The Show Must Go On - Editorial

By Sahil Mehta


Yep, I’m back to bug you with an editorial yet again. I donno about you but it feels nice to be finally sitting down to write this, the final piece in the jigsaw. It’s been a long overdue issue. I have learnt much in this time. 

William Shakespeare (Yes. Again!) wrote 

 All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

Clichéd naa? But true nevertheless. If you look around you and search for meaning and reasons as to why things happen, you’ll just end up confused. Sometimes, when “why?” doesn’t have an answer, it’s best to remind yourself of Shakespeare’s lines and get a move on. 

But there is more than just Shakespeare and his philosophy to showbiz. Acting is a very powerful and creative medium. Stage plays, or good ones at least, have that innate ability to draw you in to the character, to feel the emotion that goes through him, to quiver in their roars and cry with their grief. And stage plays more often than not tackle daily life issues and problems in a way we connect with them. If nothing else, they are genuinely a fantastic source of entertainment. I’m just 21, and I haven’t seen that many plays but I remember all the ones that I have seen. 

Then there is the thrill on being on stage, of acting, of having the spotlight on you! But is it really possible to pretend to someone else? I don’t think so. I think all the greatest performances, whether on stage or on screen, have been when the actors became one with the character. Acting is more than just memorizing and reading a few lines in a particular manner. It’s just not possible to pretend to be someone else without believing yourself to be them. And this holds true not just for people on stage but even for people who pretend in real life. 

But there is more to showbiz than just acting or performing. And the “biz” part of it hasn’t been put there for semantics. Art, like everything else, too has been influenced and corrupted by the influence of commercialization and consumerism. Television, in particular has undergone a drastic change in the last few years. We’ve gone from making nice family comedy shows to first insanely stupid and impossibly tragic “saans-bahu” dramas and now degraded it further (never thought it would be possible) by getting people to make a fool out of themselves in the form of reality shows! While often humorous for their stark stupidity and blatant scripting, reality shows sadly bring out a dark, perverted side of the Indian society. A society which has too much idle time and dangerously high voyeuristic tendencies.  

Ah well! It is what it is. The solution lies with us too; in finding a form of entertainment which does not feed of the tragedies and misfortunes of other people’s lives on TV. 

But the most important thing about Showbiz, the one lesson to take, one that I’ve learnt the hard way, is that The Show Must Go On. You cannot stop and weep for what is lost in life, just like you cannot stop on a fumbled dialogue on stage. Time doesn’t stop and the audience is waiting. Just play your part as well as you can and revel in the applause at your curtain call!