Russell Peters recently asked the ‘perfectionist’ Aamir Khan to shut up for his comments on the controversial show ‘AIB Roast’. Aamir had said that he found ‘AIB’ very violent. But Russell Peters also commented that actors are not ‘Real Artists’. Russell said, “He is an actor; not even a real artist. He goes in front of the camera and reads out lines that someone else has written. Then, he is giving his opinion about something that is honest!”
So are Actors not ‘Real Artists’?
There are lot of actors who call themselves as performers, but is it really correct? There are many industry professionals who feel that in today’s world the word “performer” has become more associated with things like circus acts, jugglers, stand-up comics, and even singers and dancers.
Having said that, most industry professionals think that they’re a bit of both. Everybody wants to do things differently and everybody trains to develop and practice their art, and strives to take it to another level. Here are some of the comments that we got from people in the film industry.
Says a television actor. “There are times when the script is not developed (or provided at the last moment) and we have to do lot of improvisations. So I am both an actor as well as a performer. In fact, the world ‘performer’ includes all the art forms like acting, singing, dancing and entertaining. If someone says that they’re different, its being pretentious.”
Another working actor agrees that some people think that performers are more talented than actors, and that is another reason most struggling actors think of themselves being a performer rather than just an actor. “Even I used to call myself a performer because many felt that performers were talented people who excelled at their craft, and acting was just saying the lines. But I’ve had enough of that BS, the truth is that nobody cares.”
Another musical theatre performer feels the other way around and rues that they’re not seen as actors. But she says that “they have to be in the moment, in character, and stay focused on the character’s objective within the context of the song or scene. I don’t believe that musical theatre actors are LESS than other actors.”
So that probably sums it all, most industry people feel that actors are performers too, and vice versa; both are honorable professions.
Although Aamir Khan has not reacted to Russell Peters comments (and rightly so), we were just wondering what if he had said the same to SRK on acting. We’re sure the reply would have been something witty (and equally insulting).
Also Read: Here’s a nice article that tries to explain the distinction between acting & performing.
