My favorite actors and why they are my favorites

An old writeup ... resurfaces ...

My interest in watching movies has kinda skyrocketed recently. In record time, we completed watching all
those "Annowru" movies from India. Also, thanks to netflix I've been watching some awesome "foreign"
movies recently. So, I was just takin' a walk thinkin' about all these movies and somehow the thought
process shifted to my favorite actors. A list (fairly long one?) popped up almost immediately ... here
they go ... for lack of a better order, sorted by alphabetical last name.

Amitabh Bachchan
Johnny Depp
Robert Di Nero
Clint Eastwood
Toshiro Mifune (A recent discovery thanks to Japanese
movies)
Al Pacino
Dr. Rajkumar


Of course, the question that next popped was why were these my favorite actors among the 100's of movies
I watched of various actors? Simply because these are actors who bring a humanity to these roles. All of them are more often than not underdogs who've been cheated out of something they really love. However, they never really take that lying down. They revolt against that system that deceived them and seek revenge with anger that is colored in various hues of either anger itself or kindness or forgiveness. In the end, almost always everything ends well. Even if they do get killed at the end of the movie, their death would bring with it a better future for all concerned. But, the one interesting thing I discovered that I love the most
in all these characters is their love for humanity, which (probably except for Dr. Rajkumar) gets expressed in a very subtle way, especially with Clint Eastwood being the most subtle. They also tend to be super possessive about the people they love. One last thing is their amazing comic presence, sometimes it is super dry and black and sometimes it just makes you jump up and down and roll in your seat laughing.

I wouldn't want to leave this article high and dry without mentioning my favorite movies of each of these actors. Lets start in the reverse order of the above.

Dr. Rajkumar
Loved his roles in Haalu Jenu, Kaamana Billu, Bhagyadha Lakshmi Baaramma, Guri and Kasturi Nivasa.
All, just for his pure, unabashed expression of love for humanity -- which, of course some critics may
call overly emotional. Of course, he's also a very romantic guy ... the smile and the swing of his eyes
would make any of his heroines swoon. Also, he's got this sense of humor in these movies, which can just
make you laugh like crazy if you don't think too much about it.

Al Pacino
Ah! the firebrand. The favorites are Scent of a woman, Godfather II and Scarface. The guy's terminally pissed off and he still never loses that presence in the midst of being pissed off. Who can ever forget the scene where he shoots his newly married sister in Scarface or slaps his wife in Godfather II. However, his comic timing was perfect in Scent of a woman, though as usual laced with language that would make a sailor's face turn red.

Toshiro Mifune
A brand new favorite from Japanese movies. Probably unknown outside of the Japanese world. He's a
master of expressing anger as itself. Someone who just doesn't hide that he's been hurt, as he does in
Seven Samurai or Hidden Fortress. But at the same time, he shows that unabashed affection for his people
and doesn't back off from helping them in their moment of need, as seen in "The Red Beard".

Clint Eastwood
The quietest of 'em all, never seen him raise his voice in a movie and so incredibly cold all the time. Be it the early Fistful dollars or Few Dollars more or the more recent In the line of fire or Bridges of Madison County. If there's anyone hurt in a movie, its this guy -- super hurt. But, he never talks about it. All he wants is revenge, cold and clinical. Even a romantic movie like the Bridges of Madison County, leaves you with the coldness of this guy at the end of it. But, for all this that he brings to his movies, he also brings that subtlest love for humanity, where the innocent person gets to be saved. Justice is delivered.

Robert Di Nero
Again one of those cold, smiling, pissed off guys and very unforgiving. Once he knows something's
right, you can't pull him away from heading that way. Be it the revolutionary cabbie in Taxi Driver or
the possessive unloved boxer in Raging Bull or the cold don in Godfather II or the hired hand in Ronin
-- he's there to chill! But, if you see the human being underneath the chilling guy, he's really endearing. The love for the people he's looking out for is thrown at the audience, as a product of the crazy action that he just took. He doesn't talk about the love, he puts the love into action.

Johnny Depp
The queerest guy of the group - none of his movies resemble the previous one he made. In one he's
funny while in the other he's serious. In one he's a wonderful friend while in the other he's a psycho. But undiscovered in every movie is a skill he never showed earlier -- the comic timing of Pirates of Carribean or the chilling seriousness of Ninth Gate or the love for people in Finding Neverland/ Edward Scissorhands/ What's eating Gilbert Grape. The qualities I mentioned as common to all actors, may not be present together in one movie, but Johnny Depp as the actor brings together all these qualities and that is something so special about him.

Amitabh Bachchan
Though it was not my intention to place his review last, I guess he's the one actor I've had the longest phase of admiration in my life - more than 15 years in the making! Gosh! he's such a multi-faceted guy. On the top, he's pissed off -- eternally pissed off -- started out as angry young man, is now the angry old man, the anger only amplified by that deep baritone voice. But every so often, the anger gives way to love for people or "roll on the floor" comedy or tears that are so genuine that they'll trigger the same in your eyes. Of course for all the stuff I love about him, I hate it when he dances or is in a super emotional romantic scene with his heroine, the guy just freezes. But, then again, he later makes up for it in the movie. Favorites include the comedy of Namak Halaal/Yaarana/Satte Pe Satta, the super serious Zanjeer/Deewar/Black/Muqqadar ka Sikander/Agneepath or the have it all Hum/Shahenshah/Sharaabi.

I guess eventhough I've seen so few movies of these actors, I guess their roles are so powerful that they tell the stories of their life - a trait so rare in the rest of 'em.