The Actor

Radhamohan Bose hated being called “Radha”, “Radha-da” or even “Radha-babu”. But very few people would take the trouble of pronouncing his full name.

All through his life he had borne this burden of hating his name.

But he was good at hiding his emotions. After all, he was an Actor.

Radhamohan had dabbled in acting since his early years, mostly with amateur theatricals and an occasional play where he would get a minor to medium role. But theater was dying out in Kolkata, and movies were the trend. Opportunities for acting disappeared for Radhamohan Bose.

By profession he was an UDC – Upper Division Clerk – in Writers Building, the home of the West Bengal Government. It was a boring existence of endless, dusty files bound with red tape, strikes from time to time, politics and socialism discussed over cups of lukewarm tea. Radhamohan lived this humdrum life patiently.

But the acting instinct was still very much alive in Radhamohan.

That is why the phone call from his long-forgotten nephew electrified him.

“Radha-Kaku” (Uncle Radha), “kemon achen (how are you)?

Radhamohan mumbled a few formal words.

“Kaku, I am now working in the casting side for a film producer. We have a role in a new movie that we are shooting now. Ronen Sen, the famous actor, you must have heard of him. He is the hero. Would you like to do the role ?”

Radhamohan hated movies. To him, acting was a passion. Acting had to be live, on a stage, not on a screen where there would be umpteen takes, editing, re-hashing.

But……….

It would be acting, anyway.

“Will I have any dialogue ?” he asked.

“Of course, Kaku. You have to say “Ooh” “.

“Ooh ?” asked Radhamohan, quite puzzled.

“Aaah Kaku ! At least it’s a dialogue. Let me explain”, said the nephew.

It appeared that there was a scene where the hero, Ronen Sen, would get down from a taxi in front of a huge office building, and run towards the entrance. He would bump into an elderly pedestrian. This pedestrian would say “Ooh”.

That was the role, and that was the dialogue.

Radhamohan was a bit miffed at being offered such a tiny role, with one word of dialogue.

“Let me think over it” he said.

“Don’t take too long about it”, said the nephew. “I am in a rush. Shooting is on Tuesday, five days from now. Let me know by tomorrow morning. I called you because you are my Kaku. If you don’t accept the role, I have to find someone else.”

Very few red-tape bound files passed Radhamohan’s desk that day. He was engrossed in the word “Ooh”.

He contemplated over the many ways to say ‘Ooh”.

One could say ”Ooh” in anger, in anguish, in pain, in disdain, in agitation, in disgust, even in love or amazement. One single word could express so many different emotions.

An actor had to choose the exact way to say “Ooh”, in relation to the scene.

This was the challenge for an actor, to express exactly the right emotion in a single word.

Next morning Radhamohan called his nephew and agreed to do the role.

The next few days were spent in anticipation. Radhamohan practised saying “Ooh” in myriad different ways, each reflecting a different emotion.

At last Tuesday arrived. Radhamohan had taken “casual leave” and was at the location of the shooting, on the pavement in front of Chowdhury Tower in Chowringhee.

There was a whole army of people at the location. There was the Director, various assistants, the camera crew, the light boys, the continuity team, et al. Radhamohan felt a little lost until he spotted his nephew.

“Namaskar, Kaku” said the nephew, and led him to the Director.

The Director looked over him and said “hmm……”.

Radhamohan’s heart sank. Would he be rejected ?

The Director nodded his head. “Cholbe” (will do) he said. “Just get him an umbrella and a newspaper.”

Then he explained to Radhamohan what he had to do.

“You will be walking down the pavement with the umbrella under your armpit and reading the newspaper”, said the Director. “You will not be aware of the hero jumping out of the taxi and rushing to the entrance of the building. He will bump into you. You will look astonished and say ‘Ooh”. Got that ? “

Radhamohan nodded.

There were two practice runs, with an extra filling in for the hero. The first run didn’t go well – the timing was bad. The second run was perfect.

Now the scene was set for the hero, Ronen Sen, to arrive.

It was quite hot on the pavement, and Radhamohan was sweating. Nevertheless, he waited patiently for his moment to say “Ooh”.

Finally, the hero arrived. The Director explained the sequence to him with Radhamohan in attendance. Ronen Sen nodded.

“Standby”, said the Director.

“Clap”.

“Action !!!!!!”

Ronen Sen leapt out of the taxi. Radhamohan had positioned himself perfectly.

Ronen bumped into Radahmohan. His newspaper went scattering, along with his umbrella.

He said “Ooh” in great anguish.

“Cut” said the Director. “Pack”.

A general commotion ensued as all the filming equipment was packed up.

The nephew looked for Radhamohan to congratulate him and pay him his “fees”.

But Radhamohan had left already. He didn’t want the money anyway.

All the Actor had wanted to do was act. And he did.

Even if all he had to do was to say “Ooh”.