WORD POWER
Acting blues
Prerana Trehan

IT goes without saying that good roles for talented actors in Bollywood are hard to come by. Just watch actors of the calibre of Anupam Kher or Nandita Das wasted in two-bit roles in mainstream movies and you will know what I mean. In fact, when I try to recall a single role of substance that they have done in the past year, I draw a blank.

There is no doubt that they are going great guns in the so-called ‘art movies’, but these movies are such hard going that most find it difficult to watch them. This is sad, really, especially when you see that the mainstream actors have a lot going for them while the cards are stacked against those who are slotted as ‘character artists’.

Also unfortunate is the fact that actors on the wrong side of 40 are left on the sidelines by the film industry which obviously places a premium on younger faces. The idea of watching actors who are past their sell-by date on the silver screen does not sit well with the viewers either. Most of these actors, who have been hero-worshipped during their heyday, find this lack of good roles for them hard to swallow. But then, as they say, success and failure are two sides of the same coin. The smartest actors are those, I suppose, who make good money while time is still on their side and then get out of the movies while the going is good.

Key to idioms used

It goes without saying: something that you say when you believe that what you will say next is generally accepted or understood

Hard to come by: difficult to find

Two-bit: (always before a noun) of very little value or not important

Draw a blank: to be unable to get information, think of something or achieve something

Be going great guns: to be doing something very successfully and quickly

Hard going: difficult to do or understand

Have a lot going for you: to have many good qualities or advantages that will make it easier for you to succeed

Cards are stacked against someone: if the cards are stacked against someone, they are not at all likely to succeed in a particular situation because they have a lot of problems

Be (on) the wrong side of 30/40 etc.: to be older than 30/40 etc.

Be left on the sidelines: to not be actively involved in something

Be past your sell-by date: to not be wanted or useful any more because you are too old

The silver screen: the cinema

Not sit well with someone: if a situation or an idea does not sit well with someone, they do not like it or accept it

Hard to swallow: difficult to accept

Be two sides of the same coin: if two things are two sides of the same coin, they are very closely related although they seem very different

Have time on your side: to have enough time to do something without having to hurry

While the going is good: if you do something while the going is good, you do it while it is still easy to do

Big Brother (is watching you) is used jocularly, ironically or in a serious vein to mean a person or an organisation, such as a government, that exercises dictatorial control on the people. The allusion is to George Orwell’s novel 1984, in which Big Brother is the despotic and omnipresent head of a ruthless and dehumanising Stalinist state. "Big Brother is watching you" is used as a slogan on posters showing his image. These posters are displayed all over the state.

(Reference: Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms and A Concise Dictionary of Phrase and Fable)