Persuasive communication in films

Dr. Senarath Tennakoon

References
1. Dua Shyam (2004) The luminous life of Charlie Chaplin, Tiny Not Publications, Delhi.
2. Cohen R. Jodi (1998), Communication Criticism, Sage Publications, London.
3. Rao Maithil (1999), Beyond Rhetoric, Gentleman, July 1999,
4. Sharma Viney Mohan (2005), Body Language, Pustak Mahal, Delhi.

Hindi film Devdas

Tamil film Varanam Aayiram

The term rhetoric refers to persuasive communication. During the Classical Greek Times (500 B.C) rhetoric was a formal and systematic study of persuasive communication. Since the Classical times theories of rhetoric have been adapted to a variety of forms of oral communication.

Aristotle, the ancient Greek Philosopher has dedicated his Book III of the "Rhetoric" to style in speech. Some styles like-the clear style, the appropriate style, the impressive style, and the lively style of oral communication have been discussed.

Cicero, a Roman statesman, orator and scholar highlights correctness, clarity, ornateness and propriety as important features of stylish speech.

In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the character Mark Anthony delivers a funeral oration which has been hailed by many scholars as a superb speech based on a unique rhetorical situation where exigency, audience and constraints of the context have been considered in depth.

In the film Julius Caesar, the versatile actor Marlon Brando recreates Mark Anthony's role. Marlon Brando shot to stardom within a brief performance and became world famous.

Cinema audience

It is for the vicarious experience and thrill, that the people go to see films. The cinema audience have images of their favourite cinema icons in their individual memories. The images imprinted are essentially iconic. For instance if actor X is playing the key role in film Y a cinema lover would go to see the film.

Charlie Chaplin was a great actor who reached the peak of popularity not through great orations, but through simple, yet impressive acting.

His body language with remarkable gestures, and his walking style etc attracted massive crowds. Even when the age of talkies had dawned, Chaplin made a silent film "City Lights" which imparted his artistic expressions to his own experiences.

The "Tramp" in this film is the symbol of the dreams and aspirations of the middle class. The 'Tramp' makes several strange feats and adventures. He becomes friendly with a pretty blind girl. He pretends to be a wealthy man. He finds money to cure her blindness by facing a giant in a boxing contest and defeats the giant in a fantastic way!

Tamil films

Many of Sri Lankan film lovers are familiar with the iconic images of the Indian cinema. In Tamil films M.K. Radha and Ranjan have been identified as rivals in the 1950s, who engaged in sword fights as seen in 'Chandraleka' and 'Strange Brothers' (Apuve Sahodarayo). During this era Angali Devi, T.R. Rajakumari and Panadri Bai, as well as Bhanumathie attracted the film audience.

Krisnan and Maduran were the most famous joker couple. Later, Aga, Friend Ramasamy and Thangvelu kept the audience in a happy mood. Chandrababu's facial expressions, songs like 'Pengali Nabadei' and his witty remarks made the audience roar with laughter.

The noted villain was T.S. Baliah. Many Tamil film lovers were attracted to see the handsome idol of T. Mahalingam who played the role of 'Rama' in 'Ramayana'. Nageswera Rao who until the last was a slim figure offered a brilliant performance in 'Devadas'. Sivagi Ganeshen was no stranger to the Sri Lankan film goers.

His performances in 'Manoharan', 'Veera Pandya Katta Bumman' and 'Punam' are memorable. He was a great innovative orator.

Savitri and Gemini Ganeshan were the two love birds in the Tamil cinema. Bhanumathi became very famous after her own creation 'Chandi Rani'. Whenever there appeared M.G. Ramachandran it was normal for Jayalalithe or Saroja Devi plus M.R. Radha and M.N. Rajam to appear. M.N. Nambiar was a noted villain.

It was M.G. Ramachandran who spoke in power-packed tones about Tamil culture and took the side of the poor man before Rajini Kanth appeared in the Tamil screen. 'Nadodi Manan' was a notable film. Lalitha, Pathmini and Ragini were three sisters.

Hindi films

Among the popular icons in the Hindi films the names of Asok Kumarr, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Premanath, Raj Kumar and Sunil Dutt together with Bharat Bushan and Sashi Kapoor comes to one's mind. During the 1950' Meena Kumari, Madu Bala, Nargis, Nimmi, Nalini Jayawanth, Kamini Kausal and Nanda were among the golden female stars. Suraiya could act as well as sing.

Asok Kumar exhibited a performance style of his own. He always talked less and expressed a soft warm composure. But he exhibited an excellent sword fight in 'Jalpari'. Nargis was thought to be a lovable star.

But her acting in 'Mother India' exposed her inner latent talents to the entire world. Dilip Kumar has consistently evoked a style of under-playing suitable for the Hindi melodrama (Rao, 1999). Dilip Kumar was very agreeable a partner for Madubala, Nimmi, Nargis and Yijanthimala. Later the Hindi screen was dominated by Rajes Kanna and Sharmila Thagore in the 1970s.

Entertainment

The contexts too changed from just simple love to romantic love and complex ones. However, the popular entertainment was not altogether lost. Apart from the visual beauty a lot of talking (verbosity) continues to be inherent in the Hindi films too.

Who did not talk much, was the noted villan 'Pran' who was full of action. Now the age of Yajanthi Mala, Sairabanu, Malani, Rekha, Sri Devi and even Juhi Chaula and Maduri Dixit appear to have undergone dissolution. Still Sharuk Kahn, Salman Kahn and Amir Kahn together with Karina Kapoor, Kajol and Pretti Cinta is evolving.

Sinhala film Sulanga

Still, the audience members are pleased to observe the impressive figure of Amitha Bachchan despite his mature age in quick dancing performances together with his son 'Abishek' and his pretty niece, Aiswariya Rai. Amitha Bachchan appears to be evergreen Asok Kumar. The hay days of Dharmendra and Rajesh Khanna have gone for ever.

Sinhala cinema

In the Sinhala silver screen the notable icons have been Gamini Fonseka and Rukmani Devi for several decades. Rukmani Devi has been described as the 'tear drop' of the Sinhala screen. In the 1950s and the 1960s there were other female icons who made one or two appearances and flickered away.

But Jeevarani and Sandya Kumari and later Punya and Anula took over from them. Next came Malini Fonseka and continued till the 1990s. Now there are new faces.

But there are perhaps too many of them. Still one could remember the brilliant performances of Laddi Ranasinghe, Mark Samaranayake, and Jayaratne, T.B. Illangaratne, Ananda Weerakoon, Sumit Bibile, and Hugo Fernando.

Once in a blue moon we see Nita Fernando and Geeta Kumarasinghe on the screen. Irangani Serasingha continues to be a source of inspiration to the Sinhala cinema.We as an audience, are not localised and isolated from the rest of the world. Globlisation is at our doorstep, Economic and informational globalisation is quite fast. Our cinema icons have to think of global standards in their performances.

Even the local audiences are more innovative and more educated than in the 1950s and 1960s, to add value to the performance of our actors. The unusual extroverted body language of Shammi Kapoor is no longer needed to impress the learned audience.

The cheap and perhaps vulgar jokes are not necessary at all. The era of 'Jossi and Manappu' days have been buried for ever. The new millennium is teeming with postmodernic features in every discipline.