The gift of talent, I believe, is a huge responsibility. It does not really belong to you. It never did. If used for merely acquiring wealth fame and power, talent turns into the devil that eats into your soul. Like a gambling debt, like an addiction. Not to a supreme creative endeavour but to the artificial surrounds of wealth, power and fame.
Talent is Prasadam. It can be taken away if not placed at the altar. Talent is the temple. And when it is lost, as it will be if abused, all that is left is the empty shell of addiction. Talent can never be yours, for it is much more substantial than your ego. And the more creative force there is to talent, the more universal, the more beyond yourself it becomes. It is as if someone loaned you the gift to tap into a universal creativity.
Of course there is temptation. The pull of the mortal and material needs never cease. It’s a constant battle to retain the purity, the innocence, the child like playful quality of creative talent.
Anything as a matter of fact…when has an underlying cause of power/money/fame….the real potential will never bloom as it is breathing with so many pressures…..
To sparkle I do believe you need to remove these factors….
Like a stone tossed in the sea…could cause ripples, be washed away by waves or engulfed by storms… it will have natures harmony in it…
That harmony is what i would call real talent…the guts to face all these forces…
Responsibility could again burden the rythm….the real flow would not be there…
Responsibility is a part of it….not heart…
Wow did i make sense?
Anyways…Good Morning tho bolna bhool gayi….
GOod MOrnInG Shekhar….woh dekho ek birdie aapke paas chirping karing…mere paas ek minature parrot hai…’Pollie’ meri tareh hai lol…sniff aur lollie uski matie mar gayi…
HugSSS
Its natures course…abuse anything and you are bound to lose it…even Yourself!!
Smile~~~~
Purity, Innocence Tis all a state of mind Shekhar!
Koi purity, innocence ko ek naam ek daag laga dega…koi usseh galeh laga lega….aur ajeeb baath tho ye hai…sabhi galeh lagane ko tayar hai…loool…musibat…
Ah! That child is the only one that survived all those battles…because that child never got polluted….never lived in fear…thus it breathes…and breathes
.
.
Breathes
GoOD NiGHT
Kitni Jaan khati hu hai na?
Agra meh koi seat khali hai?
ErRM!
Yeah! Rite…
All that agony surely was a loan…to find myself…
Salutations ‘O’ darkness….
The prayer wheel turns…
Ah!Happiness returns…
If thee be a a dream…
Pray never wake me again…
Barter ‘me’ not for pain…
BRrr gettin cold….need a coffee …areh ye Kedar sahab kaha gaye…
Dear Shekhar,
Talent for doing anything is always a gift from God and it’s our responsibility to hone it, nurture it and realize the ultimate goal for which it was given to us. I believe everthing is kind of loaned to us for a certain time. The breaths, our body are all bound by time and even our unlimited imagination is given to us for a finite time. Like Paulo Coelho says, the only true obligation is to realize our personal legend in life, for which we have been given the gift. Just use the time and the gift wisely and fulfill the destiny of your soul.
Best Regards,
Himanshu
yeah…… you’re really your happiest when doing what nature has blessed you with.eg art, literature, poetry…..
your poetry is so spontaneous shekhar….you are an astro physicist, film maker, poet……which of these is what comes most naturally to you ? brings the most happiness…..makes you forget yourself ?
Mere fun(Talent)ne meri muflisee(Poverty)ko mitne naa diya!
Ya yun kaho ki(Or)
Meri muflisee ne mere fun ko mitne naa diya!
Talent is the the unique imprint of uniqueness of one’s being, and everyone has it embedded. And those who are able to realize it, and live it, shall use it for universal well being which automatically includes him. The glow of talent can reach everyone outside only if it glows from within. The fame, money may just be by products of it, which are further tools of expression for the wise. And if one gets entangled in the by-products……….. further its like trying to keep the fire burning and watering it at the same time.
Truly talent is a gift and somthing which should be used with great responsibility. Like Uncle Ben put it in spider man “with great power comes great responsibility”. Talent is truly power. But money is not evil.
