, it comes with a lot of sacrifices time for self, stress of inadequate security, stress of living it up and much, much more! While it certainly looks like actors have everything from glamour and glitz, to money to all the luxuries, coupled with name and fame, we fail to see what they pay for all this sweat, toil and perseverance.
The juggling diaries
Actor Jr NTR has been juggling between the sets of Jai Lava Kusa and Bigg Boss tirelessly for over 30 days, without a break now. In fact, the film is being shot at a no network locale in Maharashtra. He shares, “As I’m playing three different characters that are completely in contrast with each other, alongside hosting a reality show like Bigg Boss every weekend, it has been a very challenging and physically demanding time for me. But I thrive on challenges and am loving this phase of my career.”
Leech Tales
The ladies, too haven’t been spared of the troubles. In fact, Catherine Tresa Alexander and Lavanya Tripathi have interesting tales to tell us. “When I was shooting for the Tamil film Kadamban, there were several times I had to run bare feet. We shot in locations where my feet ended up getting cut and blisters were formed. We wore footwear most of the time but there were long shots where I needed to run without anything on my feet. To add to this, we had to walk very long distances in the rocky terrain to reach the vanity van even if we wanted to rest,” recalls Catherine, who learnt that you could pull leeches off with the help of Dettol and salt! Lavanya shares, “I remember shooting next to this lake full of reptiles in Munnar. I was walking close to the river bank as my reflection had to be seen in the water! Leeches were all over the place!”
Tougher for girls?
Apart from these challenges, another tough thing for actors is managing the irregular timings of food and sleep. “It’s not easy because once you go on to the sets of the film, nothing is in your hands. I remember in the initial days of my career, I really went through a lot of stress because of it. I had several health issues, eventually leading to changes in the hormones. Small things like not being able to manage schedules or worrying about security just took a toll on me. With time, I have learnt to handle it all well,” shares actress Poorna, as she observes, “I think more than for men, life can be tougher for girls here.”
A crack and an act!
It seems, at times, actors learn to adjust with challenges. Allu Sirish recalls how his brother Allu Arjun finished a song in the film Varudu, with a fractured hand. “There were just two weeks left for the release of the film, and there was just one song remaining. So he shot with the cast on his hand, painting it black to make it look like an accessory!” he shares. But Sirish himself has had a tough time on the sets of the film 1971. “We shot at a desert at the Indo-Pak border and the heat was just crazy. More than the sun, the reflection of the heat from the sand was killing me. I literally had the umbrella on the ground instead of above the head to feel better,” he recalls.
Acting fervour amidst fever
Many actors display love for the toil, despite it seeming a tough time. A case in point is Nikhil Siddhartha who shares an interesting anecdote from the sets of Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada, when the team shot the song Neetho Unte Chalu in Chikmagalur. While the sizzling chemistry between Nikhil and Hebah Patel grabbed eyeballs, little did people know that the actor was really sick then! “I had a high fever! I couldn’t move and really needed to rest at all times. But with the shoot having been planned in advance, to cancel would mean a huge loss for producers and I couldn’t do that. I remember a chair had to be kept close by at all times so that I could sit if needed,” he recalls, sharing that the after effects of pushing his physical limits lasted for three months as he suffered from body pains for several days. But he adds, “When your passion become a profession, all this isn’t a biggie.”
The fact remains that celebrities go all out to live up to high and unattainable standards of filmmaking. And the paradox of the profession definitely seems the need to look good. And like NTR says, “It’s a never-ending process.” To lay it on the line, this line from a song in Puri Jagannadh’s film Nenithe sure sums up the struggle of these actors and their everyday lives: “One day lo star ante adhi choosentha veesy kaadhe. Yello... yennello kannilla kastam unde!” (Becoming a star overnight isn’t as easy as it looks. What goes behind it is several years of toil!). Touché.