Distant Clones

Comparisons are inevitable, if the protagonists are so strikingly similar. Bollywood and Hollywood might be poor and distant cousins, but their thespians aren’t. Haven’t you wondered about Amitabh while watching Al Pacino perform, or seen Aamir’s fineness in each and every Tom Hanks’ sculpted movie. While these are the most obvious ones, some have been keenly observed ones too, like that between Akshay Khanna and Ben Cussack, Akshay Kumar and John Trovolta. I couldn’t help adding one of my own, even though the actors concerned aren’t very high-profile ones. I am talking about Abhay Deol and Mark Ruffalo. I don’t know why but I like them so much. Perhaps I am endeared because of their non-performance, exhibited in their innocence and sinlessness on the screen.

I watched Abhay Deol first in ‘Socha Na Tha’. Paired with Ayesha Takia, another cherubic faced cutie, he had delivered an instantly disarming performance. His ‘Ek Chalis Ki Last Local’ was another very goody performance. But his real knock-out punch was in ‘Manorma-Six Feet Under’ where he exhibited the perplexed character in many tones with aplomb. These movies never made to the permanence of the audience, but I think he was superb in all of them. Hopefully his new movie ‘Oye Lucky ! Lucky Oye’-already having earned promising reviews- will win him some deserved admirers.

Mark Ruffalo has adopted more ruggedness in his roles now-a-days, but my first view of his was in a very sweet fluffy movie-’13 Going on 30’. It remains one of my favourites, mostly due to the sheer undertoned chemistry bewteen Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner. The way he portrayed his distanced but honest love towards his lady was so real. His other movies, ‘In the Cut’, ‘Zodiac’, and ‘The Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind’ throw him in graver roles, but his inner character retains the same softness.

They themselves might not believe that they are similar in any way, but they would indeed agree that they are what now are by their common simple appeal only. No wonder, if anyone else too feels vicarious about them.