Why I love Shrenu Parikh as GKS?!?
Had posted this on Indiaforums two days back on occasion of Shrenu’s birthday. Thanks to @sitaaronkepaar, my Saathiya in the Tumblr world, for suggesting me to post it here as well. <3
Playing the character of Gauri is very difficult because it’s very easy to dismiss Gauri as a typical, sanskaari’ character without any substance. The only reason why the audience understands Gauri’s motivations is because of how Shrenu plays her, and literally elevates the inconsistent and patchy script, to make Gauri likable. Here are some of the scenes which I loved:
This has to be the best scene written for Gauri till date. First off, credit goes to the scriptwriters and directors, because this scene was scripted and directed really well. Coming to Shrenu’s performance, it’s no secret that emotional scenes are Shrenu’s forte. The sequence was aired in two parts. In the first part, the focus was more on Om. However, there were little things that I noticed in this scene. There is this tiny movement where Gauri touches her ear as if she can’t bear to listen to what Om is saying. These slight movements do make a difference to the whole scene because it shows just how hurtful Om’s words are, that Gauri is not able to bear them anymore and also can’t believe what is happening. Shrenu always does these small movements, which add depth to the scene. The closing shot of the first scene where Om stomps out, the camera focuses on Gauri’s face, and Shrenu clearly portrays Gauri’s rage, disgust, and how she is done with the accusations.
Act 2 of the break-up scene focuses completely on Gauri. Here, as expected Shrenu excels. The whole confession scene has been praised enough for how Shrenu conveyed her feelings in English as a person who has newly learnt the language and made the diction believable. Again the small movements are important here as well, how Gauri pulls up Om’s face to look at the proofs she’s throwing at him, how Gauri shows her frustration by slightly stomping her feet, and the physical uneasiness displayed to show the contained rage and disappointment; Shrenu got it all correct.
Coming to expressions, there was everything from disappointment, rage, hurt, love, frustration, and a feeling of finality that she is done with everything. I don’t need to go into more detail about how Shrenu portrayed all the emotions and switched effortlessly to make it a superlative performance.
The fact that this whole sequence was shot while she was still recovering from dengue shows how much of an experienced and nuanced performer she is.
Though of course the break-up scene was the most powerful scene written for Gauri, my favorite scene in terms of Shrenu’s acting prowess remains Thakurain Gauri. Shrenu was marvelous in this scene. First things first, what I immediately noticed was the voice modulation. I feel Shrenu tweaked her voice a bit, to make it sound more mature. Also, the authoritative tone can’t be missed. Right from where she enters, and comments on who’s making so much noise, there is a change in her voice.
Major part of this scene was portrayed through Shrenu’s eyes. She did a perfect job of getting the arrogance and mockery just right for Thakurain. Thakurain Gauri had a commanding presence, and Shrenu was actually given heavier eye make up and heavier clothes to justify that. Of course, her acting had a lot of weight, which is why it did not look out of place when Om actually followed her command and agreed for the tika.
I loved how Shrenu switched really fast between Thakurain Gauri who mocked Omkara as opposed to Gauri who was scared for Omkara as well as herself. When Om mentions Chulbul, Shrenu actually conveys Gauri’s pain and somewhat pride at their friendship only through her eyes, because at the mention of Chulbul her gaze softens. That one second eye movement, is difficult to miss and yet too quick. Shrenu superbly did it.
Shrenu had to show a lot of restraint as Thakurain Gauri who is cold and completely opposite to Gauri in nature. Also, in the scene where Om manhandles Gauri, Shrenu had to portray dual fear: Thakurain Gauri’s fear that Om is getting violent so this fear had to be superficial and materialistic fitting into Thakurain Gauri’s personality as someone who only cares for herself, and Gauri’s fear that Om hates her so much and she might get him into more trouble.
I think through this scene Shrenu proved her potential to take up a negative role in future or even the role of a matriarch who lords over everyone else. Shrenu was brilliant in this scene.
Again in this sequence, the direction was flawless and needs to be complimented. This scene saw Shrenu portraying a different aspect of Gauri, which can be dubbed as cold rage. Thankfully, the script was crisp and did not demand any over-the-top dialogues, which would have ruined the effect. Shrenu gave a pretty measured performance in this scene, where Gauri’s rage can be felt but its more calm in the sense that she is trying to prove a point.
