Made in India : the Titan story

 On a YouTube short I saw JRD Tata speaking so I clicked on it and realised it wasn't JRD, but Naseeruddin Shah. The resemblance is striking! The short was a clip from the show. I had to see the whole thing. You can watch it on Amazon Video service. 

I began watching the serialized watch story, of Titan, how it came to be made. It is all there in detail in six episodes, with one and a half known actors. Other actors are not known but they are pretty good. They will get roles in future, one hopes. 

Naseeruddin Shah as JRD is good, of course, but Jim Sarbh is superb! 

Jim Sarbh has featured in the past in a few movies, in supporting roles, but perhaps they were not so important roles to make you notice him. May be they hadn't the scope a good actor could explore ; whatever that might be, Jim Sarbh wasn't noticed by me  until I saw him as Xerxes Desai. It is such a sensitive performance. 

I found that his projection of the character of Xerxes Desai is more about underplaying the character than essaying it on the expected lines. If you see the actual life Xerxes Desai in his interviews, he comes across as a person with determination and drive but it is quite subdued. 

Jim's being a parsee must have definitely helped. I think a non parsee might not have done what Jim has. What has he done...? Well, he has not mimicked Xerxes, not tried to redefine Xerxes' external. Jim plays him more intensely, living as Xerxes Desai rather than "describe" his traits. I had a hunch mid watch that Jim Sarbh had theater background and I Googled. Indeed, Jim is an actor with pedigree in the Bombay theater. Not the Marathi theater, but the parsee school which has produced, quite like the Marathi, beautiful actors. No wonder then that he could create Xerxes Desai with imagination. 

Naseeruddin Shah is a seasoned actor of great depth. His resemblance to JRD Tata adds to what Shah brings out from within. A man well established in his empire but a person who does not compromise on values. A person to whom tradition means exploring the future to find gems with which to strengthen the tradition he has got as legacy, the great Tata tradition, but make his own contribution to it. It must take a profound resolve and strength to withstand storms and yet take risks with an uncanny self belief that he will succeed. That quality develops, I believe, when you take disappointments, take them in your stride, make a habit of it. I saw all that in the character of JRD played by Naseeruddin Shah. 

Jim does not just emulate those qualities of JRD, but tries to imbibe them. Jim's Xerxes genuinely loves his mentor. It comes out in small gestures, fleeting looks and eye contacts between the two on screen. They reveals this bond between the two. It is an interdependence of a high quality, felt at soul's depth and not admiration mixed with the element of envy. It is a sacred worship – adoration is the word for it! I saw that in the characters played by those two beautiful actors.

The other characters are portrayed well by other actors. Kaveri Seth in particular seem to have a natural sense to play for the camera. As Megha Mhatre she is the most convincing of the lot. I must mention my reaction to her because I found it quite revealing how you discover outer beauty by starting from an 'inner' point of the character that the actor gives you. 

Kaveri's intro to the story is nothing to write home about. But during the interview of Megha Mhatre, she says things which makes Xerxes Desai hire her even before the launch if a proper company! then there are sequences where Megha is with her mother. Those sequences establish her self-esteem which her physical looks do not show. Her eyes have that inner fire, but it comes out gradually and as it comes out over the neeche of the film, you increasingly find her to be beautiful. Sexy in fact! I did. In the beginning you just about notice a middle class girl who is attractive in a chaaqoo. Towards the end, you spot her in the busiest crowd in Mumbai. She has done justice and more to the role, I feel. 

All in all, it is a lovely story which inspires us. 

Watch it if you can.