You need to be a brilliant actor to carry forth the message in a silent comedy - Bhavna Balsavar

When television, film and theatre actress Bhavna Balsavar was offered the mother’s role in SAB TV’s Gutur Gu (Fireworks Productions), the fact that it was a silent comedy which they had planned to run for just 13 episodes didn’t deter her at all. In fact she was enthused by the fact that it didn’t have any dialogues. She explains, “Doing a comedy is in itself a challenge for me. It is easy to make people cry but to make people laugh is surely tough. Moreover a silent comedy is a huge challenge. This show was to be an experiment. It wasn’t a series involving miming or mimicry. It was just a situational silent comedy and hence a great challenge.” Isn’t doing a silent comedy in a way a respite as no lengthy dialogues have to be memorised? She replies, “You just need a good memory to memorise lengthy dialogues. Sometimes even that isn’t necessary as you get prompted. Moreover through dialogues you will easily be able to communicate what you wish to convey. You need to be a brilliant actor to carry forth the message in a silent comedy like Gutur Gu.” The actress has added a new complexion to her character. “I have tried to bring in particular nuances into my role. My original character wasn’t as well etched as it has turned out to be now. As I am from theatre, I already have the habit of discovering what the audience is enjoying and developing that part. I adopted the same pattern for Gutur Gu 2. For instance I started to make myself more stupid which the audiences enjoyed. A lot of kids watch this show. When they imitate me I know that they are liking what I do. That is how my character developed a lot as the serial grew. There is a world of difference from what my character was when it started to what it is now.” Bhavna is full of appreciation for her director. “We are very fortunate to have a good and sorted director who knows exactly what he wants. So for us, a story session isn’t a typical reading of the script. We do a lot of brain storming. As I have said, my character is particularly stupid. Adhering to the given situation, I think of silly things to do. Shyam Mashalkar who is playing one of my sons is an over-enthusiastic character. So given a situation he weaves hyper activity into that.” Some people unfairly look down upon silent comedy. What does she have to tell them? She replies, “Television today is very verbose. A lot depends on the dialogues as a lot of housewives are just cooking. Many of them may happen to hear the serial and not really watch it. Our show is something which you have to sit down and watch. As we have stayed on for three and a half years I may immodestly say that we have managed to create a niche. In India there is unfortunately a mindset that comedies are inferior. The viewers may look down upon silent comedies as they feel as that there are no dialogues there or loud reactions they aren’t good enough. These notions are gradually changing though.” Regarding other silent comedies in the history on Indian television and cinema she is of the opinion, “Chaplin of course is great. He however took the help of a lot of placards, which we do not do. As far as Laurel and Hardy is concerned it is only slapstick, fighting and a lot of action oriented stuff. Chaplin’s films have more emotion. They are all legends and so is Mr.Bean.” She quite likes SAB TV’s Chintu Ban Gaya Gentleman too. “It is a nice show. Al Amin who plays the protagonist gets to travel all over the world- he is one lucky actor. I am a travel freak, I wish I could have done the same. However in Chintu… they are all into miming, though like our show they do not use dialogues. So, it is easier to execute when compared to our serial.”