Its easy for you to say sir that talent when used for making money and runnig behind material pleasures is evil. but for some people “making money” is their talent. look at the thousands of share brokers out there. thats their talent. and frankly sir there are times when your talent needs to be exchanged with somthing else. Like most of our hindi films put it. “gaane bajaane se pet nahi bharta”. A talented person can live in minimalism all his life. but, there will be someone who will depend on him for money. what then? it is his resposibilty to oblige to that dependancy. you cannot just run away from it. Talent is good, but exchanging talent for money does not neccesarily make it evil.
Shekhar Ji, I agree wholeheartedly, but then I also have to live with the idea that art for art’s sake is tantamount to masturbation. Agar koi khareedar ya dekhne waala nahi hai, then the concept of creativity is stifled, simply because art is created for sharing. Reward, however instrinsic or generous in value, is the axiom which makes or breaks many creative souls.
Like how Talent is not ours, Beauty is not ours too. According to me nothing of the beauty of any woman who contest in Beauty Pageants are eligible to be crowned/admired/awarded both for intelligence and looks. Simply because they did not design it. It’s given by the unexplainable power who created us one and all.
True, The gift of talent, I believe, is a huge responsibility. It does not really belong to you…. similar concept explained in this interesting blog http://rsarosh.wordpress.com/2006/08/12/boot-polish/
Shekharji…..
Speaking of TALENT …..”Acting” has been a synonym with me …Right from the childhood to 33 yrs of my present age I have done nothing but dreamt, breathed, lived off this desire to be an actress…Being immensely talented (throught out schools and college and staging local plays) to being outstandingly good looking and well versed…TALENTED as you put it …i have never really gotten the right platform…The absence of clout, the presence of the casting couch, the restricting, non- accomodating family values, lack of opportunities, personal circumstanc es…all hindered me from being what i could have been ………..So much so that even post marriage i have tried and tried….got thru various production houses but somehow all went kaput in the end by sheer twist of fate and not failure of self as such.
…why is it that people like you from the fraternity never keen to try NEW , raw, inexperienced TALENT….And if at all they do , we are taken for granted ……why is it that all are flocked with the same stick…why is it that somebody like you doesnt step up and say ” i will give you a chance …if that’s the kin d of fire you possess?”
I have been praised by acquaintances and strangers alike at being Awesome and a Natural warehouse of TALENT, looks, wit…they have as much as myself felt that i belonged only to this world and nowhere else……..but till date i havent found a platform…….
I have stopped reading newspapers, mags, stopped watching movies, TV just from the fear of facing depression…its hard to accept myself being wasted away when all others with half or even lesser still ability and lookh s riding high and ahead…
Why does Immorality always have to win over values in the world of showbiz…why is it that the ones who sleep around can make it and the ones who want to look back at life with pride and grace not given a fair chance ?
why si it assumed that a person who has not acted in a film/serial/play before is not worth the time or trial ?
Why does anything beyond twenties in age become a retarding factor for a person par excellence…….Tell Me Shekharji is there anyone to recognise and try this talent ?
Tell me is it that simple to give up everything after i’m married to leave delhi, pack my bags and move to bombay only to realise i am a newcomer who stands no choice to the old timers or newbeeies ready to undergo anything??/
will i die insatiated, yearning, longing to showcase and prove my TALENT ?
Will you or anyone else listen to my plea and say ” Ok just for once come for an audition ..” and be marvelled at what you will come to see……?
In anticipation….