As an actress, Shrenu needs to be commended for doing something rarely done in Indian television. Also, this was a greater challenge for her as she is petite for this kind of sequence. Again the action director needs to be congratulated for getting the action moves just right to make the scene believable.
Shrenu had to act in a way to make her screen presence feel weightier as she crossed off with a wrestler. This she managed to do pretty well as her expressions was calculative as well exuding confidence. Also, the last moment where Gauri is cornered and struggling, was done really well.
Starting with the second episode itself, i.e. the bulldozer scene, which is a favorite of many. One peculiar trait of Gauri is how the tears flow out when she is angry, and Shrenu mastered that really well. The “aansu nahi angaarey hain line fits perfectly here. Again, Shrenu portrays the anger through her eyes. The expression “eyes blazing” literally fits the bill for Shrenu in those scenes. When she bulldozes over Om’s car, and the expression of contentment after the job is well done, which is equivalent to letting out all the anger, is pretty subtly portrayed by Shrenu.
Other scenes where I noticed the expressions of rage were in Gauri’s confrontations with Kali. An example is one Kali is pulling her to the mandap the second time and she has a broken bottle in hand, there is an expression of calculated rage and determination, which makes the whole scene believable. It’s difficult to portray a puny woman getting better of a villainous character without any defense skill sets, but Shrenu brings a certain heavy presence to her acting in those scenes, which make it not only believable and highly enjoyable to watch.
There are several other scenes, which I liked a lot, but a blow-by-blow analysis will make it repetitive. One of the most powerful scenes we got to see recently was Omkara’s confession. The best shot of Shrenu in that scene is when Gauri laughs off Omkara’s sudden reminder that she is married to him. Shrenu’s immediate change of expression from mirthless, hysterical laughter to rage, and how she punctuated that rage by shoving Omkara away, was very well done. Throughout this scene, there was specific emphasis on particular words and in general the intonation of dialogues in that scene was very well done. Scenes like the Goodbye scene in the staircase, both the exhibition scenes where in the first one she meets Om after leaving and flees and the second one where the fiasco happened, the Finale scene of DBO, the confrontation after the inspiration scene, the scene where Gauri is asking about the princess’ future while Om is narrating a story to Pari, etc were beautifully done, and Shrenu’s acting is so heartbreaking, that I literally needed to brave up myself to watch it. Shrenu always gets it right balance between over-the-top (TRP-audience-pleasing) crying and bawling. The slight gulping or reaching for air or sniffing (with her nose going red) or hesitation, depending on the scene, adds to the quality of the scenes. I’ve said this before, but Shrenu cries beautifully and emotional scenes are her forte.
Coming to something that I’ve seen on Indian TV after a long time, the infamous or famous (depending on who’s watching) Chulbul track. The thing with cross-dressing plot is that it can go horribly wrong. The audience knows it’s a girl, so the trick is not how to make it believable (because the suspension of belief is already at work), but how to make it funny without making people cringe. I liked how Shrenu portrayed the dichotomy of two characters. Chulbul’s awkward gait, hand gestures, and overall personality were very well done. The point here was not only to make it look comic for a girl pretending to be a boy, but also to keep in mind that its small town girl with traditional values, who is impersonating a boy, so Chulbul had to be extra shy. Shrenu caught that bit really well. There were quite a few funny scenes in this track but some of my favorites were the one night stand scene, the leaf skirt scene, and the ”hum chirota nahi, chiraiyaa hai” bit. I just wish the track wasn’t stretched so much, and we had more funny moments. As an actor I think, Shrenu pulled off this track pretty well.
One cannot end this post without mentioning Shrenu’s excellent comic timing. Every comic scene is like perfection itself. The best part about the comic scenes is Shrenu’s expressions. She is without doubt the expression queen in the entire IB cast. She manages the balance with over-the-top comic antics and understated comedy so effortlessly. Whether it’s the ‘bhooot’ in the car or the ‘bhaujaaiii’ in the motorbike, Shrenu’s expressions are unbeatable. Also, the whole bhang ladoo scene, and the expressions which she is making, what is even her face! Also, the scenes where Shrenu has to emote expressions when Gauri is talking in her mind, like the scene with Ragini, or in the car with Om, those scenes were superbly done. Just the right amount of drama for the television screen without making it over-the-top.
Finally, though IB/DBO is not really a dramatic serial on par with others, Shrenu, at least, got to portray the most varied shades of a character on this show, for which as a fan, I’m grateful, because I got to see her superlative performance.
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