Sayan Sarkar has in him all that it takes to make it big. I’m sticking my neck out to say he’s another superstar in the making, waiting to break from the past.
Life’s a blind date with destiny and the only thing one can be certain about is the uncertainty. Having said that, there are some potent indicators, talent. They are a measure of a person, an artist. What one does with it is a different matter.
Our conversation veered to varied topics, of this and the other world. One gets the impression that he’s a bit of an ascetic too. I don’t say it because of the long hair. He gets into the trance of acting, playing others like himself. His gaze, this uncanny ability to look at life intently and intensely and yet remain a witness.
A prodigy of National School of Drama-Delhi (NSD), Sayan, is from Bengal. Charming he is, stands out in a crowd despite his lanky frame, has a substantial and sublime presence on the stage. Perhaps, because of his probing eyes or the intuitive ability to get into the character he plays. Acting is reliving a character and not a staged performance, is what I got to understand by conversing with him one late evening.
He’s blessed with certain admirable equalities that he employs with gusto in his performances. Like the sense of sound—receptive ears. He’s also good at making sounds that feel like music, be it a percussion instrument, or a harmonium. He was seen hitting the surface of the water like beating a drum standing chest deep in a pool of water.
Not just that, Sayan’s a dancer too. His body reacts to the music in an ecstatic synchroneity. Back home in Kolkata, he’d dance for hours together in a room swaying to music. He loves his company a lot, enjoys his solitude yet is not a loner.
Our conversation veered to varied topics, of this and the other world. One gets the impression that he’s a bit of an ascetic too. I don’t say it because of the long hair. He gets into the trance of acting, playing others like himself. His gaze, this uncanny ability to look at life intently and intensely and yet remain a witness.
Sayan has acted in more than 30 plays and some movies like Taj: Royal Blood--a popular web-series, Shyam Benegal's Mujib: The Making of a Nation and Geru Patra--won many awards in the best short film category.
He has written some plays as well, is in the process of writing another that will make a two-hour stag play. His plays are a reflection of our times from the perspective of a young liberal man who feels strongly about things, polity and society, inspires his narratives. And has a breath of fresh air. Sayan is passing through a testing phase, his life can be generally described as “struggling.” The dark sky before twilight. The phase where talent is tempered with realities of life. Many get disillusioned and leave, while others hone their craft and stay put. Morn is not far for them. Destiny performs for them in most unexpected ways.
“I have seen you play characters, old and young, women and men, and what not! You appear what you play makes you a good actor. This brings me to the existential question: who are you, Sayan?” I ask, acutely aware, that it's an unfair question to a young man who has just turned thirty and that any description is limiting. For we are a microcosm, each one of us—a mini universe.
He describes a situation instead of him. That he’s seated alone in the middle of nowhere, a desert of white sand all around him as far as eyes can see, all directions look the same, merge into the vague infinite. It’s bright but the sun doesn't cast a shadow. And the emptiness around him percolates inside of him. It’s a beautiful vision that can be disconcerting. Being ambiguous about existence is as expansive as this vision. “We’re a bit of everything and nothing in particular,” I say and ask in the same breath, “Are you lonely or lost?” An artist’s journey is solitary. He replies with a categorical “no”. In want of a better word, we agree it’s perhaps “disconnection.” This to me is an interesting preposition: the person in Sayan connects to the world when he plays the characters of the world.
He has played his part in many plays, movies—though is predominantly a theatre artist. A very versatile one in case you didn’t notice. Method acting infused with talent is a potent mix. Lately, he loved acting in plays produced for children. It’s not a child’s play to act in children’s plays.
He was in Taiwan for a couple of months to act (I kept referring to it as Thailand). It was a very satisfying experience for him, his first trip overseas.
Sayan lives in Mumbai with his partner Aditi Arora, a batchmate at NSD, a good artist in her own rights. The city of Mumbai keeps them on tenterhooks. There’s no big problem. Life’s good. Perhaps, the city of Mumbai doesn’t challenge him enough, yet remains challenging enough. He has been around for some years, and on the cusp of change for a while. They say the longer it takes, the better it gets—the impending change. He trusts the artist in him.
In the vast expansive desert of white sand, he wants to plant a sapling. That will cast a deep shadow. It’s not a mirage. Struggle is an intense time; one is sensitive to things, vulnerable, and reactive, and emotional. Like standing tall at the precipice—willing to fly but not ready to take a fall.
Sayan reminds me of all the strugglers who went on to do very well for themselves. Their talent infused joy in the lives of people. I can’t help but feel strongly: destiny will be kind to him.
Comments