Richa
Your thread on talent resonated with me on a very visercal, palpable level. I have been blessed in many ways, like you, am from a famous film family of legends, but then went off to work as an investment banker in New York and was good at my job, but due to the lack of creative expression and how much I missed performing on stage, I sold my house, cars and life of luxury and packed my bags for India to attempt to do what my family had been doing for the last three generations at the tender age of just 25. I had been performing since I was about 5 years old, and always had a talent for it, and won awards and the like, but because it came so easy to me, I never really polished myself to be the besttttt that I can be. Over the last year I have tried hard to make progress, but this incessant struggle for self betterment is just a part of my nature by studying Strassberg acting, and Stanislavksi. I have legends as my familial predecessors, who were all untrained, and that you actually worked with, but I will strive my hardest to make it on my own by keeping in mind my talent is a responsibility. Also, on an aside, if are there any up and coming hindi directors with intense emotional sensitivity, ala you or bimal roy….that you can recommend, that would be greatly appreciated. I have offers from many of the big production houses in India, which I probably will end up doing, due to my talent of dancing and my look, but my passion exists in sensitive humanistic cinema.
Dear Richa,
I just read your comment dated May 30th 2008. I know that was months ago, but I just recently started reading Mr. Kapur’s blog. I am from the states, New York originally and now CA, and I can totally empathize with your point of view on the industry being a “club” of elites. There was a time in my country when an actor could “make it” on talent. Now a large portion of people who are in the biz (although not EVERYone) is born into the industry or at least born into wealth/power and able to parlay their way into the right circles because of their pedigree. It’s no secret.
However, I would suggest to you that you are giving “them” far too much power over your artistic fulfillment. Just because it may not be in the cards for you or I or many others to be a “famous” Hollywood/Bollywood star and live in mansion in a gated community off Mulholland Drive, does NOT mean you cannot find fulfillment as an artist. Ask yourself what drew you to the arts in the first place? You don’t need “them” to express what is inside of you or to express your gifts. Realizing that the industry is by and large a club is a good thing. But becoming embittered over it is a bad thing because it’s only hurting you and no one else. Rise above it 🙂
I don’t know how things work where you are and what is or isn’t possible, but can’t you find other like-minded people in the same situation as you, and with the same passion as you, and create YOUR OWN work, rather than waiting for “them” to grace you with an opportunity that may never come? You mentioned staging local plays. For me personally, I would rather be part of a meaningful piece of theatre (devised theatre, political theatre, experimental theatre, whatever) in some dingy blackbox theatre that seats 100 people than wait for my 15 minutes of fame in a blockbuster.
In the states, we experience things like getting cast in a show (theatre) and then having the producer come in and un-cast you because they want a “big name.” And on and on it goes. Some of the very reputable theatres across the states — I don’t mean the huge equity houses — but very reputable theatres, had their origins by a group of passionate people who weren’t “in the club” getting together and saying “we’re going to make our art anyway.” And guess what? Now they ARE in the club — the theatre club and the film club too. I don’t know if that’s possible where you are or not. But I do know that God or the Universe or whomever did not give you a talent merely for you to watch it waste away. The manifestation or fulfillment of it just might come in a form that is not the one you want.
I’ve watched the dvd special features for The Four Feathers over and over. And I recall Mr. Kapur talking about the difference between western and eastern cultures where “destiny” is concerned: that in the east they embrace their destiny and the west they try to fight their destiny. I hope I don’t sound like a “pollyanna” — I’m just trying to give you some encouragement is all 🙂 It’s not about giving up on your dreams. It’s about embracing your destiny and believing that your talent CAN be fulfilled in embracing it. Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime, my friend 🙂
Hello Shekhar Sir,
I had talked with you earlier in this space. Sir, I just had someting to ask from you.
I am currently puruseing a course in Film Direction and Screenplay Writing in Satayajit Ray Film and T.V. Institute, Kolkata.
We, students in the 2nd year specialisation are looking for someone who could come to the institute for taking some workshops(sometime in February-March, geared towards a 10 min studio based short film excecise ).
I just wanted to ask if it would be possible for you to spare some of your time for us. Some of my friends had already sent you a mail but they haven’t recieved any response yet. And so we were wondering if the mail id was correct.
It would be really great if you could spend some time with us and I apologize for bringing this subject up here. I’ll be eagerly awaiting your response.
Thanks,
Rajdeep.
email :rajdeepaul_x1@yahoo.com