Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai
Mumbai, Sep 27: Actress Divya Dutta, who has been receiving a positive response for her recently released film *Last Man in Tower*, has opened up about the technical aspects of acting and how guidance from senior artistes helped her understand the craft early in her career.
Dutta spoke to reporters alongside her co-star Manoj Bajpayee and director Ben Rekhi during the film’s promotional event in Andheri West, Mumbai.
Speaking about the technicalities of acting, Dutta said knowing the basics and ensuring that the performance is effectively conveyed on screen are important.
“First of all, technicality for me, as long as I know my basics that I'm delivering and it's seen, it’s fine because there was a time when I didn’t know, I was doing my best, but I was not visible on the screen in the correct manner,” she said.
The actress recalled how her seniors helped her understand the nuances of performing for the camera.
“I had my seniors holding my hand, and told me, ‘Listen, you're doing well, but you're not looking correctly on the screen’. So I've been fortunate that way,” she said.
Dutta said such aspects are learnt with experience and stressed the importance of moving beyond technical considerations once an actor understands them.
“And you learn these things with time. They also say, ‘Get your lines out of the way, get the technicalities out of the way, and then just belong’. Just let that, the magic of the moment happen,” she said.
She explained that interacting naturally with a co-actor could make every take different, as the emotions generated during a scene could change with each performance.
“If I'm looking in my co-actor’s eyes, every take probably would be different. Every take, when I look into their eyes, it would evoke a different emotion from them,” Dutta said.
“It could probably go up, it could probably go down. And it sometimes surprises you. So you need to let that happen. If you get very inhibited and feel, ‘No, no, this is the boundary, I have given this note’ then it becomes too limited. You just need to let the performance flow,” she added.
*Last Man in Tower* is based on the eponymous novel by author Aravind Adiga and is set against the rapidly changing landscape of Mumbai.
Bajpayee plays a retired schoolteacher and widower living in an ageing apartment complex. When a wealthy developer offers the residents a lucrative deal to sell the building and make way for a luxury tower, most are tempted by the money.
Bajpayee’s character, however, refuses to move, emerging as the lone obstacle to the redevelopment plan.
The film is currently playing in cinemas.