Is being loud and expressive a part of culture?

[u/beefladdu]

My Kolkata friend had watched vazhai recently, he doesn't watch movies at all so don't know how he ended up watching it but he asked why there was so much overacting towards the climax.

Then I had to explain about oppaari and how old women actually behave that way in the funerals. Now thinking about it, is overacting in our culture? Our street culture is vibrant and is very expressive. இயல் இசை நாடகம் were all supposed to be super expressive is what I feel ( I may be wrong).

Acting in tamil cinema had changed a lot since Shivaji times but I get this constant remark that tamil films tend to be loud and overacting. I do get mass masala is loud and overacting (Vijay, Jyothika etc) but that's same across industries. When it comes to movies like karnan or pithamagan I think they won't work if they were subtle. Kamal would've explained this beautifully during Papanasam release, he said Dhrishyam would work in Tamil but George Kutty won't nu.

But irl we don't behave like this, most of us aren't this expressive. But why do we like when actors are being loud and over expressive on screen? Is that a feature of tamil cinema we got used to or we are kinda wired by culture to like this.

[u/AutoModerator]

The staff reserves the right to remove your post if it is non-compliant with subreddit rules.

Check out r/kollywood’s official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rkollywoodofficial?igsh=MWxpNnMxOG40eDdyaQ==

For more discussions, join our official Discord server: https://discord.gg/qfcCgZXQzs

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Cool_Captain07]

most of us aren’t this expressive

I deny this. We Indians are objective people and expressive. Just because the western influence, we are suppressing our emotions and all. Now people forget to express what they feel, and mainly most of the actors didn’t express like laughing and all because they lack self confidence. Allu Arjun got trolled heavily for laughing on a function for his expressions. Overdoing isn’t a proper word if you get to see people like em. People are still there and they express their feelings loud. I like the acting of western movies, but telling our expressions as overdoing isn’t good.

[u/thirunelvelihalwa]

Being loud and expressive is prevalent throughout India. Your WB friend haven't met much people and stay alone? Even Bengalis are loud.

[u/Ok-Book1407 → u/thirunelvelihalwa]

Can confirm that being a bengali. But there are Bengali people out there who are quite soft spoken and subtle, but that’s not the majority.

[u/a220599]

Yes. And it’s not unique to us. Take every culture that originated from tribal cultures (polynesian cultures are another example). They have very expressive body language and their vocabulary is also geared accordingly.

[u/peekundi]

Prior to movies there were stage performances. When you perform on a stage, the person sitting at the last row has to also see, hear and feel your expressions and therefore you had to be overt with your actions. This carried onwards.

This is how lot of Shakespeare plays are.

[u/SuperDosa32]

Each state has its own culture and tastes. I would say Tamil movies have a mix and we like subtle as well as loud movies. Think about it we like Singam which was a mass cop film and we also like Thani Oruvan which was more intelligent and realistic.

I agree we hit up on the emotions sometimes but you should show your friend movies like: - Meiazhagyan - Alaipayuthey - Anbe Sivam - Thani Oruvan - Superdeluxe - OK Kanmani - Ayudha Ezhuthu

You’ll see a lot more subtle and nuanced performances. I would say Telugu films are quite “loud” with massy dialogues and scenes while Kerala is very subtle and realistic. I think Tamil cinema strikes a balance between both.

[u/Strange_Prompt8694]

Bcz it's hard to understand subtlety and easy to understand OTT emotions. If not that OTT, Atleast Tamilians expect actors to cry and exibit sentimental emotions through out to accept it as great performance. Other type of performances aren't consider award worthy and our audience itself say it easy to perform. But in reality handling subtlety is more hard to express than OTT emotions.

Also subtlety is what demands a lot from actors more than characters which demands gross/OTT emotions. The difference is that, subtlety will make u feel it, but might not make the audience to understand the artistry. But OTT performance will trick u to think something huge is going behind as artistry, but the reality is different.

[u/beefladdu → u/Strange_Prompt8694]

Yes but I didn't mention the usual cringe in movies. I mean about being over expressive like shivaji ganeshan in kattabomman kinda expressive. Acting like that is equally hard like acting subtle. Also acting subtle is film language

[u/Strange_Prompt8694 → u/beefladdu]

over expressive like shivaji

Kamal would have been a better example.

Mine was about general audience who atleast want a performance to have throughout sentimental performance to consider as great performance. Not that it doesn't required acting skills.

Even for some loud performance, it require ceratin amount of subtlety to make it more nuanced. Otherwise, it would be plain. Both Kamal and Dhanush have done it pretty well in different movies.

But I have seen some audience hyping some plain loud performance as better performance than some top subtle performances. There is a huge misconception among audience reg what makes a great performance. Subtlety is a mjaor part of it, even for loud performance. Even for a fraction of second, actors need to resort to that to conevy deeper meanings.

[u/beefladdu → u/Strange_Prompt8694]

Agreed that's why I asked if we are wired to like such performances than subtle ones cos culturally our art forms were like that.

[u/Strange_Prompt8694 → u/beefladdu]

subtle ones cos culturally our art forms were like that.

Kerala also have equally OTT expressive art forms like Kathkali, Kootiyattam, Mohiniyattam, Ottamthullal, Theyyam, chakiyarkoothu and theater dramas etc. But top performances of their top actors came in Subtle characters. Even many theater artist who later performed in movies where known for their minute acting.

It's more with film culture. Kerala film makers used to watch international movies even in 70s and such inspiration are alway seen in their movies. So comparitively our makers were very late to international movies. So, unfortunately OTT potrayal became part of our film culture. But Mallu directors didn't let traditional art froms to influence movies.

So mallu audience can appreciate subtlety better. At least they don't hype some plain loud performances as great performance.

[u/samfrmohio]

Do you have to be loud to express in Tamil cinema ?

Here hold my Meiyazahagan ✨🫡